Arrow McLaren, Juncos Hollinger Racing form strategic alliance. Here's what it could mean.
Arrow McLaren and Juncos Hollinger Racing have formed an alliance for the 2024 IndyCar campaign that will begin "with a commercial and strategic focus." That's different from the strictly technical focus of those between Team Penske and A.J. Foyt Racing, and Andretti Autosport and Meyer Shank Racing.
The teams' Tuesday morning release was vague, but a source close to the talks told IndyStar the program could include overflow sponsors from Arrow McLaren on JHR's No. 77 and No. 78 Chevys. That could make for a mutually beneficial partnership that could see the former serve as a sponsor broker and receive a cut of the money, while the latter fills a vital funding hole to retain its driver pairing (Callum Ilott and Agustin Canapino), neither of whom brings funding to the program.
In turn, you might also see a splash of papaya work its way onto JHR's cars that have historically sported green, white and black liveries.
"We're continually working to strengthen all areas of our team, and a strategic alliance with Juncos Hollinger Racing helps both of us in leveraging our commercial and marketing power and the McLaren Racing brand in a new way," said Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward.
The source also noted the deal could lead to shared test days, which would help both share the costs of renting a track, as well as potentially sharing some limited technical information and working together on track. However, it wouldn't go as far as creating a five-driver post-session debrief, like Andretti and MSR have had in recent years.
"We believe our alliance will enable us to accelerate our progress while also benefitting McLaren with commercial and talent development opportunities," JHR co-owner Brad Hollinger said in the release.
That could offer Arrow McLaren a pool from which to poach young mechanics, engineers and even drivers − think Ilott − as it continues to grow and eyes the potential of running four full-time cars in the near future. Arrow McLaren added a third for the 2023 season and saw its staff grow by 40% to accommodate the move.
Title changes: Arrow McLaren names Gavin Ward team principal, Tony Kanaan sporting director
It's also reasonable to assume JHR, with its 40,000-square-foot shop in Speedway, could lend some space to Arrow McLaren, which said last month that it's more than outgrown its roughly 30,000-square-foot shop on the north side of Indianapolis. Arrow McLaren was forced to rent space outside its headquarters on Coffman Road for its in-house fitness facility, as well as simple storage and its in-house vinyl work.
Earlier this year, Arrow McLaren announced it would abandon plans to build a facility in Whitestown to instead move into Andretti Global's current 89,000-square-foot facility on the northwest side of Indy that would nearly triple its available space. Zak Brown told reporters at Laguna Seca that his team plans to begin moving into its new home in 2025 after gutting it − "We'll leave the walls up, but everything else will change," Brown said − and plan to be fully operational by 2026.
Tuesday's news leaves Ed Carpenter Racing as the sole Chevy-powered team in the series without a partnership with another team. On the Honda side, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dale Coyne Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing don't partner with other teams.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: What Arrow McLaren-Juncos Hollinger strategic alliance means
