Callum Ilott to run Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren after David Malukas' dismissal

At long last, the field is officially, formally set.

Less than 24 hours before practice for the Indianapolis 500 gets underway, Arrow McLaren has confirmed Callum Ilott, who ran the first two events of the year, as well as the 500 Open Test, in the No. 6 Chevy, will man the entry for the 108th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

With Monday's news, the 34-car field for this month's race is completely set.

Ilott arrives to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway off a historic weekend at the famed Spa-Francorchamps course in Belgium, having steered the final stint of the six-hour World Endurance Championship event there Saturday to clinch an overall victory for his Hertz Team Jota crew, marking the team's first overall WEC win and the first overall win in the WEC Hypercar era for a non-manufacturer program. Presently, the young British driver sits second in the WEC Hypercar title race with his teammate Will Stevens as he transitions into what will almost certainly be his final IndyCar start of the 2024 season with his future in the sport unclear.

“I’m grateful to step into this race with a familiar car and a familiar team now in Arrow McLaren. While our April Open Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was shortened by weather, the runs we did have were productive," Ilott said in a release. "I feel comfortable with the team and know that we can come together throughout the Month of May to put our best foot forward come race day."

He joins a pair of full-season teammates Pato O'Ward and Alexander Rossi, along with 500 one-off Kyle Larson, and a program at-large that is only now starting to find some stability and direction.

A chaotic last three months began with ex-No. 6 Chevy driver David Malukas' offseason mountain biking crash in February that led to continued uncertainty week-to-week as to who would be manning the entry. Having been given an initial six-week recovery timeline that slated him for a return at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Malukas' return saw unexplained setbacks that led to Ilott's stand-in for the 500 Open Test, followed by reigning F2 champ Theo Pourchaire's IndyCar debut at Long Beach and Barber.

With Malukas' health status and return timeline no less clear, and empowered by an out clause after the driver had missed four events due to his dislocated left wrist and torn tendons, Arrow McLaren opted to severe ties with Malukas an hour after the checkered flag at Barber April 28. In the two weeks since, it has signed Pourchaire to run the rest of the 2024 calendar for the No. 6, outside the 500, with the year's most important race left to the two-time IMS oval starter.

After crashing out in his 500 debut with Juncos Hollinger Racing in 2022, the 25-year-old shook off issues of a bothersome chassis early in the month a year ago to climb to 12th by the checkered flag on race day. His best qualifying performance came in 2022 (19th).

“Callum brings experience with this team and at the Indy 500 that we think is very valuable as we enter the biggest two weeks of our season," team principal Gavin Ward said in a release. "He and the team got along well during the first two events of the season, and we’re looking forward to carrying that over here."

Insider: For Arrow McLaren, releasing David Malukas a tough, necessary business decision

Though Ilott has long been linked to Arrow McLaren's open 500 seat, dating back to six weeks ago when Malukas' ability to recover and get back into the cockpit came into question, there was thought, too, that he might somehow split the remaining races in the No. 6 with Pourchaire, who underwent his initial oval test at World Wide Technology Raceway, so as to be able to run the full slate of races starting with Detroit June 2. The young French driver who currently serves as a reserve driver for the Sauber F1 and a member of their young driver academy, was extricated from his 2024 Super Formula ride in order to do so.

With Arrow McLaren relying on Pourchaire for the remainder of the 2024 IndyCar slate after May 26, speculation will now turn to what the team will look to do with its two open seats at the end of the year -- those being the No. 6 and the No. 7 of Rossi, whose two year deal comes to a close after the season-finale. There is believed to be a desire on both sides to bring Rossi back, though that's yet to be solidified. Outside Ilott and Pourchaire, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Christian Lundgaard remains the series' most sought-after free agent. Arrow McLaren appears to be the only one of the series' top-4 teams looking to make a serious move at this point for his services, as RLL pulls out the stops to hold onto him.

Whether Arrow McLaren can come to terms with Rossi on a new multi-year deal, whether it can lure Lundgaard away from his initial IndyCar home and how Pourchaire fares over the final 12 races of his debut season will weigh heavily into Ilott's potential future with the team, as he and Stevens pursue a championship over the course of the final five events on the 2024 WEC calendar -- starting next with Le Mans.

Among others, he's also likely to be seen as an IndyCar free agent target of new-comer Prema Racing, who will run two full-season entries starting in 2025 and for whom Ilott raced one season of Formula 3 European in 2017, finishing with six wins and a 4th-place finish in the championship.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Callum Ilott to run Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren, completing field