Felix Rosenqvist leaves Arrow McLaren for Meyer Shank Racing on multi-year deal

Barring a win in Sunday's season-finale at Laguna Seca, Felix Rosenqvist's best finish in his three years with Arrow McLaren came two days before Tuesday's news of his fresh start.

On the heels of Rosenqvist's runner-up finish Sunday at Portland International Raceway, Meyer Shank Racing confirmed Tuesday morning that the race-winning Swedish driver will partner alongside future rookie Tom Blomqvist as MSR's dose of IndyCar experience and speed as it completes a full roster flip for 2024. Rosenqvist's switch after three seasons spent with Arrow McLaren is said to be part of a multi-year deal, though terms were not disclosed.

"I'm super excited to start the next chapter of my IndyCar career together with MSR," Rosenqvist said in a team release. "This will be a great opportunity for myself and MSR to elevate and get to the next level together. I'm also pretty excited to get to work with my old friend Tom (Blomqvist) again."

Though consistent, title-challenging results weren't always there -- he sits third on Arrow McLaren in points at 12th in the standings after finishing 8th and 21st the two seasons prior -- Rosenqvist had some of the best raw speed on the grid, which was notably something MSR lost for qualifying when Jack Harvey moved onto Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing after the 2021 campaign. Helped by his three poles the last two years, Rosenqvist finished 2022 with the 6th-best average starting spot on the IndyCar grid and sits in the same spot with one race left this season.

That speed, above all else, was precisely what team co-owner Mike Shank said he was looking for six weeks ago in a teammate for his dominant IMSA driver Blomqvist, who will be switching into one of the team's two full-time cars next season.

"I think we can agree that in this day and age in IndyCar, it takes a really aggressive, full-attack person to do well. Who's showing signs they're willing to do whatever it takes to be at the front? Who's got the pure raw speed, even if they have some other issues?" he told IndyStar in mid-July regarding the traits of a new driver he would value highly. "They can at least get you fast enough. You're not going to get the car perfect every weekend, and you've got to have somebody that can wring its neck when it's not good.

"That's what we're trying to look for."

Rosenqvist vacates a three-year home at Arrow McLaren where he didn't ever seem locked in as a foundational piece alongside teammate Pato O'Ward. The latter fought down to the final race of the year for the championship in 2021, while Rosenqvist logged only two top-10 finishes, and in the back-half of Year 2, he was presumed to be out the door after the team committed to a future with Alex Palou with Rosenqvist in a contract year and Alexander Rossi already announced.

But when Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing settled their lawsuit that would see the eventual two-time champ remain in his No. 10 Honda ride, Rosenqvist stayed put, with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown having held a team option on his Swedish driver for a couple more weeks.

With the presumption Palou would be joining for 2024 and Arrow McLaren's ability to jump up to four full-time cars uncertain, Rosenqvist's six top-10s (and two top-5s) over the final eight races of 2022 only marginally carried over to the start of this season. The 31-year-old failed to finish the first two races of the year -- a solo crash at Texas entirely his fault -- and he then followed three top-10s to follow with a crash late in dirty air while challenging for the Indy 500 win. A podium at Detroit a week later was then followed by four finishes of 20th or worse in his next seven.

Something steadier, for a team at MSR that currently sits 20th and 24th in entrant points after a rough go of two years with Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, would be a welcomed change.

"Felix has been someone that has been on our radar for quite some time now, and everything lined up this year to work something out with him," Shank said in the release. "It's no secret that we've had a difficult season with some things out of our control and some things in our control.

"I think we're all looking forward to resetting completely, starting over and getting to work."

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Tuesday's news also confirms the exit from MSR's IndyCar program for the still-injured Simon Pagenaud, who hasn't raced since his violent practice crash July 1 at Mid-Ohio. The French driver continues to heal from concussion symptoms but is yet to be cleared to return to race by IndyCar's medical team. Blomqvist will handle the season-finale in the No. 60 Honda, as he did at Portland (24th) and Toronto (25th).

"I would like to wish MSR all the best and thank (the whole team) for the valuable experiences I have gathered through the last two years," Pagenaud wrote in a note posted to X on Tuesday morning. "I wish we could have achieved more together over the last two seasons and win races, but we could not make it happen.

"For now, my goal is to fully focus on myself and recuperating. It is a slow process, and I will continue to work with the doctors and do what is necessary to get my health back to 100%."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Felix Rosenqvist signs multi-year deal with Meyer Shank Racing