Malukas released by Arrow McLaren
David Malukas has been cut by Arrow McLaren.
His release was “due to him being unavailable for the entirety of the season to date, with no confirmed return date, as a result of a left wrist injury, which occurred February 11, in a mountain biking incident,” the team said.
Hurt in a pre-season accident, Malukas underwent surgery to repair the damage done to his left hand and wrist on Feb. 13. But after missing the four opening IndyCar Series events of the season, it became clear his injuries – which have refused to heal at a predictable rate — would not allow him to drive the No. 6 Chevy at a scheduled date the team could plan for in the future.
Unsure of if or when Malukas would be ready to drive, and with sponsors having signed on for a consistent, season-long campaign with Malukas as the face of the No. 6 program, the team decided it was best to remove the race-by-race uncertainty and work to fill out the rest of the calendar with one or more regular drivers in the compromised situation.
“The past three months have been challenging,” Malukas said. “I felt privileged to have had the opportunity to drive for Arrow McLaren and regret that it never materialized. I would have loved to have continued representing the team and its partners going forward. They have been good, and I appreciate all they have done for me.
“I’ve done everything possible to speed up the rehab process — treatments, physiotherapy, strength training — but my recovery has taken longer than anticipated. Every injury is different, and every body heals at a different pace. I’ll turn my full attention to getting back to 100 percent and then prove that I am ready and able to compete to win.”
Although the team was not prepared to nominate drivers for May’s Indianapolis Grand Prix road course race and the Indianapolis 500, RACER expects recent stand-in Callum Ilott to be at the top of the list for the 500 due to his oval experience and prowess demonstrated at last year’s race.
Ilott would be a natural for the other ovals and road/street races that aren’t on the same dates as his FIA World Endurance Championship commitments, but there are seven IndyCar races — mostly ovals – the Briton would be forced to miss.
WEC clashes start with the Indy GP and continue with Road America, the Iowa and Milwaukee doubleheaders, and the Nashville oval season finale. It’s unclear if Ilott would entertain making a switch back to IndyCar, assuming his WEC team would allow it to happen.
Theo Pourchaire, who won the team over during his back-to-back races at Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park, is another driver who could be asked to cover a lot of dates that don’t conflict with his Japanese Super Formula obligations.
Pourchaire is the freer of the two and would be available for the Indy GP and all other road/street events, barring Laguna Seca, Portland, and Toronto, unless Arrow McLaren attempts to buy the Frenchman out of his Super Formula contract.
With Ilott’s current lack of availability for most of the post-Indy ovals, the team could also seek to test with Pourchaire and gain his oval licensing to start his oval education process if the team views him as a potential full-time solution in 2025. Arrow McLaren would also have a variety of oval experts like Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, Conor Daly, and JR Hildebrand to consider for the role.
The decision by McLaren to part ways with Malukas won’t be well-received by his many fans, but once he’s fully healed, the 22-year-old should generate interest on the free agent market. The question is whether it would come at a price.
After spending his first two IndyCar seasons at Dale Coyne Racing in a family-funded entry, Arrow McLaren was the first team to hire Malukas, which represented a major milestone in his career.
His big shot with a contender like Arrow McLaren is unlikely to be repeated in 2025; there are some good midfield teams that would benefit from his talents, but most of the leading programs have their rosters filled with drivers under multi-year contracts, and many of the options he’d have could come with a price tag attached.
Henry Malukas, David’s father whose HMD Motorsports team won the 2022 and 2023 Indy NXT championships, has also expressed interest in forming an IndyCar team of his own. With engine leases unavailable and the projected 2025 grid to be beyond capacity at 29, the timing to launch an HMD IndyCar effort is suboptimal. Unless Malukas is hired elsewhere, seeking a co-entry partnership like HMD had with Coyne could be the most likely pathway for him to continue in the series.