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Arrow McLaren signs Nolan Siegel to replace Theo Pourchaire starting at Laguna Seca

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3 months ago

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Arrow McLaren signs Nolan Siegel to replace Theo Pourchaire starting at Laguna Seca

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The ripple effects from Alex Palou’s change of heart less than 10 months ago continue.

In the wake of the two-time IndyCar champion turning his back on a multi-year deal he signed in October 2022 with McLaren Racing, the team has now signed its fourth driver to try and replace him. One-time Indy NXT title favorite Nolan Siegel, who two days ago won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in class for McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown’s United Autosport outfit, will join Arrow McLaren on a multi-year deal, starting this weekend at Laguna Seca, replacing Théo Pourchaire and set to man the ride in “2025 and beyond.”

Less than two months ago, Pourchaire had been unveiled as the team’s choice to fill the No. 6 following the Indianapolis 500 for the remainder of 2024. As recently as the Road America weekend, the team was understood to have been seriously considering him or fellow 2024 stand-in Callum Ilott to take over the No. 6 Chevy. Siegel had long been on the team’s radar, but a timeline to make a decision on him ramped up in recent weeks.

Siegel pulled out of the Road America Indy NXT round to fill-in at Juncos Hollinger Racing during Agustin Canapino’s team-mandated “leave of absence.” With his decision not to keep his realistic Indy NXT title hopes intact, it seemed Siegel could land the vacant No. 78 Chevy to finish out the 2024 season. But Canapino made amends with JHR, while the young American driver wowed Brown with his driving skills and impeccable feedback in the cockpit. All the while, Siegel’s willingness take himself out of contention for the Indy NXT championship made it clear to Arrow McLaren that, if Siegel was a driver they wanted to consider, they were going to have to move much faster than planned.

Things moved quickly over the last week-plus, with Pourchaire posting on social media as recently as Monday morning about his excitement to run the famed Laguna Seca track. Arrow McLaren sporting director Tony Kanaan called Pourchaire on Tuesday morning to deliver the news.

“We’ve been working through musical chairs all season, and ultimately, making this change to Nolan now that he’s available gives us the chance to build a foundation for the future,” team principal Gavin Ward said in the team release. “He is a young, talented driver with an immense amount of experience at this stage of his career and we’re excited to continue on the upward journey together.”

Arrow McLaren committed last September to young driver David Malukas, who two years into his IndyCar career had amassed a pair of podiums with Dale Coyne Racing. Needing to make a quick pivot once Palou breached his multi-year deal to stay at Chip Ganassi Racing, Malukas was largely seen as the best driver on the market not under contract.

Then, in mid-February, Malukas crashed his mountain bike, dislocating his left wrist and tearing tendons — requiring surgery. But what doctors expected to be a six-week recovery took four months before he was ultimately cleared days ago to race at Laguna Seca for his new home at Meyer Shank Racing. In the place of Malukas, Arrow McLaren initially leaned on ex-JHR driver Callum Ilott through a handful of tests and the season’s first two weekends and the 500. But when Ilott’s World Endurance Championship slate prevented him from manning the No. 6 for the rest of the season, Arrow McLaren looked to 2023 Formula 2 champ Pourchaire, who at the time was racing in Super Formula.

After two initial runs at Long Beach and Barber, the team signed him to take over the car for the rest of the year after the 500.

Siegel, on the other hand, began 2024 planning to run four IndyCar — and three points-paying races — with Dale Coyne Racing. The IndyCar races had been selected so as not to overlap with his Indy NXT schedule, while also allowing him to contend for IndyCar Rookie of the Year honors in 2025. He won the season-opener at St. Pete and finished runner-up to title rival Jacob Abel in the next two rounds, but leading into Road America, he’d fallen to 3rd in the standings, 44 points back, before the chaotic last two weeks significantly altered and sped up the trajectory of his future.

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