McLaren will return to full-time IndyCar competition next season for the first time since 1979 in a partnership with existing team Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
The new venture will be renamed Arrow McLaren Racing SP and rely on Arrow SPM’s current infrastructure. McLaren will be responsible for technical expertise, commercial experience and marketing. It will be a two-car team but switch next season to Chevrolet.
The team currently fields cars for James Hinchcliffe and Marcus Ericsson, but Hinchcliffe is a longtime Honda ambassador and star of ads for the automaker in North America.
Arrow Electronics will remain the team’s title partner and team co-founders Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson will continue in their current leadership roles. Gil de Ferran, the sporting director for McLaren Racing, will lead the IndyCar effort.
McLaren is coming off a spectacular embarrassment in which it failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in May with celebrated two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso.