Laying to rest the rumours surrounding McLaren’s entry into the North American IndyCar racing series and their supposed plans for buying an entire team for their supposed ‘one-off’ fielding into the sport, McLaren has now officially confirmed the news. The Woking-based manufacturer, which has a long history of motorsport, especially F1, is the second oldest active Formula One team after Ferrari. Additionally, it is also the second most successful team in Formula One history (again following Ferrari), having won 182 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and eight Constructors' Championships.
Moving to the brand’s participation in the IndyCar series, McLaren’s last foray was in 1979. However, the brand will now once again contest the championship full-time in 2020, collaborating with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. The partnership will see the infrastructure of Arrow SPM underpin the team’s operations, while McLaren adds technical expertise, commercial experience and marketing strength to enable the new entity to perform at the highest competitive level. The team will field two Chevrolet’s twin-turbocharged V6-powered cars in the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series in McLaren’s famed papaya orange and blue livery, with ex-F1 racer Fernanado Alonso as one of the drivers.
And in true motorsport racing tradition, British watchmaker Omologato who were the official timepieces partners of the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team, will continue in their role with the newly-formed racing team on their debut IndyCar foray.
Speaking on the partnership, Sam Schmidt, owner Schmidt Petterson racing, said "We are so grateful for Arrow’s continued support, along with Omologato and all of our other partners, in our journey to be at the top of the NTT IndyCar Series. We look forward to having you by our side for those upcoming wins and title championships."