Arrow McLaren has announced its fourth — and presumably final — driver for its No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet in 2024, announcing Nolan Siegel will replace Theo Pourchaire for the rest of the NTT IndyCar Series season.
Siegel made his second IndyCar start two weeks ago at Road America, where he finished 23rd. Siegel was in the No. 78 Dallara-Chevrolet in place of Agustin Canapino, who skipped the race after being embroiled in a controversy that involved Pourchaire being abused on social media after an incident with Canapino at Detroit.
Siegel also gave up his shot at the 2024 Indy NXT championship at Road America by withdrawing to focus on IndyCar. That was one of three events that led to Siegel being hired Tuesday in a multiyear deal with Arrow McLaren.
He worked with Arrow McLaren sporting director Tony Kanaan while trying to qualify for the 108th Indy 500 last month. Though he failed to qualify after crashing twice, he made an impression with Kanaan.
With Siegel’s stock on the rise after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 category with United Autosports’ No. 22 (which is partly owned by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown), Arrow McLaren decided to pull the No. 6 from Pourchaire. The 2023 F2 champion who had been announced as its driver for the rest of the season last month.
“At the time that we put Theo in the car, Nolan was committed to his Indy NXT season so with the clashes there and with his limited program (in IndyCar) with (Dale Coyne Racing),” Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward said during a video news conference Tuesday. “A full season didn’t look like it was on the cards but with the developments and making the choice to step away from the NXT season at Road America, that brought this forward in a hurry.
“And while we were looking at a 2025 commitment, it became pretty clear that the logical thing to do — although not the easiest decision; easy when you put it into logic speak, maybe not the easiest emotionally — was to fast forward and get him in the car as soon as possible so we could hit hit the ground running next year.”
Pourchaire learned only Tuesday morning that he was losing the ride. The Frenchman had been posting on social media Monday that he was preparing and looking forward to his debut at Laguna Seca. Kanaan said delivering the news via a phone call to Pourchaire “wasn’t the most pleasant thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve been there on the other end. But I think it was more of the timing than anything else, to be honest. If we didn’t jump (to sign Siegel), somebody else would. ... “
Kanaan said Pourchaire, who had a best finish of 10th in five IndyCar starts for Arrow McLaren, naturally was disappointed.
“Nobody takes that news good,” Kanaan said during the news conference. “I explained it to (Pourchaire) and gave him a few examples also what I’ve been through. And it was obviously the first question you can ask yourself, ‘What did I do?’ Because you think, ‘Did I do anything wrong?’ And he didn’t do anything wrong. It was just a situation. It was a call that we had to make. It wasn’t personal. It wasn’t because of his performance. I think he’s done whatever he could do. He wasn’t happy, but he understood.”
Siegel, the 2023 Indy NXT rookie of the year, will take over the ride starting with Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the final nine races this year. He made his debut with Dale Coyne Racing in the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club and also finished 20th in the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Siegel, 19, will become the youngest driver on the IndyCar grid.
“I’m looking forward to jumping right in with the Arrow McLaren team this week and confirming my place in the NTT IndyCar Series in papaya moving forward,” Siegel said in a release. “This is an unexpected jump, but I’m thrilled to be in this position after a rewarding run in the Indy NXT by Firestone series with HMD Motorsports. I am looking forward to this new journey and learning alongside the entire team starting this weekend in my home state.”
Kanaan said Siegel’s performance at Indy “showed me how strong that kid is in the head” and made him a top candidate if he became available.
“And when that happened, I came straight to Gavin and said, ‘Hey, you got to trust me on this. I’ll put my job on the line. But I know what I’m doing.,’ ” Kanaan said. “And I truly believe it. I wouldn’t put my reputation in check just because. You know his record. He just won Le Mans. I mean even the guys over there were impressed.
“At some point, you’ve got to listen to people. So that was it. And then there’s a bunch of other things that between contracts and negotiations and this and that that I can’t get into it with other people that this was a very easy decision.”
Arrow McLaren started the 2024 season with David Malukas its No. 6 driver. But Malukas never made a start for the team after he was injured in a preseason bike riding accident and subsequently fired in April. Callum Ilott and Pourchaire had split time in the No. 6 through the first seven races this season.
The No. 6 has been a source of tumult since last season when series champion Alex Palou elected to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing instead of honor an agreement to join Arrow McLaren in 2024.
Ward said the latest change was made with the intention of being the last.
“The real goal with this change is seeking stability that the team needs with us being able to make a multiyear commitment to kind of hopefully stop the merry-go-round,” he said. “It gives us the first opportunity we’ve had in a while to be proactive rather than reactive in how we go about filling the seat for the 6 car. This isn’t a knee-jerk reaction. This has been a strategic thing ongoing. Once we kind of zoned in on the commitment for 2025, it became very logical to fast forward and just get there.
“But yeah, it’s not easy to be having the changes we’ve had. Frankly, the disruption we’ve had off the back of one little accident on a mountain bike is pretty phenomenal. And looking forward to kind of moving past that and focusing on just building a better race team and frankly building up a development plan that can set a huge prospect like Nolan up for the greatest success.”
With Siegel and Pato O’Ward under contract for next year, Arrow McLaren still needs to finalize the No. 7 that is being driven by Alexander Rossi for the second consecutive season.
Ward said Pourchaire could be a candidate but declined to get into specifics on when the team would announce its full lineup for next year.
“We’re not going to stand in the way of any opportunity that he may have and in fact actively would love to see him carry on his racing season this year or his IndyCar career next year and beyond, even if that’s not with us,” Ward said. “We still have one more seat to finalize, and I won’t really get into too much speculation about who will be driving the 7 car next year. That’s ongoing, and we will confirm that in due course.”