Toronto, ON – Théo Pourchaire received a phone call from Tony Kanaan, driver coach at Arrow McLaren, at about midnight in France, asking him to fly to Toronto to replace the injured driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren car in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
Alexander Rossi slid into the wall in Turn 9 during Friday afternoon practice, breaking his right thumb after getting it caught in the steering wheel during the big impact with the wall, in spite of the tire barriers softening the blow.
The Frenchman, Pourchaire, flew to Toronto and arrived just in time, about an hour before the Saturday afternoon qualifying session. The 2023 F2 Champion had never driven on the streets of Toronto before, but because he did such a great job in his debut at the temporary street course in Long Beach, CA, back in April, he was the obvious choice.
“We thought he was the best driver,” revealed Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren. “He’s done an excellent job driving for us and knows the team. Obviously, we’ve thrown him in the deep end, having to learn the track. Our expectations are pretty low. He only gets ten minutes in the qualifying session to learn the track.”
Pourchaire joined the team in April as a replacement for the injured David Malukas, who suffered a left wrist injury from a pre-season mountain bike accident. The team announced Pourchaire would replace Malukas through the end of the season, driving on both road courses and ovals, with the exception of the Indianapolis 500.
But about five weeks later, Arrow McLaren instead signed Nolan Siegel (an INDY NXT contender who was scheduled for four INDYCAR races, including Toronto, with Dale Coyne Racing) to a multi-year INDYCAR contract. Pourchaire was thanked for his services as he was shown the door.
“Tony (Kanaan) called me and I told him I want to race,” described Pourchaire, who started 26th and finished 14th, the only Arrow McLaren car to finish the Toronto race. “It’s a very difficult track, very bumpy. I told him, if the race engineers can send me, as quick as possible, onboards and data, that would be good. I just didn’t sleep in France. I went at 5 a.m. to the airport, after watching the onboards and data all night. In the plane, I decided to sleep a little bit, maybe four hours or five hours. This is crazy because I was still in Indianapolis three days ago. I decided to return to France to enjoy the summer in France since I was not racing any more.”
Pourchaire tested with the team on the St. Louis oval last May and, should Rossi not be cleared to drive in a few weeks for the WorldWide Technology race, Pourchaire could return. The race is scheduled for Saturday, August 17th, following the series’ Olympics break.
