Theo Pourchaire is in the middle of his first IndyCar race weekend, filling in for an injured David Malukas for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Malukas was originally scheduled to be fully healed from his broken wrist by this time, but his recovery timeline has been pushed back as doctors continue to evaluate his progress.
Arrow McLaren left the announcement for Pourchaire’s debut until very late, but the young driver had been preparing for the opportunity for a couple weeks.
His social media posts revealed that he was in Indianapolis and was taking part in a simulator session, both serving to fuel speculation that the reigning F2 champ was preparing to fill in for Malukas this weekend.
In an interview session ahead of his first laps around the Long Beach street course, Pourchaire revealed that he is in line to fill in next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park as well should Malukas not be ready by that time.
“So basically Sauber contacted me just to let me know that Arrow McLaren wanted me to drive for the next two races, to replace David,” said Pourchaire, explaining how the deal came about. “I mean, he’s injured. Now hopefully he can get back soon.
“Yeah, I’m here just to try for this race without any experience. So I said yes, of course, it’s an amazing opportunity. Either I don’t drive or I have this amazing opportunity. For me, it was amazing.
“Then, of course, Zak [Brown] contacted me as well. I said yes, of course I want to drive. It’s McLaren, it’s amazing. For me, it’s an amazing opportunity.
Pourchaire was then asked to clarify if he has been brought in for two races or just the one that was announced, to which he replied, “I’m racing in Long Beach, then we will see if David is getting better. This will depend on David.”
Malukas has already missed out on a lot of driving with his new team on account of his injury. He has been with the team for all the events, but has been relegated to the pit box with a brace on his left hand.
Callum Ilott has filled in as driver for the #6 entry for a majority of the year’s track time, including for the season opening Grand Prix of St. Pete and the Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge.
Ilott returned with Arrow McLaren for the Indy 500 open test last week, but was unable to run this weekend’s race at Long Beach on account of previous commitments in the WEC.
Pourchaire has stepped up to the challenge so far, placing 21st out of 27 drivers in the opening practice session Friday afternoon despite never having driven an IndyCar at all beforehand.
The short time he has had to prepare has been spent learning as much as he can from videos and asking questions of IndyCar veterans within the Arrow McLaren team.
“I think it was probably two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago,” further explained Pourchaire about how his deal came about. “I was in France doing nothing. Some physical preparation for my next Super Formula race.
“Yeah, I received the call. It was an amazing news. Then I book the flight straight to Indianapolis, then I worked with the team.
“It’s been a last-minute call, of course. It’s okay. It’s even better like this. I love it. It’s an amazing surprise. It was an amazing surprise.”
