Ojjeh - McLaren open to full-time IndyCar return
Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Mark Glendenning / Images by LAT & IMS
Fernando Alonso's Indy 500 deal could be a first step towards a permanent McLaren return to IndyCar.
McLaren
announced earlier today that it will end a 38-year absence from Indianapolis when it partners with Andretti Autosport to field a car for the two-time world champion next month. Although the Alonso deal is a one-off, McLaren Technology Group executive committee principal Mansour Ojjeh said that he is open to McLaren having a permanent IndyCar presence in the future – and, possibly, a return to Le Mans.
"I'm pleased and proud that we're about to embark on a new IndyCar era for McLaren," he said. "[The] Indy 500 is the only IndyCar race we'll be entering this year, but we may possibly repeat that in years to come and it's just possible that we may even run a full-works McLaren IndyCar operation at some point in the future. We'll see.
"Equally, we may potentially enter the Le Mans 24 Hours again some time – we won it outright in 1995 with our iconic McLaren F1 GTR – but to be clear we have absolutely no definite plans to do so at this stage."
McLaren first entered the Indy 500 in 1970, and Peter Revson and Mark Donohue put a pair of M16s on the front row the following year. Donohue returned with a privateer M16B run by Roger Penske for 1972, and became the first driver to win the Indy 500 in a McLaren. Johnny Rutherford added another two McLaren wins in 1974 and 1976 (BELOW), driving a works car on both occasions.
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Welcome to IndyCar Fernando Alonso! And welcome back to IndyCar McLaren!
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