The IndyCar team poised for an Indy 500 turnaround

Arrow McLaren SP haven’t had the best start to the 2022 IndyCar season, but they are poised to turn things around in the month of May, specifically in the Indy 500.

If there is one IndyCar team looking to get themselves on the right track after a surprisingly slow start, and looking specifically to do so at Indianapolis Motor Speedway later this month, it is Arrow McLaren SP.

Over the last two seasons, the team formed in late 2019 by a partnership between McLaren and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports have quickly challenged the narrative that there is a “Big 3” of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Andretti Autosport.

Pato O’Ward finished the 2020 season, his first full season in the series, in fourth place in the championship standings, behind one driver from each of those three teams.

In 2021, he earned the first two victories of his career and finished in third, ahead of all the Andretti Autosport drivers. His first career win at Texas Motor Speedway was Chevrolet’s first non-Team Penske win since 2016.

Felix Rosenqvist, whom the team signed from Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of the 2021 season, struggled, but he was on pace for several podium finishes, possibly even a few wins, had it not been for unfortunate circumstances ruining his races.

But to start 2022, they haven’t been able to get things going.

O’Ward was a non-factor in the season’s first two races in St. Petersburg and at Texas Motor Speedway, finishing in 12th and 15th place, respectively. He did rebound for a fifth place finish in Long Beach to get himself into the top 10 in the standings.

He spoke to Beyond the Flag about the importance of that top five finish as the season begins to heat up.

“Honestly, going into the weekend, my biggest goal was, let’s turn this championship around,” O’Ward said. “I wasn’t asking for a win, I wasn’t asking for a podium. But I said, ‘Let’s get a nice, good, solid result to build on for the rest of the year.’ And that’s exactly what we needed.”

As for Rosenqvist, he has shown great speed again. But like last year, he and the #7 team haven’t been able to capitalize on it.

After a disappointing 17th place finish in St. Petersburg, he took the pole position at Texas Motor Speedway, but he never led a lap before a halfshaft issue ended his day. At Long Beach, he qualified on the second row in fourth place, but he finished 11th after tire degradation dropped him several positions during a pit sequence.

But the speed gives him confidence moving into the month of May.

“Yea, it does,” Rosenqvist told Beyond the Flag. “And obviously it’s disappointing when you can’t capitalize on a good starting position. I think that’s been – last year, in the beginning of the year, we just struggled in general to be quick. So we’re happy that we’re up there and we’re quick every session. I think that’s, in the end, the most important thing. If you don’t have the speed, you have nothing to do in IndyCar.”

However, speed only goes so far, and Rosenqvist realizes this.

“But yea, we need some results,” he admitted. “It always seems like there’s one detail that is kind of like in the way for us to have a good race weekend, and we’re working very hard to solve that. I feel like, as a group, we’re very strong right now. We have a good result around the corner, I’m sure of that. And obviously we would like to have it earlier.

“We have a tough road ahead of us to kind of claw back at the championship and try to get back in it, but we’ll be there for sure soon. With the speed we have, it’s gotta come at some point. We just have to not get frustrated and try to just take the positives and keep focus, and it’s gonna come.”

While there is still a race at Barber Motorsports Park and a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course before the 106th running of the Indy 500, both Arrow McLaren SP drivers are already confident that they will have a shot to win the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.

O’Ward has finished in sixth and fourth place in his two Indy 500 starts with the team, and he led 17 laps last year. Rosenqvist led 14 laps last year, but an alternate fuel strategy didn’t go his way late, and he finished in a disappointing 27th.

While both are confident in their chances this year, the fact that Texas Motor Speedway hosted the season’s first oval race doesn’t necessarily help.

“Indy is a different beast,” Rosenqvist said. “That’s something I’ve learned under my relatively short IndyCar career. You kind of try to make assumptions based on other tracks and previous years, but every time you come there there’s something different. Maybe the tires are different, or the wind is different, or the weather. And on that track, for some reason, all these factors play in so much. You can be the king of one practice session, and then you have a one-hour break, you go out again, and you’re like, ‘Man, I can’t even pass anyone.’ And that’s just the way Indy is.”

Given all of the practice and build-up prior to qualifying and the race itself, he says that the important thing is really putting it all together when it counts.

“It’s more a thing about not being cocky and trying to just nail it at the end of the month,” he continued. “And just testing stuff, it’s like building a book of what you think are good setup changes and bad setup changes and bringing those tools to race day. That’s what it’s all about.

“I think we have a really good base setup that we can start from last year, but as I said, it’s just so far away to make any assumptions. I think everything looks good, theoretically speaking, from the Chevy side. Our cars on ovals have been really fast historically the last couple years, and myself, I feel really ready for a 500. I think I took some great steps there last year. But let’s see how it plays out.”

O’Ward echoed the same sentiment, and he too stressed patience.

“Same boat as Felix,” he said. “I think we’re as ready as can be for the month and for the process of the month of May to start. And yea, I think it’s very important that everybody is rowing toward the same goal, which we all are, so it’s good to see that. Just really looking forward to getting down, getting to work – and very important to stay patient. It’s just such a long time, and the race is quite a bit away from when the testing and all the practice starts. It’s very important not to forget that.”

The 106th running of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 29. Before then, Barber Motorsports Park is set to host the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama tomorrow afternoon, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course is scheduled to host the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday, May 14.