IndyCar: Alexander Rossi's McLaren replacement confirmed for Toronto

Arrow McLaren's Alexander Rossi broke his thumb in a crash during Friday's practice session for Sunday afternoon's Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto IndyCar race on the streets of Exhibition Place.

As a result, the full-time driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet will not be able to compete in this Sunday's 85-lap race around the 11-turn, 1.786-mile (2.874-kilometer) temporary street circuit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

McLaren have confirmed that Theo Pourchaire, who drove the team's No. 6 Chevrolet in select races earlier this season, is set to replace Rossi throughout the rest of the weekend, starting with Saturday morning's practice session.

After running just one practice session, he is then set to partake in Saturday afternoon's qualifying session.

Theo Pourchaire back at McLaren

After filling in for the injured David Malukas, who ultimately ended up being released by the team, Pourchaire was said to be confirmed as the driver of the No. 6 car for the remainder of the season.

But after just five starts, including only two of what was slated to be a 12-race stretch to conclude the season, last year's Formula 2 champion was replaced by Nolan Siegel.

In those five starts, the 20-year-old Frenchman recorded a top finish of 10th place on the streets of Detroit, Michigan. That result remains the top result earned by any driver of the car this year. His most recent start came at Road America in early June.

Rossi himself is set to be replaced by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Christian Lundgaard next season. Despite the fact that McLaren cut ties with Malukas after his injury sidelined him for four races, Rossi is expected to return for the remainder of the 2024 season.

There are nearly four weeks between this Sunday's race in Toronto and the next race on the calendar, which is scheduled to take place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Saturday, August 17.

Rossi sits in eighth place in the championship standings with a top finish of third place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca late last month.

It has been more than 16 years since any driver of the No. 7 car won an IndyCar race.

Sunday's Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto is set to be shown live on Peacock beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET, meaning that fans will need to purchase a paid subscription to either the streaming service's Premium or Premium Plus plan to watch live. It is the first of two Peacock exclusives on the 17-race 2024 IndyCar schedule, the other being the first of two Milwaukee Mile races in late August.