McLaren unveil special Indy 500 'Triple Crown' liveries · RaceFans

McLaren have unveiled a special set of liveries its three full time cars will run in next month’s Indianapolis 500, commemorating its victories in each of the three ‘Triple Crown’ races.

McLaren will run four entries in this year’s Indy 500. Full-season drivers Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi will be joined by Tony Kanaan in a fourth car entered for his final attempt to repeat his 2013 victory in the race.

McLaren will run O’Ward, Rosenqvist and Rossi’s cars in special liveries across the month-long event, each commemorating a different win McLaren achieved in each of the three races of the Triple Crown – the Indy 500, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Rosenqvist will race a tribute to McLaren’s MP4/2 livery that Alain Prost raced in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix – the team’s first Monte Carlo win in a race that was infamously cut short by a red flag due to rain as Ayrton Senna hunted down Prost for the lead in his Toleman.

O’Ward’s number five McLaren will ruin in a black livery reminiscent of the McLaren F1 GTR BMW that won the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Yannick Dalmas, Masanori Sekiya and JJ Lehto. Rossi’s car will reflect the McLaren papaya orange livery that 1974 Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford raced to victory in the McLaren M16C/D that year.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown said the special livery series was intended to celebrate the team’s historic achievements in its 60th year of competition since the team was founded by Bruce McLaren.

“We are proud to have achieved motorsport’s prestigious Triple Crown as a constructor,” Brown said. “In our 60th year, we are shining a light on the legacy of the team that Bruce McLaren built and role this plays in fuelling our ambitions for the future of the team.

“As a lifelong McLaren fan, I fondly remember watching Alain Prost’s dramatic 1984 Monaco victory and the incredible moment when the team conquered Le Mans on its debut entry. Meanwhile Johnny Rutherford’s first Indy 500 win in papaya is one of the most important moments in McLaren Racing history. I can’t wait to see our four-car star-studded line-up flying the colours of our Triple Crown victories at this year’s Indy 500.”