David Malukas was released by Arrow McLaren on Monday without running an IndyCar race for the team because of injuries the 22-year-old suffered in an offseason mountain biking crash.
Malukas was signed in September to the three-car IndyCar team when McLaren was in a late scramble to fill a seat because two-time series champion Alex Palou breached his contract and declined to join the team as planned in 2024.
The job suddenly fell to Malukas, who was still looking for a confirmed third season in IndyCar. Although he’s done all the social media and marketing McLaren asked of him, he dislocated his left wrist and tore tendons when he crashed on his mountain bike one month before the season-opening race.
The Feb. 11 accident was expected to cost Malukas two races, the team believed. But when he could not compete Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, it marked his fourth consecutive missed race and triggered a clause in his contract that allowed McLaren to terminate the deal.
McLaren said in a statement Malukas has been “unavailable for the entirety of the season to date, with no confirmed return date, as a result of a left wrist injury, which occurred February 11, in a mountain biking incident.”
Malukas thanked McLaren for the opportunity, noting his rehab was taking longer than expected.
“The past three months have been challenging. I felt privileged to have had the opportunity to drive for Arrow McLaren and regret that it never materialized. I would have loved to have continued representing the team and its partners going forward,” Malukas said. “They have been good, and I appreciate all they have done for me. I’ve done everything possible to speed up the rehab process — treatments, physiotherapy, strength training — but my recovery has taken longer than anticipated.”
McLaren has used Callum Ilott and Theo Pouchaire over the first four races, and the duo could combine to complete the season. Both have superseding commitments in other racing series that prohibit either joining Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi full-time.
McLaren had hinted that it was running out of time on Malukas during the Long Beach race weekend earlier this month.
“The team has been very supportive of David, but what’s more unfortunate is his injury is much more serious than we thought initially,” McLaren team principal Gavin Ward said over the weekend.
“A big part of our focus has been trying to help him in every way in his recovery, but we’ve…
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