STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — It was a wild week for the Arrow McLaren NTT IndyCar Series operation.
It began with a news cycle and ensuing speculation about the team’s driver lineup for next season, with the word on the street that incumbent drivers Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel would be replaced by Indianapolis 500 winners Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, while popular Mexican wheelman Pato O’Ward would remain with the team.
Then on Saturday, Lundgaard, who had won the team’s only two races this season, won the pole for Sunday’s race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with O’Ward qualifying second.
The week ended Sunday with O’Ward earning his first victory of the season and 10th of his career, while Lundgaard finished second and Siegel was 10th.
Team Principal Tony Kanaan was left to discuss the week that was with Arrow McLaren.
“I think first, there’s a lot of talk about what we’re doing in the team and a lot of speculation. I think we haven’t reached an agreement yet,” Kanaan said Sunay afternoon. “I think you guys will see in the near future what the team is doing. We haven’t been able to agree on a couple things.
“But I think as a team principal, I’m responsible for running this team as best as I can, and I think Christian has shown his potential, but also, there are other options out there, and I’ve got to consider all of them. The decision hasn’t been made yet.
“Although people keep putting people in my cars, it’s not done until it’s done. He’s still very much in play, and he’s an extremely capable race car driver. We’ll see what’s going to happen.”
Kanaan was proud of his team’s focus and performance on Sunday.
“They make noise, we’ll make a bigger noise. That’s how we work. I think this is a statement of what it is. There is a lot of things going on, a lot of distraction, and we’re able to keep this team on track with what we came here to do,” Kanaan said. “We came here to win the race. We came here to finish one-two-three, and we finished one-two. We’re trying to win this championship.
I kept the team tight. I kept the team at truth. They’re going to hear from me whatever the decision is.
“If they haven’t heard from me, that means there is no decision made yet. But rest assured that the decision is going to come with a lot of certainty and not taking for granted that 130 people are putting their life and their faith toward me, toward this guy that has a lot of responsibility, and I feel responsible for all of them.”
Kanaan understands his role as team leader.
“If I have to take a gamble, take a gamble, and if I need to take a hit, I’ll take a hit,” Kanaan said. “I’m here to win races. That’s what Zak (Brown, McLaren CEO) put me here for. That’s why I wake up every morning, and I’m working on that team for 13, 14 hours a day since I retired. For me, nothing is changing. Bring it on. Bring the distractions. We’ll keep changing that a little bit. Today we’re going to talk about one-two.”
Kanaan said no matter what happens Arrow McLaren will continue to build its operation.
“It says a lot about how much work we’ve been doing. Look at this team three years ago and look at this team now. It’s not the same team,” he said. “We’ve been changing. We’ve been adding personnel. We’ve been adding a lot of the culture that we’ve been trying to achieve. We’ve been adding the Hunter-Reays and the Kyle Moyers and also working with the drivers with what we need and what they need to be able to perform. There is no excuses when you have a name like McLaren and a boss like Zak.
“I just said, this was our first one-two, and my text to him says, and it won’t be the last, and that’s Zak,” Kanaan added. “Proud of them, proud of the drivers with the distraction and everything that has been going on. I’m trying to be as mindful and as fair as possible using my own experiences.
“I’ve been through some ups and downs in my career, if I can help them out. But the focus is we always leave is all at the race track because at the end of the day the results will speak for themselves.”
