Yahoo Autos Arrow McLaren severs ties with Juncos Hollinger
The Arrow McLaren NTT IndyCar Series team has severed its business relationship with Juncos Hollinger Racing.
The move comes after an on-track incident on Sunday at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix caused by Arrow McLaren’s Theo Pourchaire and involving Juncos Hollinger’s Agustin Canapino (main image) led to a select group of Canapino’s fans to attack Pourchaire on social media, including death threats that were sent through direct messages.
Both teams worked together and filed a joint statement on Monday that rebuked the behavior, but in the days that followed, Arrow McLaren took the time to assess its ties to the team owned by Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger and chose to conclude the arrangement.
“Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team has terminated its commercial alliance with Juncos Hollinger Racing, effective immediately,” the team said in a statement published Thursday morning.
“This decision follows actions that occurred earlier this week on social media in regards to an on-track incident at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. As reflected in the team’s social media community code, Arrow McLaren will not tolerate any form of abuse or discrimination and totally condemns the online abuse directed toward our team and driver.”
Under the deal, struck during the offseason, Arrow McLaren engaged Juncos Hollinger to make use of available space on the rear tire ramps of JHR’s two Chevy-powered cars to place extra sponsor inventory it could not accommodate on its trio of Chevy-powered cars.
The relationship, which was inspired by the overabundance of sponsors and partners involved with Arrow McLaren, was meant to provide financial benefit for Juncos Hollinger while helping Arrow McLaren to add extra value for a handful of backers. With the tire ramp space having gone unused to far this season, the choice to bring an end to the program in the wake of this week’s issues was taken.
The JHR team is also expected to remove the flourishes of McLaren’s papaya orange from its cars.
“As of today, our strategic partnership with Arrow McLaren has come to a conclusion. We appreciate the time spent with McLaren over past months,” read a statement issued by Juncos Hollinger.
“They are a world class organization which we enjoy competing against week in and week out. While the results of the partnership did not mature, we have the upmost respect for them and are confident in the future of Juncos Hollinger Racing.”