Yahoo Autos McLaren Could Do A "Full-Works" IndyCar Program in the Future
Two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso shocked the motorsports world yesterday when he announced that he'd skip the Monaco Grand Prix to contest the Indy 500. Alonso's team, McLaren, actually worked out a deal with Andretti Autosport to get Alonso in the car for the race, but that might not be the end of McLaren's IndyCar ambitions.
Mansour Ojeh, one of McLaren's most important shareholders, told Motorsport (via Motor1) that its entry in the 101st Indy 500 might not be a one-off.
"The Indy 500 is the only IndyCar race we'll be entering this year, but we may possibly repeat that in years to come," said Ojeh. "It's just possible that we may even run a full-works McLaren IndyCar operation at some point in the future. We'll see."
McLaren entering IndyCar is a natural progression for the company, thanks to its current F1 engine supplier Honda. The Japanese giant is currently one of two engine suppliers for the IndyCar series.
McLaren also has a storied history at Indy: With Offenhauser-powered cars, the company won first with Mark Donohue in 1972, then with Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976.
In the same interview, Ojeh also reiterated that McLaren is seriously considering a return to Le Mans in some capacity.
"We may potentially enter the Le Mans 24 Hours again some time–we won it outright in 1995 with our iconic McLaren F1 GTR–but to be clear we have absolutely no definite plans to do so at this stage," he said.
An IndyCar entry from McLaren would certainly be a big deal. Who knows? A Honda-powered Andretti-entered piloted by an F1 driver won the 500 last year. If McLaren and Alonso can achieve a good result this year, a works IndyCar effort will seem like a real possibility.
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