Theo Pourchaire Replaces Alexander Rossi After McLaren Driver Breaks Thumb

• Alexander Rossi crashed in turn eight during practice Friday evening, resulting in a broken thumb. The California driver has returned to Indianapolis for treatment and rehabilitation and will return to his seat once healed.

• Theo Pourchaire raced for McLaren in five races this year, with a best finish of 10th in the Detroit Grand Prix.

• Pourchaire made it in time to qualify for the Toronto Grand Prix.

Arrow McLaren continues to be the center of attention in IndyCar, replacing Alexandar Rossi with Theo Pourchaire after the veteran driver broke his thumb in practice on Friday.

The logistics were messy as the F2 champion had just 20 hours' notice to make it from the French Rivera to Canada.

This comes just days after further details were released on how McLaren told the driver he was being replaced by Nolan Siegal just one day before the Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca.

Siegal became a hot commodity mid-season after winning the LMP2 class in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

After his initial interview with AUTOhebdo was picked up by the majority of the motorsports community, he clarified on Twitter that the split was amicable, adding, "Sure, it's disappointing not to be racing with the team, but they've held up, and respected all the areas of the contract, and Zak [Brown], Gavin [Ward] and Tony [Kanaan], along with the rest of the team, have been fully supportive of me and my wish to get back into an INDYCAR or other racing."

The French media outlet has since taken down the interview and article in question.

Kanaan, who works for McLaren as a special advisor, responded to Pourchaire's post, saying that there were moves happening behind the scenes to bring him back into the fold. Clearly, this wasn't the plan to get Pourchaire back into an IndyCar seat.

Pourchaire joined Arrow McLaren this year as a replacement for Callum Illot, who was a replacement for David Malukas. Malukas was dropped by McLaren before he ever got into a race vehicle due to a clause that allowed the team to dissolve the relationship after Malukas missed the first five races of the season after breaking his wrist while biking. There's a twisted symmetry to Rossi's injury.

Malukas was later picked up by Meyer Shank Racing. He made his debut at Laguna Seca the day after Pourchaire was released from the No. 6 seat.

McLaren also announced earlier this month that Rossi would not be returning to the No. 7 car next year and would be replaced by 22-year-old Christian Lundgaard. Rossi was looking for a long contract to ride into his veteran years and McLaren wasn't able to match his needs. Now the 2016 Indy 500 winner will have to navigate finding a new team with a tricky injury on the record.

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