Callum Ilott will stand in for the injured David Malukas in next week’s non-championship event at the Thermal Club.
Malukas, who suffered an accident while cycling in February, also missed the opening round of the IndyCar season last weekend at St Petersburg.After signing to join McLaren alongside Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi for the 2024 season, Malukas dislocated his left wrist in the accident. McLaren called Ilott up to replace Malukas for the first race.
They have now confirmed he will now participate in a test at the Barber Motorsports Park on Monday and race at the Thermal Club.
Ilott has raced in IndyCar for the last two seasons with Juncos Hollinger, before being replaced at the team by Romain Grosjean, leaving him out of a drive. Juncos Hollinger have a partnership with McLaren, who called on him to substitute for Malukas.
The 25-year-old qualified 16th last weekend at St. Petersburg and finished 13th, the lowest finishing of the three McLaren drivers. Ilott said it “wasn’t a bad race” for him at the season-opener.
“Honestly, it’s a shame we didn’t get a bit more out of it,” he said after the race. “Pato in P2 and Alexander in P8, so I think it was good that we could all move forward, and the number six car was quick this weekend and we can all come away happy with some points.”
The ‘$1 million Challenge’ non-championship event at the Thermal Club resort in California on the weekend of March 22nd-24th will see drivers competing in a series of heats before a final race to decide the winner of the $1 million prize. While IndyCar has held official tests at the Thermal Club previously, it is the first time that the series will race there.
The next round of the IndyCar championship will be at Long Beach on April 21st – one month after the Thermal Club event. Ilott will not be available for that round as it clashes with the World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Imola, where he is due to race for JOTA Porsche.
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MichaelN
14th March 2024, 17:15
Such a weird start to the Indycar season; to start on the 10th of March and then have the second round on the 21st of April is a huge gap, especially considering they’ll have rushed through all 17 races by mid September. And a non-championship race as the second event is also a bit goofy; you get people interested with the first race, and then immediately after the race doesn’t count? Odd.
As fun as the racing can be, some of these things serve as a reminder that it in many ways remains a bit of a haphazard regional series.
Asd
14th March 2024, 17:32
“As fun as the racing can be, some of these things serve as a reminder that it in many ways remains a bit of a haphazard regional series.”
I see it differently. I see it as a global series that is too big to fit in 1 country, where it’s at the mercy of a limited number of available venues and has to compete with a plethora of major American sports for calendar spots, because its TV and sponsor contracts also heavily determine where and when IndyCar can or can’t go.
If it was a regional touring car championship of the USA, you could fit it anywhere at anytime, but the 2nd most prestigious racing series in the world? Not so easy.
CD (@clipperdael)
14th March 2024, 18:31
It’s pretty likely there would have been another Texas race around that time if it wasn’t for NASCAR deciding to have a spring race there.
Don
14th March 2024, 22:51
After the injury Malukas is going to have a tough time wrestling an IndyCar without power steering around when he comes back. One would assume he’ll have to wear a brace. Ilott has a chance to get back into the series if he performs well.