He was signed for the rest of the season and then sacked 40 days later. Then, last weekend, Theo Pourchaire was called back up to the McLaren IndyCar team.
The circumstances meant Pourchaire had to star in his own remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles in getting from Nice in France to Canada in 12 hours to then jump straight in for a qualifying session at a track he’d never even tried in the proper simulator.
So what happened to Pourchaire in Toronto, what did he make of being called up again, could he back again, and what’s the latest on Alexander Rossi, the driver he replaced?
What happened in Pourchaire's race?
Given he was driving the bumpy Toronto track for the first time in qualifying, it was no surprise Pourchaire was near the bottom of his qualifying group - though he did beat regular Sting Ray Robb to secure 26th on the grid.
Not even the steering wheel was the same as when he had last raced for the team in Road America, as Rossi uses a different configuration and also the hybrid unit has been introduced in the time Pourchaire has been away.
As fortune would have it, Pourchaire had stayed in Indianapolis after his sacking - even reportedly visiting the shop of Rahal Letterman Lanigan, which has at least one seat open next year due to Christian Lundgaard's 2025 McLaren move - until just three days before Toronto when he headed home.
He was 26th in the final practice before the race, in which he mostly just kept his nose clean as he brought home a 14th-place finish for the #7 car after what had ended up being a crash-filled conclusion to the event.
What was good and bad?
Ultimately, Pourchaire didn’t produce the kind of pace many of his fans who believe he was fired unfairly for Nolan Siegel would have wanted, but given the lack of preparation and the changes to the car even since his last race less than two months ago it was a steady performance.
He pitted six laps in, under caution, for tyres and to top off with fuel in case that helped with strategy later, but struggled on the soft tyres - he wasn’t the only one - and pitted again at lap 20. For reference, the leaders were able to go 35 laps in the first stint but that was also exclusively on the hard tyre.
He had a few good dices in the races, passing Kyffin Simpson on lap 49/85, but one that didn’t quite go his way was with Linus Lundqvist on lap 55 at Turn 4. Both drivers overshot the corner and Pourchaire picked up a puncture, sending him to the pits again. He reckoned this slip cost him what should've been a top 10 at the end of the race.
The Nos. 7 and 8 tangle!@L_Lundqvist76 gets into the tire barrier but we stay green!
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 21, 2024
📺: #IndyTO on Peacock pic.twitter.com/vhj0byYAsl
Pourchaire stopped on lap 73, having avoided a massive crash that took out both of his team-mates Pato O’Ward and Siegel, and took fresh softs to the finish where he had one final duel with Coyne’s Toby Sowery, making a tidy move to secure 14th.
Sowery was the last car still in the race so Pourchaire effectively finished second to last on the road.
No sign of absolutely searing pace, but an impressive result given his lack of experience, knowledge of the car changes and, perhaps most importantly of all, sleep!
And he did have the eighth fastest outlap on cold tyres, and the fourth fastest inlap of the race. Inlaps and outlaps are key to making up positions in IndyCar - and Pourchaire's best were quicker than either of his team-mates managed.
What does it say about McLaren's decision to sign Siegel?
Ultimately, comparing Pourchaire and Siegel is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. Pourchaire has achieved far more than Siegel in their respective careers so far, with Siegel (while admittedly a Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 winner) yet to win a championship, despite Pourchaire only being 15 months older.
Siegel has delivered similar performances where he has kept the car’s nose clean and scored good points for the team, and he’s clearly at a different point in his learning and performance trajectory than Pourchaire. Whether Siegel can achieve the same peaks is the question everybody wants the answer to, but no one can without more time.
All this race did was show that Pourchaire is immense under pressure and, on the day, will deliver a solid performance. He’s shown he’s good enough to race in IndyCar and by all measurable performance metrics he should still be in a McLaren seat. McLaren will have to hope Siegel reaches that level in the future to avoid further inspection of the move it made.
What did Pourchaire say about his race?
"It was a very tough and challenging race for me," he said. "I think we did an amazing job with the #7 Ryde Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew. The car was amazing, and the team did their best. I did my best, as well.
“With the end of the race now, I probably arrived 26 hours ago. I didn't know the track, and I haven't raced in about five weeks.
Last minute call, 10 hours flight, 6 hours of jet lag, almost no sleep, first time driving in 6 weeks, straight to qualifying & new track.
— Théo Pourchaire (@TPourchaire) July 22, 2024
That’s a lot of problems to manage, but we made it work with @ArrowMcLaren ! pic.twitter.com/EedSF0p9z0
“It's an amazing job to go from P26 to P14 and avoid major incidents. I made one small mistake during the race that cost us perhaps a top-10 finish. I am just proud of myself and the team. We showed great pace, and I am so proud and happy that I was able to race again."
How did Pourchaire even make it to the race?
Just 10 minutes after McLaren announced Rossi was not able to race further, the team’s sporting director was on the phone to Pourchaire.
Less than 30 minutes later his flights were booked and he was on the way, while simultaneously McLaren's factory manager Doug Tapscott picked up Pourchaire’s seat and overalls and drove overnight to Toronto.
Pourchaire tried to sleep on his flight from Frankfurt to Toronto, so his journey from Nice to Frankfurt was the only time to check over the onboard footage and race preparation documents that had already been sent to him.
He arrived at the track an hour before qualifying, incredibly, and after it was done he said: “I want one thing right now, a bed with air conditioner and sleep.”
Pourchaire’s schedule to arrive for practice (Eastern Time)
1800: Team announces Rossi will not race rest of the weekend
1810: Sporting director Tony Kanaan calls Pourchaire (it's 0010 in Nice)
1837: Pourchaire’s flight is booked
1845: Shop manager Doug Tapscott picks up Pourchaire firesuit and seat, drives overnight to Toronto
2200: Engineers send onboard footage and race prep to Pourchaire
0000: Pourchaire departs from Nice, France, for Frankfurt, Germany
0130: Pourchaire lands in Frankfurt, debriefs and begins race prep with Kanaan
0400: Pourchaire departs for Toronto, Kanaan heads to bed
1250: Pourchaire arrives at airport, then takes train to Union Station
1322: Pourchaire arrives at Union Station, is collected by team to go to track
1340: Pourchaire arrives at track
It was an amazing feat of logistics to get him there.
Mission complete. 🛬
— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) July 20, 2024
Let’s go qualify, team. 👊 pic.twitter.com/AcfBFUREVv
Asked what the hardest part of the journey was, he said after qualifying: “The most challenging part is the stress first. I didn't drive a race car since before Laguna Seca. I knew it was going to be tight to drive in quali. You have 10 minutes and you have to do the job. You have to be really quick, learn the track. I knew there was a hybrid system in the car I had to manage.
“It was very stressful.
“The jet lag…I just came back from Indy to France, and now France to Toronto. I don't really know where I am actually. I mean, it's part of the life of a racing driver. I enjoy it. I'm super happy to be here. Even if I'm tired, I'm super happy.”
Whether McLaren went for Pourchaire out of sympathy and aware of the positive PR it might create giving the driver another race chance, whether it simply felt Pourchaire was the best or only option available or the rumours are true about Pourchaire still being paid by McLaren, he was only too happy to oblige.
Just days before, translations of a French-language AutoHebdo article had quoted Pourchaire as being “disgusted” with how McLaren let him go, a short time after which Pourchaire had released a statement distancing himself from those comments.
Given how he jumped at this opportunity, it seems he understands the business side of the sport and McLaren’s decision.
What's the latest on Rossi?
Rossi had successful surgery on his thumb shortly after the race. On Saturday, he’d said his mind was on Gateway - as a break in the calendar means he has almost a month to get ready.
An update from @AlexanderRossi. 🧡 pic.twitter.com/yGXpakwZnr
— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) July 22, 2024
If he isn’t, Pourchaire has said he will be available again, but he has only done two oval tests and McLaren would have better plug-in-and-play options for that type of discipline.
Cast is off! Rehab started today. Bout to become an elite level thumb war player. pic.twitter.com/rmYY3ZBT0O
— Alexander Rossi (@AlexanderRossi) July 24, 2024
Could Pourchaire be back?
Another drive this year would almost certainly involve replacing an injured driver again, because rationing of the new hybrid power units means teams have to apply for special permission to run an extra car. And there's only one road course remaining, at Portland.
Pourchaire likely did enough in his six starts to prove he warrants a seat in combination with his previous achievements, but if The Race’s sources are correct Pourchaire would need to be bought out of his Sauber contract to be available.
If this is the case it might put other teams off signing him when there are so many excellent unattached free agents on the market for next season, Indy 500 winner Rossi being one of them.
There are increasingly few seats remaining for next season - so it might be tough for Pourchaire to sneak in.
That being said, if you’d have told me five days ago Pourchaire would drive for McLaren again this season, I would have laughed in your face.
Additional reporting by Will Jenkins
