Pourchaire “tired mentally” after “amazing” oval test debut

The 20-year-old Frenchman was aided by team-mate Alexander Rossi, who helped shake down the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner and the team’s sporting director, was also on-site to help provide mentorship.

Pourchaire, who had only made his series debut last month with an 11th-place effort on the Streets of Long Beach, California, took to the 1.25-mile oval and managed to complete 110 laps on the day.

“We just finished the day here in St. Louis,” said Pourchiare, the 2023 Formula 2 champion.

“It’s been a great day and really happy that I was able to get back behind the wheel of the Arrow McLaren Indy car; to have this opportunity again was great.

“The first time for me on an oval, which was really exciting. I couldn’t wait to feel the driving on an oval. I can say it now, it’s really, really quick. Really impressive.

“You have to be really smooth on the steering wheel, steering inputs, going back on power and you have to be really smooth in the car. It feels amazing.”

The unique challenge to learn the new track discipline also provided some mental fatigue when the day had wrapped up.

“I’m really tired mentally as well because it’s going super quick and you don’t want to do a mistake on a track like this,” Pourchaire said.

“If you do a small mistake you can end up in the wall and we all know if you end up in the wall on an oval is really dangerous, but I enjoyed it.

“It’s been a pretty good day. The pace was good and yeah, I would like to thank everyone on the team for giving me this opportunity. I would like to thank Tony and Alexander as well for helping me today getting used to an Indy car on an oval track. It was a good day.”

According to a team representative, Pourchaire has been given “the green light from the series to compete on ovals in the future.”

Outside of his run at Long Beach, Pourchaire also raced for the team in the most recent round at Barber Motorsports Park, where he was running 18th on the penultimate lap before being punted out of the way by team-mate Pato O’Ward.

As of now, Pourchaire has not been confirmed for more races with the team. Arrow McLaren has yet to announce its driver(s) of the No. 6 entry for the rest of the season following last week’s release David Malukas.