IndyCar CEO Mark Miles is confident that McLaren will be back at next year’s Indianapolis 500, as the Formula 1 team continues to consider its options of starting a full-time team in the Verizon IndyCar Series. “Zak Brown and McLaren hope to be back at Indianapolis next year and are analyzing possibilities for full-season participation,” Miles said of McLaren's executive director. “We have prospects for more teams on the grid. Bobby Rahal has that ambition to go to a second car along with his primary car for Graham Rahal. And you saw a couple of new teams compete in the 500 that want to run the full season. “For smaller organizations, it’s about putting all the economics together. For bigger ones, it’s about ROI (Return on Investment) and priorities. We’re hopeful the pipeline will continue to supply us with new owners.” McLaren entered two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso in the 101st Indianapolis 500. The driver from Spain captured much of the attention during the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He quickly adapted to the high-speed nature of his first oval track race by qualifying fifth and lading four times for 27 laps before his Honda engine blew up on lap 179 of the 200-lap race.

“It was a ‘Love-In,’” Miles said of McLaren and Alonso at the Indy 500. “The initiative started with Alonso’s objective of running the Indianapolis 500 at some point. Of McLaren thinking this might be a time when that is feasible and could be advantageous on lots of fronts for them and IndyCar and Michael Andretti seizing the opportunity to get him here.” The prospect of a fulltime team such as McLaren joining the Verizon IndyCar Series would be huge similar to adding another team on the scale of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport. “It’s a great brand in terms of its racing heritage,” Miles said. “The United States is their single biggest market for cars for consumers so it makes sense for them. They are a great organization. They may have some challenge with their Formula One plan but they will sort all of that out. They do things in a very first class way and they are racers. “With that history and their current organizational strengths, they would be a terrific addition to the IndyCar grid.”

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