Ward departs Arrow McLaren

11/19/2024 11:07 AM

Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward has split with the NTT IndyCar Series he led for the last two seasons.

The Canadian joined Arrow McLaren from Team Penske, where he won the 2019 championship as Josef Newgarden's race engineer, halfway through 2022. Ward's technical expertise was the first area of contribution to the McLaren squad, and when team president Taylor Kiel left for Chip Ganassi Racing in September of 2022, Ward was promoted to race director and Brian Barnhart was hired as its new general manager reporting to Ward. Ward's title was revised to team principal in 2023.

McLaren announced title and role changes for sporting director Tony Kanaan in October;  the IndyCar champion and Indianapolis 500 winner taking on a number of Ward's non-competition duties while being elevated to assistant team principal.

The streamlining of Ward's responsibilities came in reaction to the team falling short of its championship target this year. Reassigning certain responsibilities to Kanaan was intended to allow Ward to infuse more of his engineering and technical expertise into the entries for Pato O'Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel, and the revised hierarchy structure was meant to take the team to new heights in 2025.

But that plan has been shelved, leaving Kanaan, who joined the organization after completing his IndyCar farewell with the team at the 2023 Indy 500, as its new leader in concert with Barnhart and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.

In retrospect, the swift move from a technical role to leading an entire organization for the first time might have been performed at a faster rate than was optimal. A replacement is likely, but no candidates have been identified at the moment.

"I leave Arrow McLaren after two years developing a people-first culture set to topple the 20-year domination of IndyCar's championship teams," Ward said. "We've made major strides during my tenure. Our 2024 IndyCar season delivered the team's most-ever race wins, and we came within two turns of victory in the Indianapolis 500. Arrow McLaren is positioned for further success – with a stable driver lineup, significant off-season recruitment and thoughtful organizational changes.

"I wish my former colleagues well and hope our work together leads to more wins on and off the track. I plan to spend some time at home with my wonderful wife and two daughters while I evaluate what's next in my career."

Ward brought a different approach to running a racing team, placing a greater emphasis on mental health and inclusivity than was customary in the series prior to his appointment. McLaren's decision to place a race engineer and technical director atop the team was another unique aspect of Ward's tenure with the program.

"I want to thank Gavin for the time he gave to our Arrow McLaren team the past two seasons," Brown said. "We've grown significantly from where we were when he joined the team in 2022, and he was a big part of that transformation. We have a strong team in place, having grown this off-season, and we're fired up heading into 2025 to fight for race wins and championships."