McLaren’s sole focus is on Indy 500 not a fulltime IndyCar series entry

As the president of McLaren’s Indy 500 effort, Bob Fernley was asked Saturday if the team might consider entering two cars in this year’s race.

“I'm having enough difficulty doing one car,” Fernley said with a laugh. “No, there's absolutely no interest whatsoever in doing a second car.”

McLaren’s Indy 500 program is being led by Fernley and 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time CART champion Gil de Ferran. The Chevrolet team will partner with Carlin for engineering support and hopes to give two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso a competitive car for the 500-mile race.

McLaren has emphasized that there are no confirmed plans for 2020 and will not say if this effort is the first step toward a full-time McLaren team in the NTT IndyCar Series. The racing company wants to get through this year’s Indy 500 before making that evaluation.

“Look, I think in general it's too early to speculate what lies beyond the Indianapolis 500,” de Ferran said. “All of our efforts are just to do the best job we can for the 500. I mean, it's no secret that we continue to evaluate a deeper involvement as McLaren in IndyCar racing. But I have nothing really to comment about that at this point.”

Fernley said that will be a decision made by many stakeholders at McLaren.

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