Taylor Kiel, chairman of Arrow McLaren SP and long-time IndyCarArray member, has stepped down from his role effective Tuesday, McLaren Racing announced.
No explanation was given for Kiel’s departure, and the team noted in a statement: “As the team moves to 3 cars for 2023 (IndyCar season), announcements about team control will be made in due course. “
On Twitter, Kiel wrote on Tuesday: “It has been an honour to work for Arrow McLaren SP for over a decade. Now that I’m stepping away, I’m very proud to make this team a powerhouse capable of fighting for championships and winning each and every one. “Now I look forward to spending time with my own circle of developing family members and what happens next!
Kiel’s resolution comes at a time of great expansion and expansion for the team. A few months after being promoted to president of the general control team in January 2021, McLaren Racing acquired a 75% majority stake in Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson’s expired IndyCar program. last year. This season, the AMSP led through a five-person board that included McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown as well as Schmidt, Peterson and two other McLaren appointees, with Kiel running the team’s day-to-day operations and reporting directly to the board.
It has been an honour to work for Arrow McLaren SP for over a decade. Now that I am retiring, I am very proud to make this team a powerhouse capable of fighting for championships and victories each and every week. Now I look forward to spending time with my own circle of developing relatives and what happens next!pic. twitter. com/CeJAsCY0Mo
This spring, Kiel and Brown announced in May a new contract extension until 2025 for Pato O’Ward, after the Mexican engine made public its dissatisfaction with its current contract. In the following months, the team showed its expansion to 3 full-time cars for next season, touchdown for a long time Andretti Autosport driving force Alexander Rossi.
Although Kiel ultimately did not make the decisions, he helped his team triumph over a wave of uncertainty related to its third seat for 2023 in recent months. In June, McLaren Racing announced it had signed Felix Rosenqvist on a new one-year multi-contract within McLaren Racing’s family circle and said he would be assigned to its new Formula E team or keep his seat in IndyCar. A few weeks later, McLaren announced it had signed 2021 IndyCar champion Alex Palou to a similar deal with McLaren. – although for a long time it was assumed that Palou would upgrade the Swedish driving force in IndyCar.
It turned out that Rosenqvist had never signed the Formula E documents, and McLaren only had one IndyCar team option over Rosenqvist for 2023 that was due to expire on September 30, all the more subdued as it was navigating from afar in Palou’s lawsuit with Chip Ganassi Racing. his IndyCar company filed a civil lawsuit when he believed he had breached his agreement with them. Hours before McLaren announced the signing of Palou on the evening of July 12, CGR announced that it had selected the Palou team option for 2023.
After weeks of legal back-and-forth between Palou and Ganassi’s lawyers and mediation sessions, the parties announced last week that Palou would remain in his 10th CGR position for 2023, but that he would be allowed to consult with McLaren’s Formula 1 team when such sessions are held. Minutes later, McLaren announced that Rosenqvist would return to the IndyCar program for 2023 to travel alongside Rossi and O’Ward.
In addition to its pilot circus, AMSP also announced plans this year for a new state-of-the-art team headquarters in Whitestown. According to the end of May, the team had planned to innovate in this facility in August or September, although it is not certain if this has already happened or not. Plans were in place for the new 97,000-square-foot facility to be operational by late 2023 or early 2024 and more than double the length of the existing equipment facility. While he’s not sure right now, the new facility may host an IMSA sports car program long-term, Brown recently told reporters.
On track, Kiel had presided over a revitalized IndyCar program in recent years that finished fourth (2020) and third (2021) with O’Ward in the names race after scoring just one of the top 10 in the motor forces championship since Simon Pagenaud’s departure. . With O’Ward, for whom Kiel served as strategist, the young Mexican driving force achieved five poles and 4 victories in her 3 years in charge. Although 2022 was a complicated year for O’Ward in terms of championship classification (7th), injured by 3 DNF not attributable to the reasons, the crusade represented the resurgence of Rosenqvist amid hypotheses about his professional career and a complicated integration into the AMSP in 2021, where he finished 21st in the points.
Rosenqvist, along with O’Ward, delivered AMSP’s Indianapolis 500 to date in 2022, completing 4th and 2nd respectively, with sole driver Juan Pablo Montoya in 11th.
Following in the footsteps of his father-in-law Mike Hull, longtime managing director of Chip Ganassi Racing, Kiel joined what was then Sam Schmidt Motorsports, largely focused on Indy Lights in 2008, literally sweeping the floors to get his foot on track. at the door. There, he learned ropes, from repairing gearboxes to installing engines and construction parts to win two titles (including Josef Newgarden in 2011), and starting with the 2012 season, the Indianapolis venue moved to the IndyCar side.
In 2018, he was appointed General Manager of the team.