McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says he’s satisfied with his IndyCar driver Theo Pourchaire’s explanation of how a story published on a French website was “grossly inaccurate” and has since been taken down.
An article on the online version of the AUTOhebdo magazine was published on Tuesday, which focused on Pourchaire’s removal from the #6 Arrow McLaren seat in favour of Nolan Siegel ahead of the Laguna Seca round last month and claimed that funding issues and a sponsor withdrawal played a central role.
The article – which was written in a Q&A format – has since been removed, and Pourchaire made a statement on social media.
“I’ve read the article published on AUTOhebdo this week and I’m disappointed in how grossly inaccurate my words and comments portrayed my interview,” Pourchaire wrote. “There’s no question on Arrow McLaren’s stability in its partnerships and their funding, so for AUTOhebdo to include that in my interview, it’s absolutely false.”
Speaking ahead of the Toronto IndyCar race today, for which Pourchaire has been recalled to the team in place of the injured Alexander Rossi in its #7 car, Brown explained how he has cleared the air with Pourchaire over what was written.
“Things can sometimes get lost in translation,” Brown told Autosport. “We didn't hear the interview.
“I talked to Theo about it. His commentary was that it was not the interview that he gave, he gave his quotes and then the journalist wrote the story around that [was] kind of misleading – this is according to Theo because I didn't do the interview.
“[They] built the story around it, brought his quotes in, and it was factually very inaccurate. So, if you look at his quotes themselves, he thought he was going to Laguna, got the phone call, understood it, was disappointed – I get it, I would be too – but the reality is we did everything the contract said we could do.
“It was a tough decision, but you have to make tough decisions. But the [assertion] we've lost a major sponsor [was] totally inaccurate. We have financial challenges, totally inaccurate.
“I was very angry about that because the journalists never contacted us to give us a right of reply. To make statements like that, the way it kind of read was almost like it came out of Theo’s mouth. But when you then reread it, and speak with Theo, those weren't his quotes.
“I think it was very inaccurate information with his quotes blended in to make it look like this was a Theo’s story – at least that’s what is Theo’s told me. So I thought that was very poor journalism.”
Brown said the fact the story was removed indicated it was “potentially very damaging and inaccurate”.
“I think that kind of tells you if they felt very comfortable that it was a very credible story, they wouldn't have taken it down,” he said. “Credit to the editor-in-chief or whoever that they recognised that was a potentially a very damaging and inaccurate story.
“I appreciate that AUTOhebdo took it down and recognised, because I think the journalist protocol would be to call us and at least ask, ‘I'm hearing this, this is true?’ and we can say ‘It's definitely not true’.
When Autosport asked Pourchaire – who dashed from France to Canada on Saturday morning – for his view of the article, he replied: “It's a bit unfortunate. I'm thankful to Arrow McLaren for the opportunity they gave me in Long Beach, back in April, giving me the chance to drive in IndyCar. We decided to finish the season. Unfortunately, they replaced me. I was disappointed, of course. That's the reality.
“But the rest... I don't know anything about the rest. For me, what I said is just I'm happy for the opportunity. I was just a little bit disappointed, of course. But I'm still here with the team. They called me. I said, ‘Yes, of course I want to race.’”
