Scott McLaughlin laments "super bad" IndyCar issue meddling with his Le Mans dream

Scott McLaughlin became the latest IndyCar star to blast the 2025 schedule as "super bad", due to it clashing with this year's edition of the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Kiwi driver shared his ambition to race in the endurance event but mentioned that he could not do so this year.

Scott McLaughlin has been with Team Penske ever since his debut in IndyCar in 2020 and has won seven races with them in his time in the series. His association with the American team goes back to 2017 though, as he drove for their team in the Supercars Championship up until 2020, and bagged three consecutive titles.

Speaking on the Apex Hunter United podcast on Tuesday, McLaughlin shared how he trusts the Penske group to put him in the right place at the right time when asked if he sees a future in the World Endurance Championship with Penske's Porsche project.

The 31-year-old also mentioned his ambitions of competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans but expressed that he could not race at the iconic French event because of the 2025 IndyCar schedule.

"I'd love to try Le Mans, that's probably the 'next thing' for me to try, but its just, the [IndyCar] calendar, just is super bad for us," said McLaughlin. "I think I race this year on that weekend and if you haven't been there [Le Mans] before you have to do a rookie orientation kind of thing the week before, so its quite hard," he added (22:04 onwards).

McLaughlin also shared that he tested a Porsche Penske car, two weeks ago at Sebring, and described it to be very similar to a supercar. For now, though, the New Zealand driver has begun his fifth full season in IndyCar and will be hoping to finish right at the top end of the championship this time.

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Alex Palou and Scott Dixon also complained about the 2025 IndyCar schedule prior to Scott McLaughlin's criticism

Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon at the Indianapolis 500 Carb Day - Source: Getty

Scott McLaughlin mentioned that the 2025 IndyCar schedule is not suited for drivers who wish to compete in Le Mans on Tuesday. But Alex Palou and Scott Dixon were two of many other drivers who raised this issue already when the schedule was first announced in June last year.

The reigning IndyCar champion did not mince his words and blasted the schedule as a "joke".

"I think it's a joke that we overlap with one of the biggest races in the world, especially when we can avoid it," said Palou. [via roadandtrack.com]

Scott Dixon on the other hand, labeled the clash of schedules as a "bummer", saying:

"It's frustrating, obviously, my real job is racing IndyCar, so that schedule takes precedence, but I figured through most of the years they tried to give leeway for Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring. A lot of us drivers like to have that crossover, so it's a bummer."

The complaints from the drivers arose as the IndyCar schedule had been worked around Le Mans in previous years. But this year, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in Illinois is scheduled on the very same weekend as the race in France i.e., June 14-16.

Scott McLaughlin has never competed in an endurance race of any kind in his motorsports career, and as previously mentioned, has expressed his ambitions to do so in the near future.