🇲🇽 Pato O'Ward

Pato O'Ward is an elite professional racing in a single-class national championship. The Mexican driver competes full-time in IndyCar for Arrow McLaren, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet. His FIA Gold grading places him among the professional grades in endurance racing. His Racer Rating of 7,024 reflects sustained success against established and elite competition across a 15-season career that began in 2012.[1]

O'Ward moved through the American single-seater ladder, winning seven races in Pro Mazda before stepping up to Indy NXT with Andretti Autosport in 2017. He took the Indy NXT championship in 2018 with nine wins in 21 starts, a dominant campaign that marked the clearest signal yet of his readiness for IndyCar. He joined the IndyCar grid that same year and has remained a regular there for nine seasons, taking 10 wins and 33 podiums across 119 starts. His record in IMSA WeatherTech endurance racing, 8 wins from 10 entries in shared LMP2 and PC machinery between 2017 and 2024, underscores his pace across different formats and the discipline required to work effectively alongside co-drivers. A brief foray into international single-seaters followed his main progression; he started two Formula 2 races in 2019 and three rounds of Super Formula in the same year, neither series yielding results that altered his trajectory.[2]

Among IndyCar's regular field, O'Ward sits in the company of elite and established professionals. He has finished ahead of Alex Palou, the four-time IndyCar champion, 47 times across their head-to-head racing, and ahead of Christian Lundgaard, a Formula 2 graduate and gold-graded professional, on 50 occasions. He races regularly against Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden, both established professionals with championship pedigree; the records against each are closely matched, reflecting the competitive tier he occupies rather than clear dominance in either direction. His standing as a professional on the grid is confirmed by those who line up alongside him most often.