Jake Lauren Gaudion, Arrow McLaren’s director of communications, has been appointed to the position of Vice President of Marketing and Communications. She succeeds Mo Murray, who joined the company in January 2023 as marketing vice president.
“To say I’m excited would be an understatement,” explained Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward to RACER. “Since Lauren joined this team and this sport, she has truly wowed everyone who has connected with her, and she has knocked it out of the park. We were seeking to unify our commercial and communications structure, and I usually look internally for possibilities for people, and Lauren had a lot of potential.
“It’s a huge leap. And, no, she has never done some of these things before. But this was a group decision made by the entire executive team here, and we have a lot of faith in her, and we’re here to provide her with the tools she requires from within McLaren to make the transition as seamless as possible.”
Gaudion will have enough of internal support as she matures into the position, as her staff is one of the greatest in IndyCar for marketing and promotions. Gaudion, who was new to motor racing, made immediate headway in building on the work of her predecessor, former McLaren communications manager Tim Bampton, who boosted the team’s public relations department to be among the finest in the championship.
“In what I’ve seen in Lauren, she embodies the characteristics that really we’re looking for in the team culture here at Arrow McLaren,” Ward went on to say. “She’s just been unassailable in her work ethic, she’s extremely organized, and she’s always going out of her way to seek the grudging praise of colleagues and the commercial team here. She excels in community outreach projects and gets along well with our teammates in the United Kingdom.
“She maintains her cheerfulness in the face of adversity and is eager to engage in uncomfortable conversations with others for their own good. This is exactly what we want to see. And with her new role, we believe she will lead the group and we will all grow together. “I’m thrilled.”
In addition, the team has signed Kyle Sagan, an experienced IndyCar technician and championship-winning pit crew member, as its new pit stop manager. Although the position is common among NASCAR teams, it is not as common in IndyCar, so it is a new role for Arrow McLaren and marks a managerial transition for Sagan, who has previously worked at Andretti Global, A.J. Foyt Racing, and Chip Ganassi Racing, where he won the 2023 title as a rear tire changer on Alex Palou’s No. 10 Honda.
“The discipline justifies a full-time position with someone that really owns it, and an approach of mine is giving clear areas of ownership and accountability across the team,” he said. “Pit stops are always intriguing, right? Because you’re trying to balance a number of variables, such as the mechanics’ ability and how they work on the car, while also going over the wall for pit stops.
“I really wanted to make very clear that we have an owner who is who is 100-percent focused on getting us from being the third best team on pit lane last year to being the best.”
Sagan, known as one of the ‘glue people’ in the paddock, is someone Ward sees as a good match beyond his primary tasks of coaching and tuning up Arrow McLaren’s pit crew.
“When you look at Kyle, you had two things there that were super-exciting,” Ward went on to say. “One is that no one will question his capacity to get the task done over the wall. So you have the credibility of someone who has done it for a long time and at the top levels in the most pressured environments.
“And the second thing is simply his character. We chatted to Kyle, and it was clear immediately away that he understood. He understands people. He also has a lot of interpersonal abilities. Kyle is, in my opinion, a beautiful human being who knows what it means to be part of a successful culture. That’s an excellent guy to have on the floor. And we’re just getting started.
