David Malukas has provided an update on his wrist injury that he sustained before the start of the 2024 IndyCar season.
The American broke his left wrist in a mountain biking accident in February and had been due to race with Arrow McLaren after signing a multi-year deal.
Malukas missed the first four races of the season – being replaced by Callum Illot and Theo Pourchaire – before McLaren released the 22-year-old from the team due to an unclear recovery time.
Now, Malukas has made his return to IndyCar with Meyer Shank Racing, replacing co-owner and legendary driver Helio Castroneves, and speaking on The Race IndyCar Podcast, the American has given an update on the condition of his hand since he returned to racing.
David Malukas thinks his wrist injury will not be 100% healed until next season
Malukas got back behind the wheel of an Indy car at Laguna Seca, qualifying and finishing in 12th.
In the five races since his return with Meyer Shank Racing, Malukas has qualified in the top 12 of four of them and achieved a best finish of sixth last time out in Toronto.
And Malukas revealed that he has not fully recovered from his wrist injury and does not expect it to be 100% healed until next season.
Speaking about the injury, he said: “I mean, it’s a big kudos to the medical team, Doctor [Terry] Trammell, everybody there, just from the medical unit. They’re the ones that managed to get the hand wrapped and put it into sort of a position where I can handle with it in the car,
“Like you said, these last few races it’s definitely still been somewhat of an issue dealing with the hand. But the results have been there.
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“I feel like that, in some ways you can kind of see, you know in qualifying when it’s just a one lap, just pushing. I mean it’s sore but I do one lap and then I can rest for a few minutes and then I go again.
“So, qualifying has been there and in the races, those long races towards the end, the hands starts to get pretty sore, I mean it’s throttling down a little bit.
“Thankfully there’s a three week break, so I’m actually going to be able to recover the hand, because when I joined in, I mean it was back to back to back races and all of them were just very, very tough to deal with that hand. It was bad timing from that point, it was aggressive physical therapy before.
“The hand is still, it’s not going to be 100% until the next season, so even in these last few races we’re still going to be dealing with it, but now I think going into the second half, I’ve tested the strength and everything, and I think from a movement standpoint we’re on like an 80% mark, when before it was pretty low!”
David Malukas will join AJ Foyt Racing in 2025
Malukas’ impressive results since returning to IndyCar as got other teams on the grid noticing the talent of the 22-year-old.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the American would be moving to A. J. Foyt Racing for 2025 on a multi-year deal, with Malukas saying that he was ‘excited for the future’ with the team.
With five races of the season to go, four of which being on ovals, Malukas will be hoping to continue his solid performances until the season’s end before he makes his move to A. J. Foyt.
The 22-year-old is currently 26th in the drivers’ standings with 82 points.