When did Pato O'Ward make his IndyCar debut? Highlighting Arrow McLaren star's Indy journey as he surpasses 100 career starts at Iowa 

Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward recently completed his 100th career race start in IndyCar. He marked his 100th race start at Mid-Ohio.

The 26-year-old drives the #5 Arrow McLaren car powered by Chevrolet. He debuted in IndyCar with Harding Racing in 2018 at Sonoma, where he qualified in fifth place and finished the race in ninth, tying David Martinez for best finish by a Mexican on their debut.

He raced for Harding Racing and Carlin in 2018 and 2019, respectively. He signed with Arrow McLaren in 2020 and hasn't looked back since. Here are some significant moments leading up to his 100th career race start.

Maiden Pole position

After signing with the papaya outfit, the Mexican driver earned his first pole position in IndyCar in 2020 at Road America. He put in a lap of 1.44.8971 seconds to clinch pole position. At the time, O'Ward had become the third-youngest pole sitter at 21 years,67 days.

Maiden win

Pato O'Ward got his maiden victory at the XPEL 375 held at Texas Motor Speedway after starting the race in fourth place. He had passed Team Penske's Josef Newgarden with 24 laps to go in the 248-lap race, and he won the race by 1.2443 seconds. This also marked the first time a Mexican driver won a race since Adrian Fernandez in 2004 and Arrow McLaren's first IndyCar win since 1979.

50th race start and win #4

The #5 car driver had his 50th race start at Iowa in 2022. He went on to win the event after starting the race from seventh place and led 66 laps of the 300-lap race. He won the race by 4.2476 seconds ahead of two-time series champion Will Power.

100th race starts and 8th win

Pato O'Ward had his 100th career race start at Synk 275 at Iowa this year during the race held on Saturday, July 12. He qualified for the race in fifth place and overtook Josef Newgarden on lap 232 after he had a slower pit stop than O'Ward. The 26-year-old won the race by 0.2352 seconds ahead of the #2 Team Penske car.

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Pato O'Ward speaks about his feelings after the Iowa victory

The Arrow McLaren driver recently spoke about his race at Iowa. O'Ward stopped the Honda domination, ending Newgarden's streak of winning at the track for the seventh consecutive time.

While talking to IndyCar post-race, Pato O'Ward was questioned about how he felt to win his 100th career race start. He replied (via IndyCar.com on X):

"Great job by all my McLaren boys and gals and the Chevy-powered machine. I think it's 1-2-3, right, Chevy podium? It's about time. I'm super happy I'm the Chevy guy that gave them their first win this year, and I mean, Josef's the master at these races; he rules around here, so I knew that we had to be so precise to beat him at his own game. So yeah, this is awesome."

The #5 car driver currently has 386 points and is in second place in the drivers' championship, 129 points behind Alex Palou.