David Malukas

David Joseph Malukas was born on September 27, 2001, and is regarded as an American racing driver. His roots in motorsport lie in karting, where he accumulated an impressive collection of titles between 2013 and 2016: in 2013 he became Rotax Grand Finals Champion in the Mini-Max class, in 2014 he secured the SKUSA TaG Junior title among others, and in 2015 he won the IAME International Final in the X30 Junior class against an international field of competitors. In 2016 he crowned this phase with the title of X30 Junior Europe Karting Champion before making the move to formula racing.

From 2016, Malukas gained his first experience in the Formula 4 UAE Championship for Rasgaira Motorsports and finished the season in sixth place, before switching to Motopark in the ADAC Formula 4 in 2017. In parallel, he competed in the U.S. F2000 National Championship for BN Racing in 2017, where he started from pole position at the opening race at Road America and finished second. In 2018 he moved up to the Pro Mazda Championship with the same team, won three races, and finished fourth in the overall standings. After initial Indy Lights outings in 2019 for BN Racing and a corona-related break in 2020 in the Formula Regional Americas Championship for HMD Motorsports, where he finished second in the championship with two wins and 15 podiums, his strongest junior season followed in 2021: for HMD Motorsports he scored seven wins, 16 podiums, and six pole positions in Indy Lights and was narrowly denied the title by Kyle Kirkwood.

Malukas made the jump to the IndyCar Series in 2022 with Dale Coyne Racing in cooperation with HMD Motorsports, carrying the number 18. Already in his first year he qualified fifth in Toronto and celebrated his first podium finish at Gateway, before continuing the partnership through 2023. In 2024 he switched to Meyer Shank Racing, but missed several early races due to a wrist injury. With A.J. Foyt Racing, he achieved his career-best result in 2025: he finished eleventh in the overall standings and achieved his best individual result in the series with second place at the 109th Indianapolis 500.

For the 2026 season, David Malukas is joining Team Penske and will take over as a full-time driver in the iconic Chevrolet with the number 12. After his stints with smaller and mid-size teams, the renowned Penske environment offers him the resources of a top team for the first time, allowing him to build on his strong Indy 500 performance from 2025. Expectations for the young American are correspondingly high, as he must prove that his talent from the junior series can now translate into consistent results at the top of the IndyCar Series.