Malukas has been unable to drive competitively since sustaining a wrist injury in a mountain biking accident on 12 February.
He was replaced by Ilott at the subsequent tests and in the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, where the 25-year-old Briton finished 13th.
As Malukas continues his recovery, Ilott will again drive one of Arrow McLaren’s Chevrolet-powered entries in the upcoming Barber test, as well as in the non-championship $1 Million Challenge.
The event is taking place on 24 March at private motorsport facility The Thermal Club, located in southern California, fewer than 150 miles away from Los Angeles.
The 17-turn, 3.067-mile track will host an open test and qualifying on 23 March before the race on Sunday. While points are not on offer, the winner will take a coveted one-million-dollar prize.
A former European F3, GP3 and Formula 2 frontrunner who made his IndyCar debut in 2021 with Juncos Hollinger Racing, Ilott lost his drive with the Argentine-American squad to Romain Grosjean at the end of last year having managed two top-five finishes as his best results.
“I was expecting to stay in IndyCar, that was the original plan, and circumstances changed as they sometimes do in life,” he told Autosport earlier this year.
Callum Ilott, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
His experience made Ilott an ideal stand-in for IndyCar outfits in 2024 while he focuses on his main racing programme in the World Endurance Championship with Porsche squad Jota.
Recently asked by Autosport about the number of IndyCar events he could do alongside his Hypercar commitment, Ilott responded with 11-12 races “if I had to”.
Ilott qualified 16th for his first outing with Arrow McLaren before making progress in the race. Team principal Gavin Ward said it had been “a tall order” for him stepping in at late notice with only one day of previous running in the team.
“I don’t think we ever got really consistent or quite as comfortable as we’d have wanted to,” commented Ward.
“He put in a respectable weekend for us. It’s tough getting to know new people, a new car and trying to get everything to suit his style.
“It was a good race for him and the strongest he’d been driving all weekend, so we got improvement from that group.”
Additional reporting by Joey Barnes and Charles Bradley