Abstract: A hot gas recirculation pocket is provided in a gas turbine engine to capture hot gas ingested from an annular hot gas flow path into an internal cooled engine cavity, and to recirculate the ingested hot gas to the hot gas flow path. The engine includes rows of stator vanes and rotor blades mounted in an axially alternating sequence along the hot gas flow path, wherein the rotor blades are peripherally supported by rotor disks disposed within the cooled engine cavity and coupled to a main engine shaft. The recirculation pocket is defined by a contoured shroud mounted within the cooled engine cavity to form a radially outwardly open toroidal-shaped pocket for capturing and recirculating any hot gas ingested through the space between adjacent rows of stator vanes and rotor blades.