Ricardo Juncos has developed the Juncos Hollinger Racing IndyCar team, as the founder, into an outfit that punches above its weight. They have learnt to battle more established teams on the track, such as Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing.
They have enjoyed some incredible landmark moments since 2018, when they ran a single car with driving duties shared between Alfonso Celis Jr, Rene Binder, and Kyle Kaiser across a partial campaign.
Juncos turned up to Indianapolis during the month of May in 2019 with just one car, driven by Kaiser, who won the Indy Lights title two years earlier for the team.
The American managed to qualify for the Indy 500 and claim the 33rd and last place on the grid. The four-lap average speed of 227.372mph, quicker than Fernando Alonso’s 227.353mph effort, was enough to bump the two-time world champion out of the race.
Since then, they have built a reputation for giving youth a chance, having raced with Callum Ilott and Nolan Siegel across the past couple of years.
The Juncos team has continued to establish itself in IndyCar over the past few years, and the small outfit with around 70 people scored its first podium last year. Conor Daly finished third in the first race of the weekend as IndyCar returned to the Milwaukee Mile last year.
As Juncos continue to push forward and develop as a team, IndyCar has been developing off the track, too, with broadcasts now on FOX Sports. Still, there are no races outside of North America, while NASCAR beat them to the punch and raced in Mexico earlier this season.
This is an issue Juncos himself is pushing to resolve, and he told this writer he is working tirelessly to bring IndyCar back to his native Argentina.
He said at Silverstone: “For me, that’s what has to happen. The category, as I said, is the best in the world in my opinion. In sporting terms, no one can argue with that. They race on ovals, street circuits, and regular circuits. It’s incredibly exciting, and I hope the Mexico race goes ahead. I think IndyCar is needed there.
“I don’t think people are aware of what IndyCar means outside the United States. I’m working very hard to try to bring a race to Argentina as well, and it’s definitely a championship that, in my opinion, should be international, as it was in previous years.”
Juncos: The IndyCar ‘product is so good that it should come to England’
IndyCar used to have a multitude of international events, such as trips to Mexico in the 1980s and 2000s, as well as the London Champ Car Trophy at Brands Hatch in 2003, an event won by Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais.
These races have since dried up, and IndyCar almost exclusively races in America, apart from one race north of the border in Canada, on the bumpy streets of Toronto.
There used to be a division with CART as well as the Indy Racing League operating simultaneously, which hindered the show as it competed with the more established series, racing just on ovals before the two merged in 2008.
Juncos feels the unified NTT IndyCar Series running nowadays is a big improvement, and the Argentinian is hoping to see the championship racing in Mexico in 2026.
He added: “I think that in previous years there was a division. Not because you had the Indy Racing League, which only raced on ovals, but because there was Champ Car.
“CART was a division that ultimately didn’t work for anyone. Today, there’s no division; today, there’s complete unity, and I think the product is so good that it should come to England.
“Go to South America, it will go towards a global championship. I think it would be incredible for IndyCar. Well, hopefully Mexico will be the starting point, and hopefully we can have it next year.”
A trip to Mexico for IndyCar would be a significant step forward for the series, particularly as the Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward will be racing at home for the first time in the championship.
The Juncos Hollinger Racing team may also have a significant following, being an Argentinian outfit, as they continue to push for top 10 finishes this year.
Image credit: Penske Entertainment: Matt Fraver
