Race

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s first visit to the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix downtown street circuit brought mixed results today as Callum Ilott’s early collision resulted in a premature exit and Agustín Canapino’s assured performance secured a P14 finish on Motown’s narrow street circuit.

The 100-lap race started with Agustín in P20 and Callum ahead in P16. But a collision on the entry into Turn 3 ended the Briton’s race shortly after the race went green.

Agustín meanwhile, navigated one of the most challenging circuits on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES calendar with his trademark confidence. The Argentine rookie powered through the opening quarter of the race, setting personal best lap times with impressive regularity.

At lap 29, Agustín climbed into P10 before heading into the pits. A fresh set of primary tires were bolted to the #78 Dallara-Chevrolet, following an extended stint on the softer green Firestone tires.

A final set of black sidewall tires went onto Agustín’s car on lap 68, before several more caution periods shook up the field. However, Agustín avoided any trouble to claim P14 at the checkered flag.

Callum Ilott said:

“It was a premature end to our race and I feel quite bad. I misjudged it under braking for Turn 3. I wasn’t carrying too much speed, but as soon as I hit the rear wheel of Kyle [Kirkwood] in front, the car took off. It’s a big shame and I’m sorry to the team and to Kyle.

“I think we could have had a good result here as the car felt quick in the warm-up. It’s a big shame, but you live and learn. Now we’ll move onto the next one at Road America.”

Agustín Canapino said:

“We had a great race today, so I’m very happy. I’m grateful for the hard work of the team, after I crashed on Friday, to now finish in P14. We had some good battles and overtakes, so I’m really pleased with today’s result.”

Ricardo Juncos said:

“Callum was unfortunate to make contact in the first corner, ending his race early. Agustín drove well to finish P14, and he also tried to fight for a top ten place towards the end. He was very fast and was able to put in good lap times.

“I want to congratulate the team, as we improved a lot on the pit stops today. Improving as a team on the strategy and communication was also good to see, and everyone did a great job. Agustín in particular, being a rookie, demonstrated his talents once again as he produced a great result. Now we will look forward to the next race weekend at Road America, as well as testing in a couple of days.”

Juncos Hollinger Racing completed a challenging INDY NXT by Firestone Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader weekend earlier today, with Matteo Nannini taking P11 and Rasmus Lindh sealing P14 in race 2.

Having started P18, Matteo surged through the first few corners to take P14. Rasmus also faced early wheel-to-wheel action and maintained his place in the middle of the pack after lining up in P12.

On lap 25, Matteo worked his way up to P12, but Rasmus found himself on the receiving end of some hard contact for the second time in as many days as he turned into Turn 3. The Swede was pitched into a spin and dropped to P14 as a result.

Matteo gained another place on the 45th and final lap as he bravely dived down the inside of a rival to seal P11.

Matteo Nannini said:

“We started the weekend okay, with a good first quali session. Race one was also okay, but we tuned the car for race two today and we were able to have a good comeback during that.

“We started P18 and had a problem early on, so we had to do a pit stop. But then we were able to catch up with the group and do some good moves as one of the fastest cars on track.”

Rasmus Lindh said:

“It was a tough weekend for us. I had a pretty good race one, until I got hit from behind. We showed good pace yesterday, and we tried some different stuff to optimize the car for today.

“I made a few overtakes after starting P12 earlier, but we got hit again. It’s difficult to say where we could have ended. Big thanks to Juncos Hollinger Racing for this weekend.”

Ricardo Juncos said:

“Unfortunately, it was not the result which we were expecting after a win in Indianapolis. We started with good pace in Detroit as we qualified P3 with Matteo, before he was penalised for race one and started at the back. We were also running P3 during yesterday’s race with Rasmus, but he was hit from behind and the chances were gone for both drivers.

“Race two earlier today was difficult, as Matteo was half a lap behind everybody after a pit stop but was driving lap times on par with the leaders of the race. That was good to see, after making some setup changes to the car.

“Rasmus didn’t have the balance in the car that we wanted during today’s race, but we will look forward to the next race at Road America in INDY NXT.”