Mid-season review: Pushing to recapture our early season form

As we near the midpoint of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES calendar, we look back on the successes, challenges, and experiences we’ve taken from the 2023 season so far.

Our Juncos Hollinger Racing team enjoyed early success and some frustrating moments during the opening eight races. But one thing’s for sure: every experience has made us stronger and more determined to show ‘The Power of Possibility’ on and off the track.

Heading into round nine at Mid-Ohio this weekend, Callum Ilott currently holds P14 in the drivers’ standings with 128 points, while rookie team-mate Agustín Canapino sits P22
with 88 points.

Running two full-time INDYCAR entries for the first time ever, we gave our brand-new car livery and team identity a memorable first outing at St. Petersburg in March. Agustín impressed as he surged up the field to take P12 on his debut, while Callum earned JHR’s best-ever INDYCAR result with P5 in Florida.

The PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway provided a different challenge in round two, but both our drivers continued their good form as Callum and Agustín finished P9 and P12 respectively. While Callum claimed the team’s best finish at an oval, Agustín took the checkered flag as top rookie.

Despite never having driven an open-wheel racing car before this season, Agustín’s results straight out of the box have impressed drivers and fans alike this season. But the multiple touring cars champion admits it hasn’t been an easy transition to INDYCAR competition.

“I am a really hard worker and I try to do my best to improve my mind and physical condition by training with the simulator, watching INDYCAR videos and working hard on the details,” the Argentine said.

“I’ve had to adapt my body, brain, neck – everything. INDYCAR is the most demanding car in the world from a physical perspective. Also, the speeds, G-forces, the way you warm the tires, the way you warm the brakes, and the way you compete on-track, has also been very different and required a lot of adjustment. Weekend-by-weekend, I’m learning a lot.

“The most important thing for me is to always improve and I think I’m doing that. In the last race at Road America, my driving and feeling with the car was better than ever. Everything is heading in the right direction, and of course it is only the beginning. We are only at halfway in the season, so I am pretty happy.”

At the season’s halfway point, we have already raced on three different road courses at Barber Motorsports Park, Indy, and Road America. Despite not being able to show the consistent performance we would have liked on these tracks, we’ve managed to gather lots of data that we know will prove useful at future races.

We are a team that has doubled in size since the end of 2022 and we know scaling up can bring its unique challenges. Callum, who drove our single JHR entry in last year’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES, has identified lots of positives since we became a two-car outfit.

“It’s been a massive scale up,” the Briton said. “When you’re increasing the personnel by 50%, that means there’s a lot of new ideas from new people. There’s more data, more information, and it provides a bigger platform to improve upon. You all get to learn and follow on a new path in that sense. It’s all a learning process. There’s been lots of things that we’ve improved on since the beginning of the season.”

The former Scuderia Ferrari test driver in F1 has pinpointed our pit stop performance as a specific area in which our team has made good progress in recent months.

Callum explained: “I remember going to Indy and, with the amount of pit stops there, it was impressive that we were always doing well on that side of things. It just shows the importance of paying attention to every small detail, and it’s been nice to see how much
they have improved.”

Efficient pit stops were instrumental in helping Callum to finish P12 at the INDY 500, while Agustín was on course for an astounding top 10 finish at our home track before the 33-year-old was forced into retirement after suffering a late collision.

Since the month of May, new experiences at both Detroit and Road America have expanded our learning and with the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio up next, Team Principal Ricardo Juncos is clear about what he wants to see during the second half of the season.

“I’m looking forward to building on the experiences we’ve had so far this year, so we can have some positive performances going forwards,” he said.

“We started the season with good momentum, and although we’ve had some challenges since then and haven’t quite achieved the results we pinpointed at certain tracks, we know what we can achieve in the months ahead. We’re as determined as ever to keep fighting and pushing ahead with our exciting journey as a two-car INDYCAR team.”