The penultimate 2022 IndyCar Team Preview looks at the only single-car team on the grid, Juncos Hollinger Racing.
An unexpected entry late in the 2021 season, Juncos Racing returned to IndyCar after over two years away with the introduction of co-owner Brad Hollinger, who was a shareholder and board member for Williams F1. With Hollinger a part of the program, the team brought in Callum Ilott for the final three races of the season, as the team was preparing for a full-time effort in 2022. Ilott was also considering a full-time IndyCar switch after being on the Formula One ladder system.
It just so happened that the two decided to partner for 2022 and now both team and driver look to complete their first full IndyCar season.
2021 Juncos Hollinger Racing Review
Wins: 0
Best Finish: 22nd (Laguna Seca)
Poles: 0
Best Starting Position: 18th (Long Beach)
Championship Finishes: 38th (Callum Ilott)
Callum Ilott - #77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
Ilott joined IndyCar for the final three races of the 2021 season in the #77 JHR Chevrolet. With no testing, his debut came at Portland, where he started 19th. He was hit at the start, but kept going, and was running solidly in the middle of the field. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue ended his race after 77 of 110 laps.
Laguna Seca was rougher on the Briton, as he qualified 26th out of 27 cars, and he had an accident in the morning warm-up. The team got the car repaired, and Ilott completed 94 of 95 laps, finishing 22nd. Long Beach mirrored his Portland outing. He qualified 18th, but the car broken down after 47 laps, and he was classified in 26th.
Outside of IndyCar, Ilott spent 2021 as a Ferrari and Alfa Romeo test and reserve driver in Formula One, and also running GT sports cars for Ferrari teams. He ran the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season, where he had two fourth-place finishes, and he was third in the GTE-Am class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This came after he was vice-champion in the 2020 Formula Two season behind Mick Schumacher. Ilott won three races, finished on the podium six times and in the points 18 times out of 24 races.
Numbers to Remember:
20.842: Juncos Hollinger Racing's average finish in 19 IndyCar starts.
17: Top five finishes for Ilott in 47 Formula Two stars.
3: Drivers entered for the 2022 Formula One season that Ilott finishes ahead of in the 2020 Formula Two season (Yuki Tsunoda, Nikita Mazepin and Guanyu Zhou, who was Ilott's teammate that season).
What does a championship season look like for him?
Something incredible.
Ilott's talent that led him to be a Ferrari Driver Academy member shines bright immediately in IndyCar. He goes out and wins the first race, stunning the IndyCar world, but having the Formula One world scoff at any thought of it being a respectable championship seeing as how a kid who was barely a test/reserve driver in Formula One won with a back-marker IndyCar team.
In race two of the season at Texas, Ilott's first oval, he just survives, finishing the race, but he is multiple laps down. But he bounces back and wins at Long Beach and then Barber. Another podium follows at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and for the Indianapolis 500 he finishes on the lead lap. That is enough of an achievement for him.
At Belle Isle, it is a top five finish before a podium at Road America and a victory at Mid-Ohio. He gets a top ten result in Toronto, before finishing off the lead lap in both Iowa races and outside the top ten in each. He is back in the top five on the IMS road course and he is on the podium at Nashville. For Gateway, he pulls out a top ten result, filling him for the final two races, which sees another victory at Portland and a top five at Laguna Seca.
What does a realistic season look like for him?
Nothing like Ilott's theoretical path to the championship. It is a rookie with what is effectively a new team. Juncos Racing has dabbled in IndyCar, but it has never made a full run at it, and it will be learning along the way.
Juncos Racing's best finish is 15th, which was in its first race back in the 2017 Indianapolis 500. Between René Binder, Alfonso Celis, Jr. and Kyle Kaiser, the team has yet to have a remotely competitive day on a road or street course. The team has brought on additional resources from Carlin, which has quietly exited IndyCar after four seasons, but I am not sure that will be enough to turn the team into a regular top ten contender.
Ilott will be learning majority of these circuits, notably all the ovals. There might be a few days where it clicks, but with the depth of IndyCar, and this being the only single-car team on the grid, any top fifteen finish will be a great day, and any top ten finishes will be sensational.
This is the team we know the least about entering the season. We know they will be there, but we don't know what sponsors it has. Ilott has mentioned that this is a "gap year" for him, as he is not officially a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy anymore, but he hints his plans are to be back in Formula One and involved in the European scene next year.
We know Ricardo Juncos will be there. Juncos is committed to the Road to Indy, and he will keep those programs going, but after the struggles in his first launch into IndyCar and a tough three-race audition at the end of last season, combined with a driver that is new to North America and might not be fully invested, this is a questionable pairing for success.
The 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season begins on Sunday February 27 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. NBC's coverage will begin at noon ET.
