Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger will partner to form Juncos Hollinger Racing and field an entry for the final three races of the 2021 NTT IndyCar season. The team also announced they will compete in the entire 2022 IndyCar season and field multiple cars in the Road To Indy ladder program.
“The opportunity to partner with someone who shares many of the same values, passion, determination, and is forward-thinking like Brad Hollinger makes this an incredible moment in our team’s history,” said Juncos in a release. “Brad has a lot of experience at one of the highest levels in racing and brings resources that will create more opportunities and growth for all of our programs.”
The first race for the team is scheduled to be the Grand Prix of Portland on September 12. The driver for that race, as well as the Grand Prix of Monterey and Grand Prix of Long Beach, will be announced at a later date.
But Juncos has already made a splash in the IndyCar Series. They began competing at the top level in 2017 after running successful campaigns in multiple Road to Indy divisions. In 2017, Juncos placed two cars in the Indy 500 with Sebastian Saavedra finishing 15th on the lead lap. Spencer Pigot was running four laps off the pace in 18th after improving from 29th on the grid.
In the next two Indy 500s, Kyle Kaiser qualified for both events - finishing 29th with mechanical issues in 2018 and 31st with crash damage in 2019.
The 2019 effort was notable in that to simply make the show, Kaiser bumped Fernando Alonso out of the field in a backup car -- a major upset in the 103rd Indy 500.
Kaiser and Pigot both graduated to the NTT IndyCar Series after winning championships in Indy Lights with Juncos. Kaiser won the championship in 2017. Pigot was the 2015 champ.
Other notable drivers who climbed their way up the Road to Indy ladder with Juncos include Rinus Veekay, Conor Daly, and Dalton Kellett.
“Since the Indianapolis 500 in 2019, we have been looking for the right opportunity to get back on track in the IndyCar Series,” said Juncos. “After a difficult 2019 year and then with us all facing the terrible and unfortunate times during COVID-19 in 2020, our efforts were derailed until this year. Once we committed to a full 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season, we made the plan to get on track this year for the final three races this season to begin our preparation for next year.”
The conversation between Juncos and Hollinger began during the 2017 Indy 500 weekend. Looking for a new opportunity after spending the majority of his career in Formula 1, Hollinger was looking for an opportunity that combined competition with the robust fan engagement American motorsports has to offer.
Hollinger was the second-largest shareholder and a board member in the Williams Grand Prix Holdings Formula 1 team and brings his own wealth of experience to the partnership.
“I recently transitioned from the Formula 1 world, where the sport entertained an international audience, yet had limited fan participation in the United States,” Hollinger said. “My view of IndyCar Series racing, in light of Formula 1’s limited exposure, is that significant growth opportunities exist. This premise prompted me to seek an IndyCar Series team with a combination of engineering acumen, a culture of excellence, and a track record of success.
“Ricardo and Juncos’ winning history in open-wheel racing and their state-of-the-art engineering platform not only position us for future success but also advances Juncos’ Road to Indy driver development program. The combination of Ricardo’s racing expertise and Hollinger resources positions Juncos for success on multiple levels of open-wheel racing.”
In addition to the Indy Lights championships for Kaiser and Pigot, Juncos has earned five Indy Pro 2000 driver championships over the course of 10 years of competition.