It was announced on Thursday that the Juncos Hollinger Racing team has taken up its option on incumbent Ilott for the next two seasons, but team founder Juncos has admitted the team and its British rookie driver have faced an uphill battle in 2022 as theirs is the only single-entry team on the IndyCar grid.
However, Juncos said that he and team co-owner Brad Hollinger are keen not to just add an entry for the sake of it.
“We’re going to prioritise the quality,” said Juncos.
“Having one car, you still can perform quite OK. No question the second car will put us to the next level, that’s the intention.
“But, like I said, we need to make sure it is properly first, not just do two cars just because, otherwise can it can mean the whole programme is damaged.
“We’re working very hard to see how we’re going to put the programme together. As of today, we don’t know that yet, but that’s clearly the way to go…
“[Running just one car] is a huge disadvantage, but it is what it is. We knew from day one what is our situation and we take it.
“Imagine for Callum, being a rookie without knowing the tracks. We go to Toronto and we were P7, hundredths off P6, 0.2s from P1. We were the only one with old reds [Firestone alternate compound].
“Technically we could be front row. Being the first time, we have nobody to compare to – it’s very hard. We are hypothetically comparing to imagination!”
Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Juncos said the idea of forming a technical alliance – such as Meyer Shank racing has with Andretti Autosport, and Paretta Autosport has with Ed Carpenter Racing – was a consideration as an alternative to doubling in size, but said it was unlikely to happen.
Ilott acknowledged that it’s ovals where he most misses having a team-mate, and while he has enjoyed his first taste of short ovals, he’s not so convinced by the bigger speedways.
“I really enjoyed Iowa, I think the speedway stuff, it’s a bit different,” said the former Alfa Romeo F1 reserve.
“I don’t know if I quite like the commitment and the style in a certain sense. I’m still figuring it out.
“I have a real appreciation for the oval racing. I think there’s a lot of technique which I never even thought about before, it’s a very different, tough style of racing.
“If I look back to Indy, I think to be honest with a team-mate we probably could have avoided that crash [which forced him out of the Detroit round with a hand injury].
“I think there were a couple of factors where if we would have developed a bit more and had a bit more of a target towards some things to think about, it could have helped me, helped the team to not put myself in that position really…
“There’s a lot that goes to it. There’s a lot of testing, options that you have to go through.
“Having a team-mate not only gives you data as another driver, but you can try twice as much for the set-up, see what’s wrong or right.
“Obviously most of the time on a test day you’re going through all the things that actually don’t work, you find one that works. That can happen twice as quickly.
“On the ovals it will probably teach me the most if we have an experienced team-mate who knows what they like from the car on that side. Hopefully I can learn a thing or two on the road and street circuits.”