Ilott says IndyCar is a “key option” for the future

The 2020 Formula 2 championship runner-up said during his lunch break during his first test for the Juncos Hollinger-Chevrolet team on the IMS road circuit that returning to competition in an open-top car was a strong temptation. However, he admitted that he was also reviewing his longer-term prospects after seeing Formula 1 veteran Romain Grosjean adapt to the NTT IndyCar series and the future that Ricardo Juncos and new partner Brad Hollinger are planning.

“Of course I can’t say no to the competition,” he replied to Motorsport.com’s question. “What motivated me, of course, was to see IndyCar as a central option.

“Seeing Romain move here is definitely a great opportunity, a great thing. This series has been recommended to me for a long time, because of my style, because of my approach. It seems a lot of people think it’s perfect for me. So I’m here to try it out.

“On the other hand, you see, I’m very interested in Ricardo and the future they have because of his ideas and the projects he can put together. He is very trustworthy. He has great motivation for the sport. It’s a great team to be with. I look forward to hopefully building a future with them. “

When asked if the lack of test days in IndyCar was intimidating, even for rookies, Ilott replied, “I can’t imagine there are much more restrictions than the F2 stuff! I honestly think it should be fine.

“I’m jumping into this race in Portland. To be honest, this test day only came about recently. I’ve signed up [the race] almost no test. I’m not afraid to just get in. You never know how it’s going.

“Obviously the idea is to get Ricardo [re]started and to see what we can do with the car. We are fortunate to have this day of testing on a great track like this one.

“At the moment I’m happy with what I have – even if it was a day or 20. You have to work with what you have. We will do our best and make sure that we can do it. “

Ilott was later asked about his Formula 1 prospects for 2022 and he replied, “Look, everything is an option right now. I’m here at IndyCar to experience it. Hopefully I’ll have a great time and it will attract me more to do it.

“Formula 1… Listen, I’ve been in the test reserve role for some time now. Yes, of course there is a potential opportunity, but it’s not up to me. It’s not my decision. This is my decision to be here and give it a try, but there is still potential on the F1 side, as is potential here.

“I enjoy it here very much. It appeals to me more and more to do this in the future. “

Ricardo Juncos’ team, one of the star champion maker outfits in the Road To Indy series, entered the IndyCar series for the first time in 2017 with a single / two-car entry for the Indianapolis 500. The following year, the team ran a single car in 12 of the 16 races, with the races between Juncos 2017 Indy Lights champion Kyle Kaiser, Rene Binder and Alfonso Celis Jr.

In 2019, the team competed in just two races, but one of them saw its most important moment when Kaiser, who had an accident in practice, qualified his converted car for the Indianapolis 500 and knocked out Fernando Alonso’s McLaren entry-level race.

On the subject of oval races, 22-year-old Briton Ilott said: “I’m definitely not against it. I have much to learn. Surely there are many steps to getting myself to safety, to obviously doing all of this.

“But they have a good track record on the ovals, especially after ’19. I think I’m in good hands with Ricardo to teach myself – basically to prepare myself – when I have to. “

Since Juncos-Hollinger not only competes in these last three races in 2021, but also runs a year-round campaign in 2022, the number of high-quality drivers available has increased in recent months. When asked if he prefers Formula 2 transfers or Road to Indy graduates who don’t have to learn as many tracks, Juncos explained that there were a large number of drivers to choose from.

“It was actually a surprise for me, the amount of people who race with us and want to contact us,” he said. “Of course we all know that the drivers who have driven IndyCar in recent years, for example, are at the door, how [Spencer] Pig, [Gabby] Chaves – all these guys. We know her, don’t we? In fact, some of them drove for us.

“We are looking for young top drivers like Callum. We also speak to many from Europe. I think the list has 20+ drivers to be honest! That was actually good to see, because it also shows that the interest in IndyCar [has grown] last year two years.

“That’s good. It tells us we’re on the right track. I think Roger Penske is doing a great job and everyone expects him to keep growing. You can see that, you can feel it. Not just with the drivers, by the way.” also with engineers and mechanics from overseas. It gives you the certainty that we are on the right track. You are very happy. “

When asked if he would give Junco a free hand in choosing the team’s driver for 2022, Hollinger said: “This is certainly more of Ricardo’s sweet spot than mine. I will definitely give in to him.

“He was very friendly and gave me the opportunity to give input, but he knows the drivers and the personalities who would best fit the team much better.

I think the ability to calibrate the car from a technical point of view is also very important for us as a team that has just returned to the Indy series. This is also really vital. It’s a combination of driving skill, commercial skill and technical input that I think can really catapult us.

“As you know, it is very difficult to find drivers with this combination. Callum obviously has all of these components in abundance. I think he’s just a brilliant young driver. I think Ricardo was able to create something very special. “

Learning an IndyCar

Callum Ilott tests the Juncos Hollinger-Chevrolet on the IMS street circuit.

Photo by: James Black

Ilott said that after a morning test with the Juncos Hollinger Chevy, the car felt similar to Formula 2 thanks to Trident Racing, Sauber Junior Team by Charouz and UNI-Virtuosi.

“The style is definitely closer to what I felt in F2,” he said. “The F1, yes, it’s an incredible car, but that on its own. With these Firestone tires you can really push, really slide, which I didn’t really have in Europe. I enjoyed being able to sideways a bit for the first couple of laps and enjoying it.

“On the other hand, I think the F1 stuff … a lot of my focus was on development. Hopefully I can steer everyone in a good direction and put the car in a very good window. “

Juncos praised his newest employee’s ability to learn and said, “We had some problems with the steering wheel and electronics at the beginning. But we’ve done quite a lot of laps, 30, 40 laps so far. It was great.

“It’s all new to him. He remembers everything we say to him once, he does it without telling him. He didn’t know some things about the steering wheel and all.

“The idea was to make sure everything worked in the morning. Now we have lunch break. In the afternoon we might start pushing a little more, working on the setup. We can learn a little together.

“For me it is very important the relationship between engineer [Matt Curry] and him how they communicate, how he will explain the feelings of the car, how they make the changes. All of these are very important to go to Portland. We’ll try to maximize that in the afternoon, then we’ll see where that leaves us. “

Commenting on his ambitions for his IndyCar debut, Ilott said: “The expectation is that we will hopefully finish the race, get everything under control and limit errors and problems. This is my expectation. I’ll be happy with that. Anything beyond that, points or whatever, is a bonus.

“We have to work and have realistic goals. Of course people can have expectations of me, but they know where I am after last year with Christian [Lundgaard] in formula 2. You know my speed.

“At the end of the day we will work as we should. We have to be focused and get what we can. Portland is a small stretch, but it doesn’t look easy. It’s tough, very tight.

“I’m focused and I don’t care what people want me to do. People know how fast I can be. Once we get it right, whether in Portland or after, we’ll see.

“This afternoon I think it’s about going through some standard tests, some standard things that we would go through on a race weekend, let me get my feel for it, then they get my feedback on what we can do with this car … we can find out.

It’s about me right now, I would say I’ll try a few things … At the moment the car is good. When we solved the little electronic problems, it was awesome. I can’t complain about that. But we can always fine-tune it. I have to make myself comfortable and we’ll see how it goes. “

Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing with Ricardo Juncos

Photo by: James Black