SPEEDWAY, Ind. – It seems that Formula One drivers’ interest in Indy car racing grew stronger when F1 Scuderia Ferrari test driver Callum Ilott first tested an Indy car on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway street circuit on Thursday.
Illott was brought in by Juncos Hollinger Racing to make her start with the number 77 for next weekend’s Portland Grand Prix, which triggers a three-race swing on the west coast for the NTT IndyCar Series.
“I mean, Indianapolis first time, it’s a great place,” Illott said. “We don’t have anything like that in Europe. It’s something special to be here, something special to drive the car. “
Illott was not in racing last year as a substitute driver for the Alfa Romeo F1 team as part of the Scuderia Ferreri driver academy. Most recently he started in Formula 2 with the UNI-Virtuosi Racing.
“Almost a month ago there was a very interesting text from my manager that said there was an opportunity to do some races in IndyCar this year,” continued Illott. “The next day I had a Zoom call. IndyCar has been on my radar since the end of last year. You see a lot of drivers heading towards it. “
Illott did several laps of the IMS street circuit to get a feel for the car.
“In some ways the style is definitely closer to what I felt in F2,” said Illott. “The F1 is an incredible car, but with those Firestone tires alone you can really push it, you can really slide in what I didn’t really have in Europe. I really enjoyed being able to walk sideways a bit. “
Illott is the latest of a handful of Formula 1 drivers to delve into IndyCar racing. Romain Grosjean has driven most of the races on the IndyCar calendar with Dale Coyne-Rick Ware Racing this year. Christian Lundgaard from Formula 2 made a one-off appearance at the Big Machine Spiked Coolers GP last month.
“The thing that motivated me to consider IndyCar as a potential option to move Romain here is definitely a great opportunity,” said Illott. “I’ve been recommended this series for a long time because of my calmness, because of my approach, so I’m here to try it out.”
The Portland Grand Prix will also be the first race for team co-owner Ricardo Juncos, whose team last competed at the Indianapolis 500 in 2019 when Kyle Kaiser knocked out two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso. In a new partnership with former F1 boss Brad Hollinger, Juncos says they are pushing to run even more races in the near future.
“We pushed for it, everyone knows what we did in 2019. We never stopped looking for this opportunity, ”said Juncos. “To speak to Callum Illott, today a top driver, worldwide, is the best we could ask for.”
At the moment, Illott is only slated to run in Portland, but Juncos is hoping more races can be added to the calendar for his team. The final three IndyCar races of the season take place in Portland, Monterrey and Long Beach.
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