Spencer Pigot will be reunited with Juncos Racing for the 101st Indianapolis 500, as the team prepares to make the leap from IndyLights to IndyCar at the coveted 200-lap race.
So far in 2017 Pigot has been competing with Ed Carpenter Racing on street and road course events, with team owner Ed Carpenter replacing him for oval races alongside full-time racer J.R. Hildebrand.
Therefore for the Indianapolis 500 Pigot was initially without a drive, before team owner and good friend Ricardo Juncos purchased three chassis and aero kits from the now defunct KV Racing Technology outfit.
Pigot won the 2014 Pro Mazda Championship and the 2015 IndyLights series with Juncos Racing, before making his debut in IndyCar with RLL Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing.
“I’ve known Ricardo and everyone at the team since I was 10 or 11 years old,” explained Pigot.
“I started racing for Ricardo back when it was Juncos Competition, the very first iteration of the team, back driving go-karts around Florida.
“To now be reunited with them for their first Indy 500 and my second Indy 500, it’s something that if you would have told us back in the early 2000s when we were racing go-karts, I’m sure nobody would have believed.”
Last season Pigot finished 25th in his debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, five laps off the leaders.
This year Pigot is not expecting any miracles, but is hoping his experience from a year in the series will assist him and the team.
“We’re just going to focus on finishing the race because we’re a rookie team,” continued Pigot.
“Two months ago, we had only one person here. Today, we have 40. We’re all new.
“I kind of know what to expect. I know what it’s like to drive around Indy at 220, 230 (mph).
“I know what it kind of feels like in traffic.
“There’s stuff I won’t totally have to learn from scratch, I’ll just have to refresh a little bit.”
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