Juncos Hollinger Racing is competing in its second full IndyCar season this year, and continues to find that the top teams have a distinct advantage due to their many years competing in the series.
Juncos has had the benefit of two drivers throughout the season, allowing it to more quickly adapt throughout the course of the race weekend compared to last year when it fielded Callum Ilott alone as a rookie.
But the pace that the top teams have improved, specifically in relation to last season, is making it so that the small team is seemingly always starting each weekend on the back foot.
Ilott started this year with a pair of top 10 finishes, but has struggled to get that far up the field for the remaining part of the season.
“I think we overachieved a bit at the beginning of the year, which created some higher expectations,” said Ilott, speaking to motorsportweek.com.
“I think the positive is, I am the biggest mover by far. So I made up the most positions from my starting point, which shows we’ve got good race pace, good strategies, we just need to improve the qualifying.
“The tougher thing is that we have the baselines from last year. The problem is when those aren’t competitive anymore, when everyone else has improved drastically and you’re like ‘Ok well, we can try. But we’re just missing a bit.’
“We’ve added onto the choices we can do, and the options we have. The problem everyone else is pushing at a rate that is tough to catch up with. Which shows maybe this year there’s a bigger disparity between midfield teams and the top teams.
“You just have to work harder and get the most out of it. You’ve got 20 years’ worth of experience [in the top teams] vs two. It’s a no brainer. For them, it’s going to be a massive difference.”
Ilott also related that his plans for next season are ‘unconfirmed,’ and that he’s been talking with various teams throughout the season in order to try to get something lined up.
“No,” he said flatly when asked if he has a deal for next season. “I thought I would know three months ago, but I haven’t. It’s IndyCar. I don’t know what’s going on. All I can say is that it’s unconfirmed.”
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