While there’s been plenty of chopping and changing in the prototype classes of IMSA for 2019, there’s only one brand new team on the list, and that’s Juncos Racing. The US-flagged outfit, which has years of experience in US single-seater formulae is about to take on its first ever endurance race this weekend at Daytona, with a Cadillac DPi.
It’s a project which was born out of a short conversation last year at Road America for team owner Ricardo Juncos, who initially planned to go LMP3 racing with the uncertaincy surrounding the future of the junior single-seater fomulae in the US, notably the changes to Pro Mazda, which has been renamed as Indy Pro 2000 following Mazda’s departure.
But, instead, it panned out very differently, and he finds himself as part of the DPi field in Year 1, with a very ambitious programme as a Cadillac customer team up against the might of outfits like Penske, Joest, Action Express and Wayne Taylor Racing.
“This whole thing came from a 30-minute conversation with the GM guys at Road America!” Juncos explained to DSC. “I was there for the first time, for an IMSA race, and without a team, so I had time to enjoy it. I set up a meeting with Scott Atherton and everyone at the IMSA technical department.
This whole thing came from a 30-minute conversation with the GM guys at Road America!
“My intention was to maybe use the same Pro Mazda team we had – I didn’t know whether we were going to continue doing Pro Mazda or not. I said ok, we’ll do IMSA with an LMP3 car, it’s roughly the same budget as Pro Mazda, and it’s low-level prototypes, that would allow us to learn.
“But, I walked out of the weekend with a DPi offer on the table, and it materialised after speaking to drivers and people in the project.”
Juncos is a big fan of the Cadillac thus far, the team’s DPi V.R. running flawlessly out of the box, allowing them to maximise testing prior to Rolex 24 race week.
“I’m impressed with the car. We were fast at the Roar, but we are the only new team in IMSA. I was talking with my guys, we have a great group of people and because of that it becomes much easier. Also we have a great relationship with Dallara from Indy Lights and GM. It’s good to have what we believe is the best car in the field, the car that’s won titles and big races.
“We built the car in nine days from the crates, it’s something we hadn’t done before, but we did it. We then took it for a shakedown and did almost 600 miles with no problems. The first day we did about 250 miles, and the rest on Day 2. It was a surprise, everything just worked.”
He is under no illusions though that there’s still plenty to learn, especially as his crew has little to no experience competing in endurance racing.
“It’s been a massive learning experience. Just building the car, putting a team together, it’s all learning. We showed up at the Roar with a lot of questions and no answers, since then we have a bit of understanding, but we have so much more to learn. We have to be proactive, and go for it.
“We try to fix everything we did wrong at the Roar, and now we have to work on strategy for the race.
“At Daytona, we’re using our full team, Pro Mazda guys, Indy Lights guys and IndyCar guys, everyone is here, but none of them have experience here except for our race engineer. So it’s all learning.
At Daytona we’re using our full team, Pro Mazda guys, Indy Lights guys and IndyCar guys, everyone is here
“Eventually we will add people to the team depending on how many Indy Lights and Pro Mazda cars we have. At the moment that doesn’t look good at all, maybe we don’t need anyone there and we need to close those programmes because the situation on the Road to Indy is catastrophic.”
For the Rolex 24, Juncos will race with a young quartet of drivers too, who hope to surprise those watching with a strong performance. All four are young and eager to impress; Will Owen, Rene Binder, Kyle Kaiser and Agustin Canapino have single-seater backgrounds (Canapino aside, with Juncos), but just one Rolex 24 start between them (Owen in 2018).
Full-season driver Will Owen spoke to DSC and admitted that he’s excited by the prospects of racing in DPi after spending years racing in the ELMS’ LMP2 class with United Autosports.
“Both ELMS and IMSA are tough, but there are different lessons to learn in IMSA,” he said. “There are a lot more moments on track, where you have cold tyres, you’re doing a restart and you have cars all around you. I wouldn’t say one or the other is easier, but in IMSA you’ve got a lot of pressure as a driver. That’s a skill I’m ready to learn.
“There’s a lot to do and figure out, but I’m impressed with the team. We had a lot to work on after the Roar, but we went back to the race shop and pushed hard to get things fixed. Things like driver changes, yellow flag procedures. We know what to do now. It’s a lot of new concepts for the team, fortunately, our engineer Tom Brown has a lot of experience in sportscars.”
Beyond Daytona, with the team up to speed, Owen feels the team will be in the mix for good results.
After a couple of races, when the car is there, we’ll have a better feel
“We have a chance to get good results this year, this race is just about doing as many things right as we can,” he said. “Looking ahead, after a couple of races, when the car is there, we’ll have a better feel. We need to be at our best to challenge the best in this field, but we’re confident we can take it to them.
“Augustine is super fast, lots of experience, he’s naturally talented, Kyle and Rene too are great, they work hard, and with their Indy experience they bring fresh ideas.”
