Callum Ilott Completes First Oval Finishing 16th in the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas (March 20th, 2022) – Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie Callum Ilott completed his first ever oval circuit race today at Texas Motor Speedway. Ilott delivered the team a 16th place finish, along with leading multiple laps on the 1.5-mile oval during the action packed XPEL 375.
Photo Credit: Patagonia Solutions |
Ilott driving the No. 77 JHR Chevrolet entry entered the two-day event with only one day of testing on an oval just two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway. The official race weekend kicked off Saturday morning with one practice session, followed by qualifying just a few hours later. Ilott showed great pace in practice taking the fourth quickest time on the speed charts. That afternoon he qualified 20th among a highly competitive field of 27 entries. The day concluded with one final practice session.The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned to the track Sunday for the XPEL 375 under warm sunny conditions. Once the green flag waved, fans were treated to an eventful race with over 50 of the 248 laps under caution. After an early caution, JHR looked to play out a strategy by pitting the No. 77 early in the race. Ilott maintained a clean run throughout the day, eventually taking the lead with less than 50 laps to go of the race. Ilott completed one more pit stop before taking the checkered flag finishing 16th. Callum Ilott, driver No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet: “That’s a wrap for the XPEL 375. We finished 16th in the end with a few laps in the lead. We went for a gamble on the strategy. We were obviously a bit far back, so we tried to go long, but unfortunately for us there was no yellow towards the end or otherwise we would have been in a good finish for the end. That’s how it goes. I learned a lot and struggled a bit in the beginning. We had to make a lot of changes with the car throughout the race but finishing out that race was great to get the first oval under my belt. There were no real issues and now I have over 240 laps under my belt. We will move on and this was good work for Indy. A big thanks to Juncos Hollinger Racing for bringing me through this and onto Long Beach now.” Ricardo Juncos, Co-Owner and Team Principle of Juncos Hollinger Racing: “We just finished our race at Texas. It was a big boxed checked off for us. We did a fantastic job as it was a very stressful 248 lap race. We were quite happy for our strategy and finishing 16th overall was exactly what we needed. We came here with the mentality to learn and to finish the race and that is exactly what we did. I am very happy with everyone on the team. The mechanics did a fantastic job and an outstanding job by our engineers. Callum did a great job bringing the car home again in one piece, as this is a big learning process for him as a rookie driver as this is totally different than what he is used to, and this is a very difficult oval. This takes us forward in a positive way looking ahead at the other ovals and the Indy 500. I want to thank everyone including our sponsors for their support and everyone involved, and we are looking forward to what comes next for us.” Brad Hollinger, Co-Owner of Juncos Hollinger Racing: “Today was an amazing race for Juncos Hollinger Racing. It was great to watch the team and Callum put in some lead laps, especially since this was his first oval. Our expectations for our first time running at Texas were to finish and gain valuable experience, which is what we were able to accomplish. The team did an excellent job and I want to thank all of them for their hard work. We will continue to grow as a team together as we move forward this season and look to continue to move up in our results. ” |