Agustin Canapino was the great find of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season and the Argentinian will get a chance to build upon all he learned at Juncos Hollinger Racing with a ticket to return and race with the team in 2024.
Although the team co-owned by Canapino’s countryman Ricardo Juncos and American Brad Hollinger held a desire to continue with the 15-time touring car champion, fluctuating political and financial fortunes in Argentina placed a question mark over Canapino’s future with JHR.
With his place in the No. 78 by no means guaranteed, JHR spent a considerable amount of time exploring its options in the latter stages of the season, but recent breakthroughs secured the necessary funding to give the 33-year-old a chance to capitalize on all he learned during his IndyCar debut.
“I am very happy to announce my continuation for 2024 in IndyCar with Juncos Hollinger Racing,” Canapino said. “Many thanks to Ricardo and Brad for continuing to place their trust in me, and also to Hector Martinez Sosa and the Grupo Empresario Prieto for supporting me. See you in St. Petersburg aboard the No. 78.”
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Having raced at none of the tracks on the IndyCar calendar, Canapino also faced the challenge of competing on ovals for the first time as a rookie, and in both instances, he excelled while the JHR team adapted to running two full-time cars for the first time.
Laden with zero expectations prior to the season, Canapino earned three 12th-place finishes and placed 21st among the 27 full-time entries in the championship. Running within the top five at the season finale at Laguna Seca served as Canapino’s most impressive performance; he’d go on to finish 14th after making contact with his teammate Callum Ilott, but it was good enough to secure a lucrative Leaders Circle contract worth nearly $1 million for JHR in 2024.
The lowlights were kept to a minimum, and most weren’t of Canapino’s making. Outside of a crash at the Indianapolis 500 while his No. 78 Chevy was dressed as the World Cup-winning Argentina national football team, it was the ugly social media attacks on Ilott and Ilott’s family by some of Canapino’s fans after the Long Beach and Laguna Seca races cast a shadow on all of the positives.
In a late September interview with RACER, Juncos clarified the team’s position with Ilott, who led the team with a pair of fifth-place results and claimed 16th in the championship, but a formal statement on JHR’s plans for the Briton has not been made.
“My agreement with Callum Ilott is through ’24,” Juncos said. “So like what happened last year when some other teams tried to take him, we have a three-year agreement. So as of now, I don’t see why he will not continue.”