Callum Ilott finished his first oval NTT IndyCar Series race, the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday in 16th place having started the 248 lap race from 20th and speaking following the race he said:
“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 Principal of Juncos Hollinger Racing commented saying:
“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 commented saying:
“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.”