Ricardo Juncos has announced a return to Indy Lights for the 2023 championship with a two-car effort. In doing so, Juncos Hollinger Racing will shutter their Indy Pro 2000 effort to move to the top step of the Road to Indy.
“We are very excited to return to Indy Lights full time with two cars,” Juncos said in a team statement. “We have had great success in the past within the Indy Lights series, but made the decision last year to focus on the expansion of our first full time NTT INDYCAR SERIES program during 2022, with the plan to rejoin the Indy Lights in 2023. Instead of running in three series and stretching our resources and personal this year, we knew that we had to take the time to build the basis of our NTT INDYCAR SERIES before returning to the Indy Lights.”
From 2015 to 2021, JHR competed in Indy Lights, winning two championships in 2015 with Spencer Pigot and 2017 with Kyle Kaiser. Resuming their IndyCar program in 2022 required a brief pause to the Indy Lights effort. The team first competed in Indy Lights in 2012 in a part-time capacity.
The closing of the Indy Pro 2000 team closes a chapter of the organization that stretches back to 2009 when the team moved up from karting. Peter Dempsey finished second in points that year in what was then known as the Star Mazda championship. The following season, Conor Daly picked up the team’s first title.
In the years that followed, Pigot (2014), Victor Franzoni (2017), Rinus VeeKay (2018) and Sting Ray Robb (2020) all picked up Indy Pro 2000 championships for the organization.
JHR has previously announced a second full-time entry for the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season. No driver has yet been named for the No. 78 Chevrolet who will race alongside Callum Ilott in the No. 77 entry.
