Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) has a transparent plan, and the recent signing of Sting Ray Robb is just the start.
Last week it was announced that 23-year-old Robb shall be included within the JHR driver lineup for 2025, marking his third team in as a few years within the IndyAutomotive Series. He spent last season with AJ Foyt Racing, earning his first profession top-10 finish at Gateway and ending twentieth within the championship standings. The debut 2023 campaign took place via Dale Coyne Racing.
JHR team principal David O'Neill, who joined the team in May after previous roles including former sporting director and manager of the Haas F1 Team, told Motorsport.com that Robb is a key a part of the vision for the longer term.
“The goal that I would like to move the company forward as a company is to have some form of stability internally,” O'Neill said. “Of course, he brought money to do that. I suppose there's no secret to it, but you furthermore mght must be sure that that the corporate operates properly. It can’t be financed by only one person. We try to make it work properly.
“We also wish to be sure that that the second driver that we're talking to is someone that we are able to put within the automobile for the Indianapolis 500 and have a likelihood to win, and in addition bring stability to the team's road race, but in addition bring stability to the engineering department, so prepare decent criteria for the 2 different drivers we’ll present to the team.
Although O'Neill didn’t wish to go into details in regards to the drivers being considered for the second slot to team with Robb, Conor Daly, Romain Grosjean and Rinus VeeKay are believed to be candidates.
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet, Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, podium
Photo: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
Daly joined JHR in 2024 as a late addition to the team following the team's split with Agustin Canapino and helped lead the team back to the highest 22 within the rankings and earned $1 million for ending within the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Grosjean joined the organization last season and showed flashes of greatness, even ending fourth for the team at Laguna Seca. VeeKay became one in all the more surprising names to hitch the free agent list, especially after spending his entire IndyAutomotive profession – five years – with Ed Carpenter Racing. However, there’s some history between the Dutchman and JHR, because the two united to win the Indy Pro 2000 title in 2018 after which finish second in Indy NXT the next season.
While ending second is high on O'Neill's priority list, he looked back at Robb's results from last season and compared them not only to Santino Ferrucci, his former teammate at Foyt, but in addition to Canapino.
“The bottom line is that if you look at last year's results and then look from the sidelines, we don't really know how good Ferrucci is,” O'Neill said. “We must assume he is superb based on his results, especially on ovals.
“So assuming they’ve the identical automobile, there is unquestionably a difference. But I would like to come back back to the undeniable fact that should you have a look at Sting Ray's results, he was technically faster than Canapino when it comes to results. During the yr, so far as I do know, he had three mechanical failures, which might have put him in twenty second place, and he was five points off twenty second place. So should you're in search of consistency, the very first thing I feel you'll do is be sure that two drivers can finish lower than twenty second.
“He definitely didn't have the consistency that we can give him and the engineering knowledge, the consistency in the pit stops that we can give him. So we came to the conclusion that yes, there is a bit of risk there, but if we can put our arm around him and make him feel comfortable in the team, I think he can produce decent results race after race. Decent results definitely mean trying to get into the top 10, but consistently finishing in the top 15 is where we'd like to focus everything on to put the championship together.”
What's special is that the move to JHR means a reunion with Robb. He first joined the team for the 2019 season at Indy Pro 2000, ending fourth overall before winning seven races en path to the championship the next yr. He moved to Indy NXT with JHR in 2021 and finished eighth within the rankings before moving to Andretti Global the next season, where he won one race and finished second within the championship.
Sting Ray Robb of Juncos Racing
Photo: Art Fleischmann
This shared history is an element of what team co-owner Ricardo Juncos expressed to O'Neill, further noting that the nice results weren't necessarily immediate, but noticeable as Robb gained more experience.
“Not only did he win a championship, but it took him three years to get to that championship,” O'Neill said. “Now I'm not saying he's going to win the IndyCar championship, but I can say he's there to put up some decent results in the third year he's in our car, which I think is better than better than the car he drove last year.”
Overall, the formula O'Neill wants to determine is to have a pair of drivers providing a level of funding that will help elevate JHR, especially given the potential of introducing a brand new automobile to the IndyAutomotive series by 2027.
While this likely means a more cautious approach because the team builds more robust infrastructure across engineering and other departments, the main focus is more on the long-term way forward for the organization.
“The most important thing is to stabilize the system, understand why we were as good as we were, but also get on track to understand how we will cope with the new car,” O'Neill said.
“At this point we need to take a breather as a team to come up with some form of structure. The first thing we will look at in this structure is to hire someone who understands how we will handle the new project and also all the dimensions that the new car brings and the disciplines that we have to learn. So yes, stabilization, but at the same time trying to move forward at a decent pace – not stupid – but also building a new car and facility to be able to facilitate this new program.”
Given this plan, there’s little purpose in adding a 3rd Indy 500-only entry and expanding the team beyond its resources.
“While it would be great to run three cars, I don't think it's worth expanding the team to make a few hundred thousand dollars,” O'Neill said. “It makes more sense to proceed working because now we’re constructing a team. In two or three years, perhaps yes, perhaps it's price doing. But employ one other 10-12 people at home, spilling the beans on what we have now doesn't seem well worth the gain, should you know what I mean. Other than that, the one thing that put an end to all of it was that GM simply didn't have an additional engine for us.
