$1 million, social media threats & Dec. 15: Inside Juncos Hollinger Racing's success, drama

An IndyCar offseason that should’ve been spent in celebration took a quick, ugly turn for Juncos Hollinger Racing and its uber-passionate largely Argentine fanbase after both JHR’s cars finished in the top-15 for just the third time this season and the team earned more than $1 million for clinching another one of IndyCar's Leaders Circle spots.

Drivers Callum Ilott and Agustin Canapino made contact effectively battling for the lead on Lap 74, damaging Canapino's car and sending him to the back of the lead lap by the end of the race. Ilott's social media was flooded with hateful comments and messages, ranging from 'bad teammate' to physical threats.

IndyCar's smallest team now enters the offseason embroiled in controversy and unsure of the future of its two drivers.

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Battle for the lead

With 22 laps to go, the JHR cars were running 4^th (Canapino) and 5^th (Ilott) – not off a gimmicky strategy move that would disappear under the natural progression of the race, but on raw pace and race craft.

Ilott bided his time coming off the restart, lined up Canapino headed for Turn 2, swung around the outside and had his teammate passed by nearly a full car-length by mid-corner, while seemingly leaving Canapino a lane on the inside. Though the move was technically only for 4^th-place, all three cars ahead – Romain Grosjean, Pato O’Ward and Devlin DeFrancesco – needed to make one more pitstop.

So Ilott, who told IndyStar he’d been given no official orders to not pass Canapino but only to be mindful of the No. 78’s fight for a Leaders Circle spot, seemed to have snagged the proverbial race lead away from Canapino.

And then a wiggle.

Rewatching footage of Canapino’s in-car camera, it appears the rookie suffered a brief bobble after running over the curb, shooting him out a few inches to the right. It was enough for the right corner of Canapino’s front wing to tag the No. 77’s left-rear – damage bad enough to Canapino’s car to freefall to the back of the lead-lap by the race’s end.

Ilott, too, would quickly drop two places to the race’s eventual 1^st- and 2^nd-place finishers, Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin, and fall behind Alex Palou and Will Power, before the end due to the minor damage to the rear of his car.

Ilott’s move was a reasonable attempt at a pass for what he believed would eventually be the lead while leaving his teammate a lane.

Had Canapino’s damage left the team on the outside of the Leaders Circle for 2024, some anger at Ilott would’ve been understandable. But the Argentine rookie still limped home with his fifth top-15 of the year, two points above the cutline to help deliver Juncos and Hollinger a second series of large checks over the next 12 months.

Now, Ilott's pass could've gone better for both drivers -- a double top-5 and a podium for at least one of them very possible. But it also could've gone far worse, had Ilott not given as much care. And minus foregoing racing his teammate and turning into a moving barrier behind the No. 78 for the remainder of the race, there's not much more Ilott could've done while running with what he believed was more pace.

But that’s far from how it was received.

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'Watch your back'

Almost immediately following the race, Ilott’s posts on X (the social media platform formally known as Twitter) and Instagram were flooded with a barrage of hateful comments and messages – some rising to physical threats.

They ranged from calling him a “bad teammate" and selfish, hoping he leaves the team before 2024 and comments far, far worse.

But the worst (when translated from Spanish to English)?

“Watch your back.”

“Hopefully someday, you’ll visit Argentina, and we’ll be waiting for you.”

“You’re going to pay sooner or later.”

In the aftermath, Ilott’s girlfriend, Caterina Masetti Zannini, posted: “The fact that I’m now so scared to visit a country says a lot of things.”

In April, Ilott faced similar backlash from the team’s fanbase for an inter-team on-track incident where he was even less to blame. Ilott was released from the pits with no knowledge that Canapino was pacing the lead-lap pack. Though he was in need of a pitstop just a couple laps later, the rookie led the field as it came to green, but was then slowed by Ilott as the British driver popped out of a nearly blind pit exit. Chaos ensued with those pressuring Canapino from behind, and he’d go on to finish 25th.

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JHR took nearly 36 hours to respond to the threats lobbed Ilott’s way post-race but delivered an impassioned statement that called the abuse “beyond inappropriate” and said the team was “very disappointed in the behavior of everyone involved. There is no place for that in our team, and there is no place for that in our sport.”

In addition, IndyCar posted its separate statement decrying the "disrespectful and inappropriate online abuse" that, it said, "has no place in our sport."

"While fierce competition and rivalry will always be a mainstay of IndyCar racing, it's important to showcase and celebrate these attributes with ultimate respect and concern for the well-being of our competitors."

In an interview with Motorsport.com days after the Long Beach incident, Juncos said the team took full blame for the communication error with Ilott, adding it was a product of a young, inexperienced crew, many of who were in decision-making positions for the first time this season. Juncos called the barrage of messages Ilott received post-race “outrageous” but also said the demeanor was somewhat to be expected.

“We Argentines have to show off, because we always show off. We are what we are, and that’s why we have the country we have – for better or worse,” Juncos told Motorsport.com. “I tried to explain to Callum not to take it personally and that it is what it is and nothing more.

“It was not Callum’s fault, and that he has been mistreated on the social networks is sad. We have to understand that we Argentines are the way we are, and the passion we have plays for the best in some cases and the worst in others.”

In the three days since Sunday’s checkered flag, Ilott hasn’t received that same level of public support from JHR. Monday evening, the team released another statement, but one that wasn’t nearly so strongly-worded – and not before Ilott felt forced to make his X account private.

“Let’s not let yesterday’s on-track incident overshadow all the great accomplishments we’ve achieved as a team this season,” the statement read. “We kindly request that there are no negative comments directed towards any of our drivers, both now and in the future, as these comments do not align with the team’s philosophy.

“Let the collective power of our supporters be a force for good.”

Tweets by juncoshollinger

Earlier that day, the team posted a video message from Juncos and Hollinger that didn't address Ilott's treatment but thanked their “strongly supportive” fanbase. Those on social media pointed out that post-race, Canapino ‘liked’ two tweets in particular – one of someone posing as Juncos shouting expletives at Ilott and another saying Ilott had “disobeyed established team orders.”

In an interview conducted in Spanish with Ultima Vuelta post-race, Juncos is understood to have said that he “was not surprised by the selfish attitudes of some drivers, where what was said is one thing and what happened on the track is another.

“We will have time as a team to talk about why (Callum) risked so much at a time when there was no need to risk," Juncos said. "If Agustin had known that Callum was not going to respect anything and was going to go for his position, regardless of the team and thinking about him, Agustin was going to defend himself in a different way.”

Argentine motorsports media outlet Carburando quoted Juncos as saying that the team “had a strategy” and that he had talked to Ilott about how his car was already in the Leaders Circle for 2024 and how badly the team needed the money for the No. 78.

“Before the restart, I spoke with his engineer to remind him of everything we’d talked about, and he said that he’d told the driver,” Juncos said. “We could’ve had two cars fighting in the top-5, and Agustin deserved to finish the way it could have been.

“I’m going to let things calm down (before I talk to Callum), but I’m going to watch the replays, and I’m going to take time to analyze.”

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Who will be driving for JHR in 2024?

In spite of this all, Ilott told reporters last week days ahead of the race that he expects to return to JHR for 2024, after the team announced a multi-year deal with the ex-Formula 2 runner-up in July 2022. Ilott had previously hinted this year that he might be able to leave but wasn’t entirely in control of his future.

Last Friday, he said things were essentially settled. “I’m coming back, there’s no question,” he said. “It was just for a while where what was going on (was uncertain), but yes, ‘ll be coming back.”

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In a post-race interview with IndyStar, however, Juncos confirmed that his team was still in need of filling significant budgetary holes for next season, and that both his drivers – neither of whom bring any funding to the table – were at risk of not returning. The team co-owner also told Carburando that he holds team options on both drivers until Dec. 15.

That would make it difficult for the British driver to find a full-time ride for next season if Juncos waits to release Ilott in favor of a paying driver.

“(The Leaders Circle) helps, but it’s the whole team. There’s just one bank account, not separate ones for the two cars,” Juncos said. “I think it’s going to take maybe another month (to figure out the team’s future). I have time in my (driver) agreements, so I don’t want to rush, but we have options out there, and I want to make sure we make the best decisions for the team, first, and then obviously both our drivers.

“They both did a good job (in 2023), and the logical move would be to keep it the same, but I’ve got to make sure I feel like we can work as a team and we can continue in the same way.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Inside Juncos Hollinger Racing's success and drama