Indianapolis, Ind. – Juncos Racing delivered their best performance of the 2021 Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires during the tripleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Reece Gold claimed all three poles and earned two podiums, while Kyffin Simpson captured his first podium since joining the series this season.
After a two and half week break the Indy Pro 2000 championship returned to the track for three rounds on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two test sessions followed by one practice kicked off the week of Rounds 5, 6, and 7 of the Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Friday morning began with the only true qualifying session of the weekend. Reece Gold driving the No. 55 The Ticket Clinic car earned his first pole of the season, while Kyffin Simpson driving the No. 21 Simpson Racing Products qualified fourth and Manuel Sulaiman driving the No. 22 Telcel car qualified 10th.
The Indy Pro 2000 tripleheader kicked off with Round 5 just a few short hours later. Gold, who started on pole fell back two positions during the opening laps and went on to claim third, along with setting the fastest lap during the 25-lap race. Simpson battled for the third position late in the race and would settle for fourth. Sulaiman finished 10th.
The final day on track kicked off early Saturday morning with Round 6. Gold would start once again from the pole position after setting the fastest second lap time during the first qualifying session. Simpson started fifth followed by Sulaiman starting from the 10th position. As the green flag waved, many battles pursued going into Turn One, Gold unfortunately went off track, losing all positions before getting restarted and went to the back of the field. Simpson capitalized on the moment going into the lead, before falling back to second. Simpson went on to claim third, earning his first podium in the Indy Pro 2000 Championship. Gold drove his way through the field to finish fourth. Sulaiman’s day did not go as planned after an electrical sensor issue forced him to the pits for repairs, and would not return to the track for the remainder of the race. Sulaiman finished 11th.
The weekend concluded early Saturday afternoon with Round 7. Gold took the pole position for the third straight time, sweeping the three poles of the weekend. Simpson started fifth and Manuel started 10th. Gold went on to claim second, delivering the team their third podium of the weekend. Simpson finished sixth and Sulaiman improved to an eighth place finish.
Juncos Racing Team Owner Ricardo Juncos said, “I want to congratulate everyone on the whole team for another amazing weekend. Going into this tripleheader and with all of the success we received here last year, we were pretty confident going into this week. We showed tremendous speed during the qualifying session, however the top seven cars were within two tenths of each other, so you can see how competitive this field is. The level of the drivers and teams are so high that we knew it was going to be difficult.
"Reece Gold did a fantastic job claiming the pole for all three races. We ended up walking away with three podiums between Reece and Kyffin, which is really good for the whole team, especially when you have two talented drivers at such a young age of 16 earning these podiums. It was amazing to see Kyffin earn his first podium in the Indy Pro 2000, after only 5 races. Unfortunately for teammate Manuel we ran into bad luck once again. During his qualifying run we were expecting he would be on pole, but the front right wing collapsed on the tires during the second run. This didn’t set him up well for the rest of the weekend, as this was the only real qualifying session, and all races depended on this qualifying session for starting positions for the remaining races. This left him starting in P10. The bad luck continued for him when there was some contact in the first race and the electrical issues in the second race. As a team owner this was so hard to see, as it was out of his control.
"I know Manuel is a fighter and will be back strong. I want thank all of the crew and drivers for working so hard and pushing themselves 100% each time. I also want to thank the families and sponsors for their continued support. We are looking forward to being back on track in just a few short weeks for the first oval of the season at Lucas Oil Raceway!”
The Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires continues next week with Round 8 on the first oval of the season May 28 at Lucas Oil Raceway located in Clermont, Indiana.
Reece Gold: “A great weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Three poles and two podiums! Gained a lot of good points as well. A big thank you to everyone at the team for their hard work and my sponsor The Ticket Clinic. Excited for the next round, a win is right around the corner.”
Kyffin Simpson: “It was a great weekend and a great experience to be at Indy for the first time. It was even better to be able to podium at such a historic track. I was also very happy with my performance having all top six finishes after a tough first couple of rounds.”
Manuel Sulaiman: “Very tough weekend, so much pace but frustrating that doesn’t reflects on the results. We where always at the front on times, in qualifying we had so much possibilities to get pole position but a problem with the front wing left us without any chance, so we started at the back for the three races. Race 1 was an experience I will never forget, and 'never give up' is a phrase that I will always remember. During the race in a incident I dislocated my shoulder. Thankfully after two laps I managed to push it back to its position finish the race and rescue valuable points. Race 2, after receiving attention by the excellent Medical Center at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway who did an awesome job, I was able to take the green flag and after a good start and fighting for fifth place unfortunately the car had problems and I was forced to retire. Race 3, starting again at the back, it was looking like a good race until I had to take avoiding action at Turn One due to another competitor. We lost places and we couldn’t manage good points. I gave my everything! We will look forward only and onto the next event!”