St. Petersburg, Fla. – The 2014 Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires kicked off today with Juncos Racing’s Spencer Pigot setting the fastest lap in both practice sessions on the 1.8-mile street course of the Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St. Pete. Teammates José Gutiérrez and Kyle Kaiser finished in the top-five showcasing a strong performance for the team.
Dominating both practice sessions, American Spencer Pigot, 20, driving the #7 Doug Mockett & Company/Rising Star Racing/Vitamin-DPro App/California Scents/Juncos Racing car topped the speed charts with a time of 1:12.2124 (89.735mph). Pigot looks to give his hometown fans a podium finish.
“We had a great first day at St. Pete,” said Pigot. “I’m very happy with the car and how we progressed throughout the day in both practice sessions. We improved my driving along with the car and I am really happy with the pace we set. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow as this is one of my favorite tracks and it’s a home event for me. Hopefully we can put the car on pole and win the race. I’m really looking forward to a successful weekend!”
Mexican rookie José Gutiérrez, 17, driving the #5 Racing for Mexico/Juncos Racing car made an impressive start to his season ending the day second fastest overall with a time of 1:12.6083 (89.246mph). Gutiérrez looks to take this momentum into tomorrow’s qualifying and Round 1.
“We had some problems in the first practice today,” said Gutiérrez. “I was a little disappointed to start my day off like that but then in the second practice we ran very well. I was one of the first to get on track and I used that advantage to put down a fast lap. The car was perfect in the second practice which I was able to finish second. I’m really excited for tomorrow to see how well we can do in qualifying and in our first race!”
American Kyle Kaiser, 18, driving the #18 InterVision/NetApp/JuniperNetworks/Riverbed/Juncos Racing car gave another notable performance and showed great consistency finishing both practice sessions inside the top-five. Kaiser laid down the fourth fastest time overall with a 1:12.9302 (88.852mph).
“Today was a really good day for the #18 car,” said Kaiser. “We went out and had a couple of issues with the car but the team fixed it and we were right on track. Spencer was fastest in both sessions so we had a good marker to know where we were at all day. It’s good to be back in St.Pete after having a strong showing last year and I am looking forward to tomorrow in qualifying.”
Argentinean rookie Julia Ballario, 22, continued to gain confidence and improve her skills behind the wheel of the #6 Pistas Argentinas/Juncos Racing car. Ballario ended her day with a best time of 1:13.9895 (87.580mph).
“In the first practice I could only get a few laps at speed because the track had very little grip,” said Ballario. “I knew we had a lot to improve on in practice 2 and that’s what we did. We improved a lot with the car and I was able to push myself a lot more. I’m very happy with today’s work and I’m ready to improve more in qualifying tomorrow!”
Continuing a successful run on the Streets of St. Pete, team owner Ricardo Juncos was thrilled with his drivers top performances and looks forward to a successful opening weekend in the 2014 Pro Mazda Championship.
“I couldn’t be happier to finish our first day on track with such top performances by all drivers,” said Juncos. “Each driver improved throughout the day and set the bar high for tomorrow’s qualifying. The crew did an amazing job working hard to solve issues some were experiencing in the morning session and ended the last session with major improvements. I am really looking forward to a great qualifying and race tomorrow for the team. I want to thank the drivers for continuing to push themselves to the next level, the crew, all of our sponsors, and amazing supporters!”
The 2014 Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires continues on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida tomorrow with Qualifying and Round 1 of the Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St. Pete.
About Juncos Racing: Ricardo Juncos, a former Formula Renault driver and son of a driver, grew up with a deep passion and desire for racing. At the age of 14, Juncos made his first steps in the racing community driving karts in Argentina. Through his success in karts Juncos was able to join the Formula Renault class competing throughout South America. After funding became difficult as many drivers experience over their career, Juncos began working for many race teams in order to continue his own racing career. During this time Juncos was able to learn all aspects of the car in and out, along with schooling in mechanical and electrical engineering.
Stationed in Buenos Aires, Argentina and headed by Ricardo Juncos, “Juncos Racing” became a full-service Formula Racing team in 1997. By 2003, the team relocated to Miami, Florida as a full-service karting team. During the first few years in the U.S., the team picked up 19 local, regional, and national karting titles. Moving right along, Juncos Racing not only moved operations north to Indiana, but it developed into a formula open-wheel racing team in 2008. The team went into full swing, dedicating most of the time preparing drivers and crew members for the next level in racing. Following this transitional year, Juncos Racing participated in its first open-wheel series—the 2009 Star Mazda Championship. 2010 proved to be a big year for the team in the Star Mazda Championship capturing the driver championship and finishing second in the team championship. By 2012, the team’s operations expanded to include cars in the Firestone Indy Lights series and even fastest lap of the Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Juncos Racing currently operates out of Brownsburg, Indiana.
For more information, please visit www.juncosracing.com
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