Toronto – Australian rookie Jake Parsons delivered Juncos Racing their eleventh podium of the season this past weekend in 2016 Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Parsons took home third in Round 10 on the Streets of Toronto, while teammate Will Owen picked up two Top-5 finishes.
The weekend got off to a rocky start during the first practice session on the 1.755 mile, 11-Turn street course located in Toronto, Canada for Juncos Racing. Rookie Nicolas Dapero ended his session on the first lap after making contact with the wall, causing him not to record a lap time. Teammate and fellow rookie Jake Parsons earned the second fastest lap of the session, but unfortunately also made contact with the wall on his final lap. American Will Owen earned the fourth quickest time in the first session.
The team looked to bounce back the following morning during qualifying. Parsons, driving the #00 Smart Minds Institute car qualified fourth, Owen took the fifth position, and Dapero started seventh.
Round 10 of the championship proved to be the highlight of the weekend for Australian Parsons, who drove his way to a third place finish, earning his second podium of the season. Owen, driving the #23 AMR car finished just off the podium in fourth, followed by Dapero in fifth.
The final race of the weekend saw many battles throughout the field during the 40 minute timed race. Dapero, driving the #31 Federal Seguros car ended the day early on lap 9 due to contact with the #4 car causing damage to the oil radiator and rear suspension. Parsons and Owen would put on a great race for the fourth position throughout the second half of the race. Owen went on to finish fourth and Parsons took fifth.
After a weekend full of ups and downs for the team Juncos Racing Team Principle was pleased to add another podium to the season and looks forward to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course later this month where the team has had much success.
“This was one of the toughest weekends for the team and drivers this season,” said Juncos. “The crew did an amazing job and put in so many hours this past weekend. I cannot thank them enough for all of the incredible work they do. We were very happy to see Jake (Parsons) grab his second podium of the season. Will (Owen) was so close to being back on the podium after such a successful weekend at Road America, but just narrowly missed it. Nico (Dapero) had a tough weekend, but I know he will bounce back and be ready to go a Mid-Ohio where he has shown great pace in pervious tests. I want to thank everyone for all of their messages of support and we look to be back on the podium come Mid-Ohio here in two weeks!”
Driver Quotes:
Nicolas Dapero (Buenos Aires, Argentina):”It was not my best weekend. I crashed in the first session and after that I did my best to improve for the following session. I moved forward from that crash and did my best the rest of the weekend. We had a good result in the first race and then during the second race there was a mechanical issue which forced me out of the race early. It wasn’t our weekend, but we will move forward and keep working for the next race at Mid-Ohio.”
Will Owen (Castle Rock, Colorado, USA): “I had a decent weekend. I finished fourth in both races. There were a lot of good things and a lot of bad things about this weekend. Lots of things I can learn from, and there were lots of things that I improved on from other races. My qualifying did not go as planned. I wasn’t able to get the most out of the car, and that has been my weakness so I need to keep working hard at that. The first race of the weekend was fantastic. I had the best pace of the team and almost the best pace of the entire race. I moved up the field after getting shuffled back in the beginning. So if there wasn’t some bad luck in the race, I am sure I would have been on the podium. The final race of the weekend went pretty good for us. I had a good start and battled really hard with the other guys and kept it clean which was great. I didn’t have the same pace as the day before, which was disappointing. It was a great weekend and I learned so much.”
Jake Parsons (Melbourne, Australia): “A challenging weekend but very proud of the result we achieved in race 1 grabbing another podium and a big thanks to the team for working so hard on preparing the car. We will continue to strive and look to improve our cars stability as it was the main element I had to manage over the weekend. The training I've been doing with pitfit has really been paying off as i felt really strong all race.”
About Juncos Racing: Ricardo Juncos, a second generation driver, grew up with a deep passion for racing. Juncos made his first steps in the racing community driving karts throughout Argentina. After funding became difficult, Juncos worked for teams in order to support his own racing career. During this time Juncos took courses in mechanical and electrical engineering to fully understand racing on and off the track. Ricardo Juncos established Juncos Racing in 1997 as a formula team operating in Argentina. Six years later, Juncos Racing moved to Miami, Florida where they became a respected karting team recording multiple local, regional, and national titles.
After a successful run in karts, Juncos Racing moved north to Indianapolis, Indiana the “racing capitol of the world,” in 2008 to join INDYCAR’s Mazda Road to Indy series. After only two years in the Star Mazda Championship, the team finished second in the 2010 championship while Conor Daly won the driver championship. Juncos Racing continued their run in the Pro Mazda Championship (the former Star Mazda) taking second in the 2012 and 2013 championships. Most recently 2014 proved to be one of the most successful years for Juncos Racing, winning the driver championship with Spencer Pigot and team championship in both the Cooper Tires Winterfest and Pro Mazda Championship. Juncos Racing expanded operations in 2015 to include two Indy Lights entries along with four Pro Mazda cars. Recently the team captured the driver Indy Lights Championship with Spencer Pigot, and took home their second consecutive team Pro Mazda Championship.