Toronto, Ont. Canada – Juncos Racing returned to the podium this past weekend in the Cooper Tires Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Toronto Presented by Allied Building Products with Rinus VeeKay capturing both wins and teammates Carlos Cunha and Robert Megennis each earning a podium finish. VeeKay closed in on the championship leader, trailing just seven points behind in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
The busy weekend kicked off with one practice session, followed by two qualifying sessions on the 1.786 mile, 11-Turn street course located near downtown Toronto. VeeKay’s dominating performance began in practice as he topped the speed charts. Megennis posted the seventh fastest time followed by Cunha in 10th.
VeeKay continued with the strong momentum qualifying the No. 2 Jumbo/Juncos Racing car on pole for Round 10 along with shattering the track record with a best time of 1:07.9735. Megennis driving the No. 9 Palo Alto Networks/Juncos Racing car took the fifth starting position, followed by teammate Cunha in the No. 1 CarlosCunha.br.com/Juncos Racing car in 11th.
VeeKay would carry on with his dominating run, capturing the pole for Round 11, earning his fourth pole of the season. Megennis earned a second row starting position qualifying third and Cunha took the eighth position.
Round 10 started off in very dramatic fashion. After the green flag waved, Megennis had contact sending him into the wall and ending his day without even completing a lap. That same car involved with Megennis would go on be involved in a scary incident on that same lap which sent him soaring off of the race track and ending the day for multiple other cars. Thankfully everyone involved was able to walk away from the crash. Cunha narrowly avoided the incident and charged his way through the field from 11 to an impressive second place finish. Juncos Racing returned back to the top step of the podium as VeeKay lead every lap and claimed the first win of the weekend.
The Pro Mazda series concluded on the streets of Toronto with Round 11. VeeKay would complete his dominating weekend leading every lap to pick up the win. Megennis rallied back to the podium to finish third. Cunha was battling his way to the front, but an incident late in the race caused his day to end early.
Team Principle Ricardo Juncos said, “Overall this was a successful weekend for our Pro Mazda team. Rinus (VeeKay) did an absolutely amazing job in very session. He set a new track record, put down great laps to grab both poles, and finally got back to the winners circle for each race. He is clearly in the hunt for the championship by closing the gap to less than 10 points. It was both an up and down weekend for Robert (Megennis) and Carlos (Cunha). Carlos had a great race in the first round passing 11 cars to get to second. That was outstanding. Robert did a great job as well, especially staying focused after weekends of bad luck. I am happy both drivers mad it back on the podium, which meant all three of the Juncos Racing drivers were on the podium this weekend. I look forward to getting back on track next week at Mid-Ohio.”
Driver Quotes:
Carlos Cunha No. 1 CarlosCunha.com.br/Juncos Racing: “It was a hard weekend. I started really well the first laps of practice but unfortunately I had a problem with the car after just 5 laps. I have never raced at Toronto before and the majority of the field has been here between 2 and 4 times which makes a big difference. I did everything I could but unfortunately the weekend did not go as we expected. Our goal is to keep a clean mind for Mid-Ohio which is my favorite track. Last year I got the pole. I would like to thanks Juncos Racing for all of the hard work in fixing my car and finding a good setup. Let’s move forward."
Rinus VeeKay No. 2 Jumbo/Juncos Racing: “I am really happy with the results from this weekend. I was able to get the pole and win in both races. There were not as many cautions in Round 11’s race as there was in Round 10. I really want to thank Juncos Racing for everything that they have done, working days and nights, to put a winning car on track. I also want to thank my sponsors Jumbo and La Place for all of their support.”
Robert Megennis No. 9 Palo Alto Networks/Juncos Racing: “Overall it was a really good weekend for us. I qualified 5th for Round 10 and 3rd for Round 11. In Race 1 I had a good start and I was up to fourth before we were even in the corner. Another driver hit me, it’s a racing incident and it happens. Race 2 I made it up to second on the start but I did not have the pace to keep up with Rinus VeeKay. I defended as best as I could and kept as many cars as I could behind me. In turn, I ended up third in the race. It was a crazy race, I really had to work to keep all of those guys behind me. It was a ton of fun. I can’t thank Juncos Racing enough for giving me a great racecar. I also want to thank Palo Alto Networks for getting me here.”
The Pro Mazda Championship continues July 27-29 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with Rounds 12 and 13.