Juncos Hollinger Racing announced today Callum Ilott will remain in the No. 77 entry for a full 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season campaign.
Ilott, who has competed in his first two NTT INDYCAR SERIES events this month, will finish his three-race lineup in the season finale this weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
England native Ilott, 22, first joined Juncos Hollinger Racing’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES program at the beginning of September. He will compete in all 17 NTT INDYCAR SERIES events during the 2022 season, featuring 12 road and street courses, along with five oval circuits.
“Coming into the final weekend of our three-race run on the West Coast, it’s great to announce that I will be continuing next year with Juncos Hollinger Racing for the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season,” Ferrari Driver Academy member Ilott said. “Obviously, we have had a steep learning curve here the last few races to try to put everything together. We have had some real positives and know the things we need to work on.
“Knowing what Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger have in place for next season and especially over the winter of what we can do in testing, I definitely feel we can put ourselves in a great position to start off the 2022 season strong. I look forward to continuing the work that we are doing and heading into the winter to start a new journey over here, and I would like to thank the Ferrari Driver Academy for allowing me to take this opportunity.”
Said Juncos Hollinger Racing owner Ricardo Juncos: “We are very pleased to announce Callum to the team full time for the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. His maturity, speed on track, and feedback is surprisingly good for being 22 years old. We were very impressed with his feedback and the physical condition of Callum after Laguna. After a long tough race at Laguna, he got out of the car not even showing any signs of fatigue. Considering Laguna was a full green flag race, Callum proved to be in incredible shape.
“We know we are not the fastest car on track and have a lot of developing to do, but Callum pushes himself to get everything out of the car and has shown great speed. Over the past few weeks, Callum has shown us he is the right driver for our full time run next year, so we are thrilled to have him join our program full time. We will be building our program in all areas and will have the time to test and continue our development as a team. I want to thank Callum for committing to our new NTT INDYCAR SERIES program and look forward to our full-time effort as a team next year.”
England native Illot has a varied racing background. He competed in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans last month, claiming third with IRON LYNX in the LM GTE AM class. Earlier this year, he was signed by Ferrari’s F1 team as its test driver and was named a reserve driver for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN F1 team.
Ilott began his racing career running in multiple karting series, earning many wins and podiums, and was regarded as one of the best karting drivers of his time. At age 16, he was the first driver to be taken directly from karts to the FIA F3 European Championship for the 2015 season, joining team Red Bull. That year he was the only driver to finish all 33 races and claimed one podium.
Ilott continued his run in the FIA F3 European Championship during the 2016 season, claiming two wins, seven podiums and two poles to finish sixth overall that year. In 2017, Ilott wrapped up his successful career in the FIA F3 Championship, finishing fourth overall after earning six wins, 11 podiums and nine poles.
In 2018, Ilott was invited to join the Ferrari Driver Academy. That year he also competed in the GP3 Series, capturing two wins, seven podiums and one pole to finish third overall in the championship.
Ilott climbed to the FIA F2 Championship in 2019, earning two podiums and one pole. In 2020, he returned to F2 with Uni-Virtuosi Racing and finished second overall after claiming three wins, six podiums and five poles.
“We are very excited to have Callum commit to us for the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season,” Juncos Hollinger Racing team owner Brad Hollinger said. “Our goal was to secure a talented driver for the final three races of the 2021 season so that we would have a strong baseline going into a full run in the 2022 season. Therefore, we were quite happy to have a driver like Callum to work with these final three races.
“He proved he can perform during the past two races in a variety of areas. Callum has maturity beyond his age and has a very enthusiastic personality. We knew we had the driver we wanted for the 2022 campaign after his strong performance during the Laguna event, particularly during the later stages as his lap times were consistently equal to the ninth and 10th car paces. I am elated that Callum has chosen Juncos Hollinger Racing to continue his racing career. The continuity this gives us throughout the winter and into next season is invaluable in creating a cohesive winning team. I could not be more excited for the 2022 season and expect we will surprise people during the year with Callum.”