MONTEREY, California – Callum Ilott was quite happy when NBC Sports caught up to him after tying his career-best finish of fifth in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey – the final race of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season.
“We put it all together there, and it was a race where a lot of people made a lot of mistakes, including myself,” Ilott told NBC Sports. “We capitalized overall, a big move from 20th to fifth, but overall, it was not easy, not easy at all. We were on the edge with fuel. We were on the edge with the tires. Great points for us and a great way to go into the offseason.
“We’ve been putting things together more and more over the last couple of races. I’m glad to see a result in the final race. Looking at it for next year, we know where to improve and that is in the small things.
“If we can improve the big things, that will be good for us.”
But the confident driver from Great Britain could not celebrate for long after the race because a dust-up with teammate Agustin Canapino once again put Ilott in the line of fire from angry Argentine fans lighting up social media. Ilott took his X account private after the abuse this week.
Earlier this season after the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Ilott and his family received death threats from Argentinian fans after Ilott and his teammate had contact in that race. It led IndyCar to condemn the online hatred.
Ilott was able to work through that ordeal, but the latest controversy puts him in another difficult position.
Juncos Hollinger team co-owner Ricardo Juncos was so upset with Ilott after the race that he refused to talk to him, telling other media outlets he would wait to cool down before addressing the issue with Ilott.
“I won’t talk to him because I know myself, I’m going to let things calm down,” Juncos told Argentinian media outlet Carburando after the race. “I’m going to watch the replays, and I’m going to take my time to analyze everything.
“It’s not a certain action, it’s a whole season which we need to analyze.”
Both of Juncos Hollinger’s Chevrolets finished in the top 22 in the entrant standings to earn the Leaders Circle bonus (any entrant in the top 22 earns $910,000 in guaranteed prize money). Ilott’s No. 77 comfortably finished 17th, but Canapino’s No. 78 came from below the cutline in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey season finale to finish in the money by three points.
Canapino ran the best race of his rookie IndyCar Series season, running as high as second place on Lap 42 and seemed on his way to a top-five finish.
With 22 laps to go, however, Ilott had caught up to his teammate in a battle for fourth place. The Juncos Hollinger Racing drivers went into Turn 1 side by side. The rear of Canapino broke loose from the grip of the new racing surface at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and the resultant contact with the back of Ilott’s Chevrolet broke Canapino’s front wing.
Ilott continued on to fifth while Canapino faded to 14th, the last car on the lead lap.
“Happy on one side, bitter on the other because we had a strategy, we had talked a lot, especially with Callum, as he was already in the top 22 and we needed the money for the team,” Juncos told Carburando. “We did it last year for him.
“We lost leaving Agustin free, so we didn’t harm anything, and they ended up crashing into each other.
“I spoke with (Ilott), so he knows what’s the team’s objective. Before the restart, I spoke with his engineer to remind him of everything we talked about. He said that he had told the driver.
“We could have had two cars fighting in the top five. Agustin deserved to finish the way it could have been.”
Speaking in Spanish, Canapino spoke to another Argentine media outlet and hinted at team orders before the race, and that Ilott was supposed to protect him to get into the Leaders Circle.
After the race, Canapino’s team issued a much softer quote in its postrace release.
“We’ve had a really strong weekend at Laguna Seca, we did a really good job in qualifying, finishing in P14. Although we started in P19 after the penalty, we were soon battling at the front and I was battling for the lead with [Alex] Palou at the end of the second stint,” Canapino said in the release. “It was unfortunate that my front wing was broken close to the end because we were in a really good position to earn a top-five, maybe a podium. But we showed really strong pace today and I would like to thank everybody in the team for their hard work. I’m really happy that we finished my first season in IndyCar within the Leaders Circle.”
Further up pit road, Ilott was trying to explain everything he had to overcome in a wild day.
“I had a broken wing from Lap 1, was spun around in pit lane, my own fault, I had contact and bent the left rear in my last stint, I was all over the place,” Ilott said. “I feel good. I look at what I can do to put it together, but overall, it was our best result.
“When we get it right, we are there. There is nothing wrong with that. We put together a good weekend. We had good pace in the race, had a good strategy and made it work.
“It’s a very competitive track without much margin for error, very easy to make mistakes and low temperatures on brakes and tires on restarts.
“I can’t complain. Honestly, it’s been a tough year and putting it together a bit more at the end there, with the way the race panned out, it was a good one. I think we are going to have a nice offseason.”
But Juncos hinted the future isn’t necessarily set for his driver lineup.
“I still have the drivers’ contracts until December 15th, so I’ve got some time to make the best decision,” Juncos said.
