2025 IndyCar season outlook: Juncos Hollinger Racing

Yesterday at 08:54 AM

With the first practice session of the new IndyCar Season due to begin at St. Petersburg on Friday, Feb. 28, it's time to start ramping up for the launch with a look inside each of the 11 teams.

What's new, what's different, and what has stayed the same? We'll find out from each team, continuing after Ed Carpenter Racing with Juncos Hollinger Racing.

2024 ACHIEVEMENTS

To understand where the Juncos Hollinger team is starting in 2025, let's begin with a look back to where it ended in 2024.

• Drivers' championship: Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Chevy, 17th place. Zero wins/poles/top threes, one top five, six top 10s, zero races led, running at the finish of 15 out of 17 races. Average starting position of 12.8, average finish of 15.6.

• Drivers' championship: N/A; Various drivers, No. 78 Chevy.

• Entrants' championship: No. 77, 16th (earned a Leaders Circle contract), No. 78, 20th (earned a Leaders Circle contract).

2025 DRIVERS

• No. 77 Chevy: Sting Ray Robb (2024, 20th place. Zero wins/poles/top threes/top fives, one top 10s, two races led for 31 laps, running at the finish of 12 out of 17 races. Average starting position of 23.9, average finish of 19.4).
• No. 78 Chevy: Conor Daly (Part-time in 2024 for three teams, earned JHR's first podium with a third at Milwaukee 1).

2025 KEY POSITIONS

• Team owners: Ricardo Juncos, Brad Hollinger
• Team Principal: Dave O'Neill
• Team Manager: Tom Edwards
• Technical Director: David Brown
• Head of Trackside Engineering: Will Phillips
• No. 77 Race Engineer: Townsend Lucas
• No. 77 Race Strategist: Ricardo Juncos
• No. 77 Chief Mechanic: Mike Witson
• No. 78 Race Engineer: Adam Blocker
• No. 78 Race Strategist: Dave O'Neill
• No. 78 Chief Mechanic: Mike Witson

MAJOR CHANGES

• Released Romain Grosjean after one season. Grosjean signed on as PREMA Racing's reserve driver.
• Split with Agustin Canapino. Replacement driver Conor Daly was promoted to full-time as Grosjean's replacement in the No. 77.
• Sting Ray Robb was signed to drive the No. 78.
• Technical director Yves Touron left to join Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as Graham Rahal's race engineer.
• Race engineer Steve Barker left to join PREMA Racing to engineer former JHR driver Callum Ilott.
• Race engineer Allan McDonald left to join Arrow McLaren.
• Will Phillips, racecar designer, race engineer, and former IndyCar technical director, has returned to JHR.
• David Brown, former Formula 1 race engineer, joined JHR.
• Parted with chief marketing officer Mark Myers.

THE MISSION AHEAD IS TO…

Reboot, rebuild, and rise. With 100 percent turnover for JHR's drivers and senior engineers, the team enters its third consecutive season with significant alterations to its competitive line-up. On the crew and infrastructure side, not much has changed, but inside the cars, and with the people who make them perform, it's another do-over for JHR.

Team principal Dave O'Neill has been a stabilizing force after joining the team last May. The veteran Formula 1 team manager has been adding layers of polish, professionalism and depth that are needed, and with a deep list of contacts, he's also brought in some star talent like David Brown and re-engaged Will Phillips.

Owing to ongoing struggles to find external sponsors, the team transitioned both of its cars from housing paid drivers to seeking drivers who can bring some or all of the operating budget for the season. It speaks to the financial reality some teams are facing, as everyone from Arrow McLaren to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have done the same with one or more of its entries.

Recent news of Conor Daly losing a multi-million-dollar sponsor hasn't helped, but the team says he's safe. And that means JHR will have a solid veteran to rely on as its top performer and young journeyman Sting Ray Robb, at his third team in three years, will have a consistent teammate and mentor to continue his IndyCar education.

The team was surprisingly quick in testing at Sebring, which was encouraging for all involved.

Daly's Main Task: Keep up the good work. He's expected to shine on ovals, but there's no reason to believe he can’t perform on road and street courses. His predecessor, Romain Grosjean, often starred in qualifying with the No. 77 but went missing — due to strategy calls, mechanical issues, or his own mistakes — in the races, and while it's hard to predict how the team will fare in giving Daly great cars for every session, he's known for driving the wheels off of whatever's delivered.

Daly's a game-day performer and having hit more than a few rough patches in his career, this is a chance to show the field that he can be a team leader based on merit.

Robb's Main Task: Keep progressing. Robb made noticeable year-to-year gains throughout 2024 and it will continue in 2025. He's smart, knows he has a bigger learning curve than most IndyCar drivers, and tries incredibly hard. All while his loyal base of backers helps a smaller team to stay afloat.

In light of the reboot and personnel changes, Robb isn't stepping into a kick-ass, turnkey operation that's capable of placing him close to the top 10. But if he can pick up whatever Daly has to share and run close-ish to him, the season will be a success.

GOALS

Hold onto its two Leader Circle contracts and feature with Daly on the days where nothing but positives occur. And begin to earn small victories on the sponsorship front. Team co-owner and investor Brad Hollinger isn't there to continue paying most of the bills. Separate from however the team might perform in the races, there's an equal – and possibly greater – need for it to start performing on the commercial side.

THOUGHTS FROM TEAM PRINCIPAL DAVE O'NEILL:

"Stabilizing things is really an important thing for me," O'Neill told RACER. "Even though there has been a decent amount of changes, the core of the team is still there. And when I mean the core of the team, the mechanical side, the people out on the floor. That's been mostly the same. I have a lot of faith in all of them, otherwise, they wouldn't be here.

"Going into the season, I’ll take a couple of podiums. I would stick my neck out and say I’d like to see us get our first win. And the other thing I’d like to stick my neck out and say is, I believe Conor can win the Indy 500 in our car.”