Juncos making progress with 2018 IndyCar plans

Ricardo Juncos is taking the first steps that will be necessary to continue fielding cars in the Verizon IndyCar Series. The Argentinian took his championship-winning Mazda Road To Indy team to the Indy 500 in May with two Chevy-powered Dallara DW12s for Spencer Pigot and Sebastian Saavedra, and with plans to do more races next season, he's having all of his tubs modified to accept IndyCar's 2018 bodywork.

"For IndyCar, we're sending the three tubs to get the updates for the new aero kits," Juncos told RACER. "We have everything ready to go for that. We have important meetings in the next month or two with sponsors and then we will know what we can do next year."

Juncos Racing is set to win its second Indy Lights title in three years, as Kyle Kaiser simply needs to take the start for Sunday's finale at Watkins Glen to join Pigot [2015] as a Juncos driver who moved up the MRTI ladder to reach IndyCar.

Having groomed Kaiser since Pro Mazda in 2014, Juncos would like nothing more than to keep the 21-year-old and put the $1 million advancement prize he'll earn from Mazda to field an IndyCar program.

"We have almost five years together with Kyle, and I hope he stays and we have a chance to keep racing together," Juncos said of his Northern Californian driver. "But I have no sponsors yet, and we need to make the numbers [work]. I want to wait for this championship to be over, then sit down and talk about the options with him and his Dad and [MRTI director] Dan Andersen to see how this prize money works."

Juncos would also like to show his Speedway, IN-based team can develop raw talent and move someone like Kaiser along from the MRTI to IndyCar under the same roof.

"It would be good for us to continue, because we'll show that a driver can go from Pro Mazda to Indy Lights to IndyCar in the same team," he added. "It will show the results we can achieve in our system."

With all of his DW12s in motion for a return in 2018, Juncos can't wait to get through Watkins Glen so he can sing the praises of his latest champion.

"With Indy Lights, we need to be smart and make the start, then when can fight for the win," he said. "But we know there are drivers who are racing for nothing and will take big risks. Kyle has been smart and [hasn't] gotten involved with anyone. He's doing everything right and is very smart. The team is very proud of him, but we will get past the race before thinking of the celebration."