Argentinian touring car champion Canapino gets full-time IndyCar drive

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Multiple Argentinian Super TC2000 champion Agustin Canapino will join the IndyCar grid this season with Juncos Hollinger Racing, the team have announced.

The 32-year-old will join the team – jointly owned by Argentinian Ricardo Juncos – for the upcoming IndyCar championship. He will race alongside Callum Ilott in the number 78 car as the team expands to a two-car entry for 2023. He will compete in the full season, including oval races.

Canapino is one of South America’s most successful touring car drivers, having been crowned champion of the Argentinian Super TC2000 series twice in 2016 and 2021 as well as multiple titles in lower categories in the nation.

Racing in IndyCar is a “great opportunity”, said Canapino. “I’m going in with my mind set on learning and going step-by-step, but I’m also focused on evolving throughout the season. The goal is to finish the races, get to know the car, and the circuits – especially the ovals.

“IndyCar is the most competitive and difficult category in the world, and the cars are the most demanding and require the maximum effort and preparation on my part. I am happy to take on this challenge and I’m motivated to perform well and repay those that have trusted me with this opportunity.”

Although much of Canapino’s recent experience is in touring cars, he demonstrated the Juncos Hollinger IndyCar across multiple circuits in Argentina last November, including the Buenos Aires circuit which previously hosted the Argentinian Grand Prix and the Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo. He also had a test around a shortened layout of the Sebring circuit.

Canapino is the third rookie to be confirmed on the IndyCar grid this year. Benjamin Pedersen has graduated from the Indy Lights series into a second seat at AJ Foyt alongside Santino Ferrucci, while former Ferrari academy driver Marcus Armstrong will race with Chip Ganassi at all road and street circuit races this season after three years in Formula 2.

The IndyCar championship will begin in St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday 5th March.

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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6 comments on “Argentinian touring car champion Canapino gets full-time IndyCar drive”

  1. People might not know “Canapa” (as we call him), but he’s seriously good. He did great in his debut at Daytona a couple of years ago and surprised many in the paddock. I hope people don’t rate him like he’s a nobody that got there because Juncos is Argentinean. While that’s surely a factor, Agustin is very, very good. And Lopez, Guerrieri and Girolami demostrated you can go back to racing sucessfully in Europe after playing with touring cars in Argentina.

    1. Talent doesn’t have any country flag on it but it doesn’t mean that if someone is good in one serie he/she is good in a other serie. Take Brendon Hartley as example a mulitple WC in the FIA World Endurance Championship and won Le Mans several times but in F1 he was rather average.

      So if Canapino is good in several series then he can come far in IndyCar.

      1. @macleod that’s true but just because he’s never done it before doesn’t mean people should just write him off. I’ve read a lot of comments with people saying he’s a nobody, or a pay driver, which is far from the truth.

        1. I will watch him with you in mind and if he is talented as you say we will see him very often at the front.

        2. @fer-no65 People will always find a way to label someone a pay driver. Like Checo Perez for example, forgetting that he had to perform at every level to continue receiving Slim’s backing. Mark Webber had to get a donation from top Aussie rugby star or he wouldn’t have had the money to go to Europe. Pay driver!

          There’s nothing wrong with Juncos giving a talented driver from his own country a chance on the big stage that he might have never got otherwise because of finance issues

  2. I’m loving this!

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