INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Juncos Racing added two more podium finishes to their 2021 Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires campaign during a wild weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway. Reece Gold earned his fourth pole in a row and took second while teammate Manuel Sulaiman finished on the final step of the podium in third.
The fourth weekend of the 2021 Indy Pro 2000 Championship took place this past weekend on the first of two ovals this season at Lucas Oil Raceway, just a few miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two test sessions followed by qualifying on Thursday kicked off the two-day event on the 0.686 mile oval. Juncos Racing’s Reece Gold driving the No. 55 The Ticket Clinic car came out strong setting the fastest lap in the first test session and went on later that day to pick up the pole for the 90-lap event. Manuel Sulaiman driving the No. 22 Telcel car had a strong run as well finishing second in the first session and would qualify on the second row, taking the fourth starting position. Kyffin Simpson driving the No. 21 Simpson Racing Products car, who made his first oval appearance, continued to improve throughout the day and went on to qualify 10th.
Friday’s weather proved to be a major impact on all series running at Lucas Oil Raceway that afternoon. A practice session scheduled for that afternoon was cancelled, leaving the drivers with only the race left to complete. After the drivers took to the track later that evening, rain forced the race to be postponed with only five laps completed.
The Road To Indy returned to the track Saturday morning for Round 8, under partially sunny skies and windy conditions to complete the remaining 85 laps. Gold, who started from the pole, went on to lead most of the race until the final 12 laps when lapped traffic came into play. Gold fell back to second and fought back for the lead, however he would settle for second while recording the fastest lap of the race. Sulaiman, who started fourth, fought his way to a third-place finish, earning his second podium of the season. Simpson, who started 10th, gained positions throughout the race to finish eighth.
Gold now sits third in the 2021 Indy Pro 2000 Championship, followed by Sulaiman in sixth and Simpson in eighth. Juncos Racing sits second in the team championship.
Juncos Racing Team Owner Ricardo Juncos said, “This was a great weekend for our team, despite the weather and not having a chance to test before the first oval of the season. Many of the teams were able to test before this event, so our drivers were faced with this disadvantage, however performed very well. Reece continues to impress everyone, being one of the fastest cars each time he goes on track. To have four poles out of only eight races is incredible. Manuel has faced a lot of bad luck this season, so to see him back on the podium where he belongs was the momentum we needed. Kyffin did a great job as well, especially since this was his first time on an oval. He improved each time on track and I know he will only continue to improve when we get to the next oval this season. I want to thank everyone on the crew for putting in the long hours after we were delayed and then postponed to the next day. We will be working hard the next few weeks as we prepare for Road America where we have had great success in the past!”
Reece Gold: “Another great weekend in Indianapolis. Got the pole for the Freedom 90 by over two tenths. Then led most of the race but lost it due to lapped traffic. We fought back until the end and almost got it done at Turn Three on the last lap. Still ended up with a solid seconnd and great points. Thank you to everyone at Juncos Racing and my sponsor The Ticket Clinic. Excited to go to Road America and continue this great momentum!”
Kyffin Simpson: “Tough race but it was a great learning experience and we had some great pace but we didn’t have it in qualifying so I wasn’t able to catch back up to the guys in front.”
Manuel Sulaiman: "It was a weekend in which we got good points. The race was postponed due to the rain but we were prepared from the beginning of this round despite the difficulties we had in the (previous) Indianapolis (road course) round. We recovered from the injury and managed to come back with our objective which was to finish in the top places.”