Robb Signing A Push For Stability For Juncos Hollinger

Still somewhat fresh to the grid compared to many of the historical teams, JHR is trying to develop something for the long haul in IndyCar – to survive just as long. The former sports director and team manager of Haas F1 explains how.

There is a definite plan for Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) and the recent signing of Sting Ray Robb is only the start.

Robb, 23, was revealed last week as part of JHR's 2025 driver roster, which would represent his third team in as many years in the IndyCar Series. He spent this past season with A.J. Foyt Racing, recording his first career top 10 at Gateway en route to finishing 20th in the championship standings. A rookie campaign in 2023 came about via Dale Coyne Racing.

JHR Team Principal David O'Neill, who joined the team in May after shining in prior roles such as the former sporting director and team management of Haas F1 Team, told Motorsport.com that Robb is a critical component of the vision for the future.

"The bit for us as a company, which I would like to move the company forward, is to have some form of stability within," O'Neill added. "Obviously, in order to achieve so, he has brought money. I suppose there's no mystery there, but obviously we have to make the firm operate appropriately. It can't only be sponsored by one individual. We're attempting to make it operate correctly.

"We also want to make sure that the second driver, which there's three or four that we're talking to, is someone that we can put in the car at the Indianapolis 500 and stand a chance of winning, and also bring stability to the team in road courses, but also bring stability to the engineering department. So, have a solid criteria there with the two distinct drivers that we're going to present to the squad."

While O'Neill would not go into specifics on the drivers in consideration for the second seat to pair alongside Robb, it is thought the possibilities are Conor Daly, Romain Grosjean, and Rinus VeeKay.

Daly was a late arrival to JHR in 2024, entering after the team parted company with Agustin Canapino and helped catapult the entry back into the top 22 in the rankings and earning $1 million for finishing in the Leaders Circle. Meanwhile, Grosjean moved over to the club this past season and showed flashes of brilliance, even vaulting them to a team-best fourth-place result at Laguna Seca. And VeeKay became one of the more shocking names to join the list of free agents, especially after having spent his entire IndyCar career — five years — to this point with Ed Carpenter Racing. However, there is history between the Dutchman and JHR as the two partnered to win the 2018 Indy Pro 2000 title before finishing as the championship runner-up in Indy NXT the following season.

Although filling the second seat is high on the priority list for O'Neill, he looked back into Robb's results from this past season and not only compared them to Santino Ferrucci, his old team-mate at Foyt, but Canapino as well.

"The main thing is that if you look at last year's results and then also, splitting from the side, we don't really know how good Ferrucci is," O'Neill remarked. "We have to presume that he's really excellent given the results, certainly on the ovals.

"So, assuming they have the same automobile, there is obviously a difference there. But the piece I'd like to get back to is that if you look at Sting Ray's results, technically he was speedier than Canapino, performance-wise, over the course of the year. He had three mechanical failures to my knowledge, which would've put him right in the 22, and he was five points outside the 22nd position. So, if you're looking for consistency, the first thing I think you look for is to make sure you have two drivers who can finish inside the sub-22nd place.

"He obviously didn't have the consistency that we can provide him and also the understanding of the engineering department, the consistency inside the pit stops that we can give him. So, we decided that, well, there's a little bit of risk there, but if we can put our arm around him and get him comfortable in the team, I think that he can deliver respectable performances race after race. What respectable performances means is striving to get into the top 10, for certainly, but regularly placing inside the top 15 is where we would set our eyes on to put the championship together."

Read Also: Indycar Need For An Engineers Council

Uniquely, this relocation to JHR is a reunion for Robb. He originally joined the team for the 2019 season in Indy Pro 2000, ranking fourth in the overall standings before winning seven races on way to the championship the following year. He moved up to Indy NXT with JHR in 2021 and ranked ninth in the standings before transferring to Andretti Global the next season, where he won one race and was runner-up in the championship.

That history together is part of what team co-owner Ricardo Juncos communicated to O'Neill, adding highlighting how the great results were not always quick but clicked as Robb got more experience.

"Not only has he won the championships, but he has taken three years to get there to win the championships," O'Neill added. "Now, I'm not saying he's going to win the IndyCar championship, but what I can say is that he's there to produce some decent results in year three, which he's going into with our car, which I think is better than better than the car he was driving last year."

Overall, the formula that O'Neill wants to develop is having a pair of drivers that provide a level of finance that can assist raise the floor of JHR, especially with the prospect of a new car being brought to the IndyCar Series by 2027.

While this certainly entails a more cautious approach while the team establishes a more strong infrastructure across engineering and other departments, the focus is more on the long-term survival of the business.

"The main thing is to stabilize the system, understand why we were as good as we were, but also have a little bit of a glide path into how we are going to tackle the new car," O'Neill said.

"We need to take a breath as a team at that time to come up with some type of framework. The first thing we'd look into the structure is putting someone in place to understand how we're going to approach the new project and also all the many aspects the new automobile offers to us and disciplines that we have to master. So yeah, stabilizing but also trying to move forward at the same time at a fair rate — not a foolish pace — but also constructing the new vehicle and facilities to be able to enable that new program."

And with that approach, there is little aim to move to add a third entry specific to the Indy 500 and stretch the team beyond its resources.

"While it would be great to run three cars, I don't think it's worth stretching a team for that to earn a couple of hundred thousand dollars," O'Neill remarked. "It's more rational to go on as we are establishing the team today. Two or three years down the line, maybe, maybe, maybe it'll be worth doing. But bringing another 10-12 people in the home, giving out the secrets that we have, I don't believe is worth the benefit, if you see what I mean. Plus, the thing that put the stop to it all was that GM just didn't have that spare engine for us to take."