Juncos Racing Earns Top-5 Finish at Iowa Speedway

Juncos Racing’s Kyle Kaiser continues to lead the 2017 Indy Lights Championship after posting a Top-5 finish in the Mazda Iowa 100 Presented by Cooper Tires this past weekend at Iowa Speedway.

The two-day event kicked off Saturday with two practice sessions for the Indy Lights Championship Presented by Cooper Tires on the 0.894-mile oval located in Newton, Iowa.

Qualifying for Round 10 took place the following morning under much hotter conditions than the field experienced the day before. Kyle Kaiser (Los Gatos, California) driving the #18 Juncos Racing Mazda powered car took the third starting position. Teammate Nicolas Dapero (Buenos Aires, Argentina) driving the #31 American Brokers car qualified ninth.

The weekend concluded with some of the warmest temperatures so far this season for the 100 lap race. Kaiser, who started third, fought for the second position during the first half of the race. By lap 79 Kaiser had fallen back to fourth and would go on to take home a Top-5 finishing fifth. Rookie Dapero ended the weekend in 12th.

Although Kaiser did not get the podium finish he hoped for he continues to lead the Indy Lights Championship by 13 points.

“I was happy overall with the race,” said Kaiser. “We had a really good start, worked our way up to second. After a caution halfway through the race I felt like the rear tire was starting to fall off, so I was just managing the tires to the end. We did not have as much grip as a lot of the guys who passed me late in the race, but I was happy to bring the car home in fifth.”

Dapero remains one of only two rookies who have finished each race at this point of the season.

“It was a tough weekend in my second oval race in the Indy Lights Series,” said Dapero. “We learned a lot. We did our best job in qualifying. We were able to take the most out of the car even though it was a little loose. I will take the positive things out of the race weekend and apply it to the next oval and move onto to the next race in Toronto.”

Team Owner Ricardo Juncos looks forward to moving on to Toronto where the team has been successful in the past.

“Even though the team did not get the results we hoped for at Iowa I am happy that we still are leading the championship,” said Juncos. “There is still a long way to go so we must stay as focused as possible for the remaining events. I am looking forward to Toronto this week as we have had great success here in the past.”

The 2017 Indy Lights Championship continues July 14-16th with Rounds 11 and 12 at the Honda Indy Toronto race held in Toronto, Canada.