Spencer Pigot Announced as Juncos Racing’s Indianapolis 500 Entry

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer

Juncos Racing has announced that Spencer Pigot will pilot the No. 11 Chevrolet-powered entry in the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500.

The Mazda Road to Indy stalwart team have decided to step up to running in the Indianapolis 500 this year ahead of a planned full time run in the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2018.

Pigot has run for Juncos Racing for several seasons. He won the 2014 Pro Mazda title and was crowned Indy Lights champion in 2015 for Ricardo Juncos’s squad before driving part-time in 2016 for Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing.

The 2015 Indy Lights champion, Pigot will be accompanied by new sponsor, Oceanfront Recovery, through longtime partner Rising Star Racing. Oceanfront Recovery is a modern drug addiction and alcoholism treatment center located in Laguna Beach, California.

“First I want to thank Ricardo (Juncos) for this opportunity,” said Pigot, 23. “We have had a long, successful relationship from karts to the Mazda Road to Indy series and hopefully we can repeat that success at Indy this month. I also want to thank my sponsors, Oceanfront Recovery, Rising Star Racing and P1 Management for making this possible.  The Indy 500 is the greatest race in the world and to be able to drive in it again is fantastic.

“Last year was my first Indy 500 and I learned a lot. I am confident that I will be able to apply what I learned and a better result this time around.”

With Carpenter’s team unable to field a third car for the 500, Pigot, who drives ECR’s No. 20 car on road and street courses, was free to look elsewhere for the 500.

“I am personally very happy to be able to formally announce that Spencer (Pigot) will be driving for Juncos Racing in the 101^st running of the Indianapolis 500,” said team owner Ricardo Juncos via a team release. “As most people know Spencer started with our team in 2003 driving Karts. We reunited in 2014 and won the Pro Mazda Series championship then Spencer helped us win the Indy Lights team championship in 2015. This is, hopefully, the next step in our successful relationship together.

“I want to thank Ed Carpenter for allowing Spencer to take advantage of this opportunity. I also have to thank Oceanfront Recovery and Rising Star Racing for their support as well as Chevrolet for supplying the power and durability that our team will need to successfully compete in the Indy 500.”

Juncos Racing was able to secure cars previously owned by KV Racing after KV Racing shut down at the end of 2016.