I continue to be more and more impressed with the efforts this season of rookie Agustin Canapino. The Argentinian driver had never raced one of these cars before. He’d also never been to any of these tracks before either. Last November, he didn’t even know English.

Now, 10 races into his rookie season, he just scored another solid result in 12th place in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto. That tied his season-best finish with St. Pete and Texas as he’s now been 12th place three times in 10 races.

“I’m really happy with my race result, finishing P12,” Canapino said after Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto. “This matched my best result so far this season, so I am really proud. We competed with the top teams for the whole race, which was a great experience.

“I would like to thank the whole team for giving me this opportunity, and now I can’t wait to get back on the track next weekend at Iowa.”

Canapino was strong all weekend long. He qualified a season-high 18th on Saturday and at one point in Sunday’s 85-lap race, he was up battling for a spot in the top 10.

“I am really pleased with the effort of the whole team this weekend,” team owner Ricardo Juncos said. “Unfortunately for Callum, it was not the race we were hoping for. We had issues on the pit stops, and he was on course to finish inside the top 12 before making contact with the wall near the end.

“Agustín earned a really good result, and the strategy for the #78 car was well executed. I’m really happy for him, as this matches his best result of the season so far.

“Now, we are gaining traction for the remainder of the season. This weekend we showed our potential, so we will keep moving onwards as a team. I’m looking forward to a double-header of racing next weekend at Iowa Speedway.”

The strong pace this weekend was also a massive boost for this team in the points. Canapino sits 21st in the drivers standings but holds the 22nd and final spot in the more important leaders circle.

See, the top 22 cars in entrant points get the massive payout for the bonus program. Fail to make the top 22, it could do further harm to the organization.

Being in the top 22 at seasons end helps supplement for the smaller budgets of these smaller teams and for JHR, they now have both cars on the plus side.

That’s massive, especially in a sense that Canapino’s No. 78 entry isn’t operating with that structure this season since it’s a start up program.

He went from nine points out entering to now tied for 21st leaving with Helio Castroneves’ No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda.

Devlin DeFrancesco’s No. 29 Andretti Autosport Honda falls out while Castroneves’ team car, the No. 60 Honda for MSR is 10 points back in 24th. Jack Harvey’s No. 30 Honda for RLL is 25th (-12) while Sting Ray Robb (No. 55 DCR Honda) and Benjamin Pedersen (No. 55 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet) are 31 and 33 points back respectively.

Canapino is only six points behind the 20 car at ECR.

Callum Ilott is 43 points up in 17th which if this can continue, this would be huge for the organization for their 2024 plans.

A strong display in this morning’s warmup allowed the team to test the pace of its cars in clear and dry conditions – a stark contrast to Saturday’s wet qualifying session in which Callum and Agustín secured P16 and P18 respectively.

Mechanical grip was key to unlocking performance on Exhibition Place’s bumpy street circuit and both men began on Firestone’s black sidewall tire when today’s race went green.

The team made its customary fast start, and both drivers confidently balanced performance and endurance in the opening stages as they improved their lap times – despite unsettling tire degradation.

Agustín was first to visit the pits for a fresh set of green sidewall tires on lap 33. The softer compound rubber, which is made from sustainable materials, went onto Callum’s car two laps later.

The tricky 11-turn track yielded several caution periods during the race which meant teams had to re-evaluate their strategies on more than one occasion. Despite this, both JHR cars ran close to the top 10 for most of the race.

However, a late brush with the wall forced Callum into retirement with only four laps left to run. The Briton was running in P14 at the time – despite visiting the pits four times. He was classified P18 at the end of the race.

Agustín meanwhile, maintained a two-stop strategy across the 85 laps and equaled his best result of the season by claiming P12 at the checkered flag.