Agustín Hugo Canapino (Spanish pronunciation: [a.ɣusˈtin ˈu.ɣo ka.naˈpi.no]; born 19 January 1990) is an Argentine racing driver racing for Juncos Hollinger Racing in the IndyCar Series. He has run in different series, with major success in Turismo Carretera (TC).[1]
With no previous racing experience, Agustín made his debut in 2005 in the Renault Mégane one-make touring car series. He won races in 2006 and won the championship in 2007. He made his debut that year in TC 2000 and the following year in Top Race and TC Pista, a championship prior to Turismo Carretera that he won that year.[2][1]
Canapino won the TC and Top Race Torneo Clausura championships in 2010. Between 2011 and 2017 he won all the titles in Top Race (with a Mercedes-Benz prototype), except for 2015, which was won by Matías Rodríguez. Won the Súper TC 2000 championship in 2016 and 2021 with Chevrolet Argentina factory team and was a three-time TC champion between 2017 and 2019 with the Canapino Sport team (led by his father).[3] He has also run a few races at Stock Car Brasil.[1]
In 2019, he was called by Ricardo Juncos, director of Juncos Racing, to race the 24 Hours of Daytona in DPi. Along with Will Owen, René Binder and Kyle Kaiser, he finished eighth in the class. He also raced at Sebring.[4][1]
Canapino was awarded the Olimpia de Oro 2018 for the best Argentine sportsman of the year.[5] He is together with Juan Manuel Fangio, the only racing driver to win this award. He received the Olimpia de Plata of the discipline four times.[6]
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In October 2022, his former team Juncos Racing announced that Canapino would take part in 2 demonstration runs to be held in Argentina, where Canapino would drive one of the team's Dallara IR18 IndyCars from the 2022 series, to be held in November 2022.[7] In preparation for these demonstration runs, the team entered Canapino in a private IndyCar driver evaluation test at Sebring.[8] Following this, Canapino was confirmed as the team's second driver for the full 2023 championship, partnering Callum Ilott.[9]
Canapino qualified in 21st place for his IndyCar debut at St. Petersburg, and drove through an incident-packed race to cross the line in 12th place. He was the last classified car to cross the line on the lead lap. After participating in a mandatory oval rookie test at Texas Motor Speedway, Canapino returned to the track for the second round of the season.[10] He started the race in 19th place and once again finished 12th.[11]
At the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Canapino was forced to retire from the race after hitting the turn 5 wall while trying to lap JHR teammate Callum Ilott, following a restart where Ilott had chosen to not pit in order to unlap himself. Following the race, fans of Canapino sent abusive messages including death threats towards Ilott on social media, leading to IndyCar releasing a statement condemning the abuse,[12] with JHR waiting until the following Tuesday to release their own statement.[13]
Following the 2023 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, Ilott was again the victim of abuse from Canapino fans after the two drivers had a collision on-track. JHR would release a statement, described by Marshall Pruett of RACER.com as a "tepid plea for civility" and "seemingly disinterested."[14] In an interview with RACER, JHR co-owner Ricardo Juncos would blame Ilott for not ignoring the threats, leading to Ilott departing the team.[15]
Following the 2024 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, Canapino's fans would target Théo Pourchaire with death threats following another on-track incident. This third such incident lead to condemnations from Pourchaire's Arrow McLaren team, JHR's senior alliance partner.[16] Canapino would release a statement on social media in response, denying that any death threats happened, and "liked" posts on social media mocking Pourchaire.[17][18][19] Arrow McLaren would terminate their technical partnership with Juncos Hollinger Racing on 6 July 2024 effective immediately, citing the social media incidents as the reason;[20] Canapino would later take a "leave of absence" from the team with the ensuing social media fallout and furor, being replaced by Nolan Siegel for the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America.[21]
His father, Alberto Canapino, died on 15 February 2021, from COVID-19.[22] Alberto was a race car mechanic and preparer. Canapino has a younger brother, Matías, who currently racing in TC Pista.[23]
* Season still in progress.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Numbers in superscript indicate heat race results)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
† As Canapino was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score championship points.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
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Being bombarded for days by his teammate's fans on social media was troubling for the 24-year-old; JHR could have rushed to Ilott's defense while at Long Beach, but chose to take its time, weighing in on Tuesday. It had the look of pouring a bottle of water on a house that had already burned to the ground. JHR's bizarre handling of the situation generated more questions than answers, which undermined the strong relationship it had with its lead driver.
In an interview with RACER, Juncos absolved Ilott of any blame in the contact with Canapino but didn't let him off the hook for the social media side of things. It's here where JHR's labored and seemingly disinterested posts after Long Beach and Laguna Seca received the context they were missing. What Ilott and others saw as a serious problem to be addressed with vigor and immediacy was viewed by JHR as something akin to a non-issue — a byproduct of cultural differences where Ilott and the aggrieved took the attacks in the wrong way.