Up until a few months ago, Agustin Canapino was a relative nobody in world motorsport.
His fame was limited to Argentina where he raced front-wheel-drive touring cars in front of tens of thousands of people, winning 15 titles along the way.
Soon, he’ll be on the IndyCar Series grid mixing it with some of the best single-seater racers globally.
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Canapino’s forthcoming debut is perhaps one of the most unlikely in recent IndyCar memory, especially considering he’ll be a rookie at 33.
Responsible for his breakout is another Argentine, Ricardo Juncos.
Juncos began racing as a teen across South America but found funding hard to come by.
Instead, he sold all his belongings to move to North America where he began as a go-kart mechanic before turning his attention to running race teams in the early 2000s.
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Juncos established teams on the Road to Indy ladder before making his IndyCar Series debut with Spencer Pigot and Sebastian Saavedra in the 2017 Indianapolis 500.
Almost every year since, his team has returned to the famous Brickyard and is now running two full-time entries in the series.
One of those Juncos Hollinger Racing cars will be driven by Canapino.
The chance to race in the series comes off the back of a demonstration run in Argentina, which attracted more than 70,000 fans.
That set the wheels in motion for Canapino to join the series full-time despite having never raced single-seaters, nor a V8-powered rear-wheel-drive car.
It’s been a steep rise for the four-time Turismo Carretera champ, who admitted he only started learning how to speak English three months ago.
“I am very happy to be here,” he said at the pre-season media day.
“Of course, it’s my first time outside my country, outside my language.
“I never speak English all the time, so sorry for my English for everybody, but I’m trying to learn day by day, and I’m excited about this opportunity.”
Before 2023, he’d never lived outside of Argentina and now resides in the United States.
Canapino, who otherwise speaks Spanish or Portuguese, said he has had to learn the language quickly to communicate his needs to the team.
Helping him bridge the language barrier is a teacher from Argentina. He has two or three classes a week, each lasting an hour and a half.
He admits it’s been a steep learning curve, though a tough upbringing and the loss of his father to COVID-19 has driven him to make it work.
“Always in my life, it was very difficult, honestly,” said Canapino, who began karting relatively late at 15 years old.
“I lost my father two years ago. I have a very tough infancy. I don’t know the name, but when I was a child always was very difficult to me, so I am like this.
“I am very focused on when I have an objective in my mind, I go for that.
“This is the situation. I always try to do perfect everything, and if I can’t do it perfect, for me it’s not do it. I am like this.
“Everything in my whole career, it’s like now very weird, very strange, very challenge.
“I did all my career like this, with a lot of difficulty, but I love that because I grew up with all of these situations, and I can take this opportunity with a lot of motivation.”
Canapino said he didn’t expect Juncos to draft him into the IndyCar team, so much so that he already had racing plans lined up for 2023.
“Everything started in the test because we did exhibitions in Argentina,” he said.
“We had a lot of people watching the exhibitions, very successful event. It all started there.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect that, so I have all of my 2023 ready in my series in Argentina, and Ricardo called me in December, we have a chance to do that.
“Of course I need to change everything, to talk with my team owner in Argentina, make a new life very different.
“But I take this opportunity because for me it’s my first opportunity outside my country.
“Of course I know, it’s very difficult to me. I never did any full season in a single seat car, but I’m very excited and I will do my best. I will do my best.”
Canapino will be the first driver since Gaston Mazzacane in 2004 to contest an IndyCar race.
The season gets underway with its first race on March 6 on the streets of St Petersburg.
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