Series sophomore Spencer Pigot is believed to be a strong favorite for one of the rides, given that his usual Ed Carpenter Racing seat is one he hands over to team owner Carpenter on ovals, so he is therefore available.

Pigot won the 2015 Indy Lights championship with Juncos and made his Indy 500 debut with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing last year as the third event in a three-race prize for winning that Lights title. From Detroit (the next event) onward, he became Carpenter’s road/street course driver for his #20 machine.

California-born/Florida-domiciled Pigot is known to have become of increasing interest to Chevrolet this year, as in his second season of IndyCar he has looked increasingly accomplished. Meanwhile Juncos, who acquired KV Racing cars and equipment when the Kevin Kalkhoven/Jimmy Vasser folded in January, is therefore in possession of Chevrolet aerokits.

However, asked if Pigot was a favorite for one of his cars, Ricardo Juncos told Motorsport.com: “I don’t know right now because we have seven drivers bidding for the two seats. Some of them I know have never raised any money so I can’t take them. But still there are a lot of things not finalized.

“Spencer’s guys are still looking for the funding right now, and they know I can’t take any risks. My IndyCar operation is still very small and I have to be smart because I have already invested a lot of money to be on the grid for the Indy 500. Whoever I have driving for us has to cover the possible crash damage; I cannot do that.

“I honestly can say this part has been way more difficult than I thought. The other part – putting the team together, having a strong lineup of people – that has been easy. Preparing the cars, we have left nothing on the table.

“We have had three weeks of working on pitstops, two times a day for an hour each time. The bodywork, we have been working on hard for proper body fitting to reduce drag. Both chassis have been stripped to zero and we’ve replaced a lot of parts with brand new parts – wires, bolts, rockers, pins… everything! – and gearboxes have been stripped down and rebuilt.”

Although Juncos has not announced an engine deal, the strong implication is that the partnership with Chevy is a foregone conclusion.

“We bought KV equipment and KV was with Chevrolet so that’s the aerokit we have, but I don’t assume anything for now,” he said. “I would like to announce the engine and the drivers all at once, and maybe that has to wait until next week.”

Juncos admitted that one of his favorites for one of the rides had been Ryan Briscoe, who raced for Penske for five years, scored seven championship wins and took pole for the 2012 Indy 500. That deal, however is now off the table.

“I really wanted Ryan,” said the Argentinian, “because with him, we could dream about fighting for the win. And he would help guide a rookie IndyCar team.

“He came to the shop and we shook hands but for whatever reason, the deal didn’t happen. That was unfortunate because it would have been good for everyone, not just us, to have him on the grid at Indy.”

Other candidates for the two rides, beside Pigot, are believed to be Sebastian Saavedra, who has five Indy starts, and James Davison who has two, and who finished second in the Indy Lights championship in 2009.

However, Juncos ruled out his Indy Lights ace Kyle Kaiser who is currently second in the Lights title race.

“Kyle unfortunately couldn’t find enough sponsorship,” he said, “although he is definitely someone I think will have a strong future in IndyCar. He’s very good.

“But he is still just 21, and for now I want him to focus purely on Indy Lights – trying to win the Freedom 100 [the Indy Lights race which supports the Indy 500] and obviously the championship.”