Enaam Ahmed has found the budget to step up to Indy Nxt with Cape Motorsports.
The 23-year-old British-Pakistani was third in USF Pro 2000 last year with Juncos Hollinger Racing, taking five podiums.
He joined Cape for the ‘private’ Indy Nxt test at Homestead-Miami Speedway last month, and will be driving for the team again today for the series’ official Spring Training test at the circuit. The signing of Ahmed brings the grid up to 19 cars.
“Thank you to my sponsor Surgery Center Development Company for making this possible for me,” said Ahmed.
“It’s going to be a big challenge this year being a rookie driver with a rookie team. I’m really happy to drive for the Cape brothers and I’d like to really thank them for their support along with my sponsor SCDC.”
Cape returns to Indy Nxt this year with two cars, having previously been in the series in 2007 and ’08 managing RLR Andersen Racing, an alliance between Dan Andersen and IndyCar team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Ahmed will be team-mate to Jagger Jones, who jumps up the single-seater ladder from USF2000, and he will finally reach the second tier of single-seater racing having been at the step below since 2018.
After winning the 2017 BRDC British Formula 3 title, Ahmed stepped up to FIA European F3 and won twice en route to eighth in the standings. He then moved across to Japanese F3 and came third in that championship with another two wins.
For 2020 he entered the FIA F3 Championship with Carlin, but abandoned that campaign after three fruitless rounds.
Ahmed headed to the USA for the first time two years ago, signing with RP Motorsport to race in USFP2000. He only raced for three rounds once again though, although this time was able to find another drive as he joined Juncos for the final round. Impressing with a podium, Ahmed was then able to stay with the team into 2022.