Home Featured Jacob Abel secures full-time IndyCar ride with Dale Coyne Racing

Jacob Abel secures full-time IndyCar ride with Dale Coyne Racing

by Peter Allen

Photo: Karl Zemlin

Indy Nxt runner-up Jacob Abel has secured a full-time graduation to IndyCar for 2025 with Dale Coyne Racing.

Contesting his third full season in the series with his family’s Abel Motorsports team, the 23-year-old from Louisville in Kentucky was the closest rival to the dominant Indy Nxt champion Louis Foster in 2024, winning three races to Foster’s eight.

Foster’s graduation to IndyCar had already been confirmed last October with a multi-year deal at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Abel started his single-seater career in 2017 in United States Formula 4, and during 2018 switched focus to what would later become Formula Regional Americas, finishing fourth in the standings in both 2018 and 2019 and fifth in 2020. He also raced sporadically in Indy Pro 2000 on the IndyCar support ladder, before finishing sixth in a full championship campaign there in 2021.

Three seasons in Indy Nxt followed, improving from eighth in 2022 to fifth in 2023 before his run to second place last year.

Abel took part in his first IndyCar test with Dale Coyne Racing at Sebring in November 2023, then again last year before a subsequent oval run at Texas with Chip Ganassi Racing. He will take over DCR’s #51 entry which was filled by six different drivers during 2024, including Nolan Siegel, Luca Ghiotto and Toby Sowery. The team still has a vacancy in its other car.

“It’s a lifelong dream come true… I can’t thank everyone who’s helped out along the way enough,” said Abel. “I’ve had a great relationship with Dale for the last couple of years, and I’m very thankful for the confidence he has in me. The team has some very experienced personnel joining and returning to the program, and I have full confidence they will deliver a great race car and help me learn the ropes of the IndyCar Series. It’s going to be a fun but challenging journey, and I can’t wait to get started.”

While Abel Motorsports has competed itself in IndyCar previously, contesting the 2023 Indianapolis 500 with RC Enerson, it does not appear to be involved with DCR at this stage. The team will continue to race in Indy Nxt this year, already announcing Callum Hedge and Jordan Missig as drivers.