Louisville, Ky. – Being able to shift gears with speed and precision is a key part of any great racer’s toolkit. Moving from one series to another while also preparing for a completely different style of racing requires a shifting of gears that’s uniquely challenging. Abel Motorsports of Louisville will tackle that task over the next two weeks.
While the team is competing full time in Formula Regional Americas with two cars, Abel Motorsports is also returning with a single-car assault on the Indy Pro 2000 series this weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway in suburban Indianapolis and next weekend at Gateway International Raceway outside St. Louis, MO. The team’s young veteran driver, Jacob Abel of Louisville, will pilot the team’s Indy Pro 2000 entry at both oval tracks. Abel competed in the full Indy Pro 2000 season a year ago, finishing 8th in the Championship.
“I’m really excited about returning to Indy Pro 2000 for these events,” noted Abel. “It’s my first time back in this car in quite a while. We had success at Lucas Oil Raceway last year and we were fast at Gateway. I’m a much better driver now so hopefully that converts into much better results.” The 19-year-old Abel finished 5th at Lucas Oil Raceway in 2019, his first-ever oval track run.
To prepare for this year’s back-to-back Road to Indy oval events, Jacob and the Abel squad trekked north last week to test at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway, a high-banked half-mile renowned for its challenging nature. The team gathered plenty of information and their young driver gained lots of confidence for his return to Indy Pro 2000 action.
Team Principal Bill Abel is looking forward to seeing what his group can accomplish these next two weekends. “We’re pleased to be returning to Indy Pro 2000 and the Road to Indy for these two races. Oval track racing is something we need to be great at, to get where we want to go. Jacob showed he can adapt to these sorts of tracks last year and now we want to make gains at both places and earn some strong results. We think we have the elements in place to accomplish that, and we’re looking forward to getting back to LOR and Gateway and battling for honors.”
Jacob Abel and his Abel Motorsports Indy Pro 2000 machine will have 3 rounds of practice before qualifying at Lucas Oil Raceway this Thursday night, August 20. He’ll have an additional final practice Friday afternoon before going racing in the Cooper Tires “Freedom 90” on Friday night at 7:50pm ET, leading into the 104th Indy 500 Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.