Obtaining a seat in IndyCar is very tricky nowadays, and it feels like the competition for one ramps up every season.
With just one race to go in the 2024 season, some drivers are scrambling to find an opportunity for next year, while others have performed well enough on track to sit back and wait for a call.
Those coming up from the junior categories though, like Indy NXT, have to forge their way onto the grid either with funding or a lot of persistence.
Louis Foster is finding it difficult to find an IndyCar chance, and that’s despite utterly dominating the junior championship this year.
Jacob Abel wants a full-time IndyCar drive for 2025
Jacob Abel has been Foster’s next closest rival on track this season, and sits second in the drivers’ standings, both nearly 100 points behind first, and ahead of third.
The two have taken 10 out of the 13 victories on offer this season, yet are struggling to find a team willing to take a gamble on their talent yet.
You would expect that eventually, they will receive a shot at the big time, but guaranteeing that now is tricky as teams want to go through the final IndyCar race of the season before making a decision.
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“I want to be in IndyCar full-time,” Abel told RACER. “I want to be able to show all the teams in IndyCar that I can compete there and succeed. So that’ll be my first goal; trying to get something full-time. After that, I definitely wouldn’t say no to doing the Indy 500 and doing any other races.
“I want to drive race cars for a living, and there’s definitely some options out there with seats. Some of them require full budgets. Some of them, not so much. So it’s just trying to figure out how much of that we can come up with.”
What is most impressive about Abel?
Abel only began his racing career aged 16 in 2017, but has steadily progressed through the ranks to his current stage.
In fact, he might have reached a bit of a dead end as he rounds out his third season in Indy NXT – but his consistency has definitely developed.
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He has improved with eighth turning into fifth, which has turned into second through his three Indy NXT championship finishes.
He led the championship four races into this season, before going through a bit of a rough patch at the midway stage.
There’s one race left this season for him to prove himself at Nashville, as he bids to prove to the few IndyCar teams with seats left that he is worth a gamble.