Abel Motorsports is taking steps to become a full time IndyCar entrant for the 2025 season, expanding from the team’s single-race series debut at last year’s Indianapolis 500.
The most significant step taken so far is the acquisition of a new Dallara DW12 chassis, which should be delivered to the team in the coming weeks according to a report by RACER.
Abel used a chassis owned by the Enerson family in order to participate in the 2023 Indy 500, using it to qualify 28th and run 75 laps of the race before mechanical issues forced the team to retire early.
The venture was billed as a success, and team owner Bill Abel is working to make various arrangements in order to run more races in the top level series.
“There’s a lot of stuff, a lot of moving parts, a lot of things that we’re talking about and trying to figure out how to make that step,” Abel said in an interview with RACER. “A lot is gonna happen between now and next year.
“Chevy has been really good to us. They’ve been in our corner. Hopefully they will be there with us in ’25 when we try to go do a full season. That’s not confirmed yet but that’s the direction we’re heading and that’s the momentum that we’ve got behind this now. So that makes the most sense.”
Abel Motorsports has been participating in IndyCar’s feeder series since 2019, moving up from Indy Pro 2000 to what was known as Indy Lights in 2022.
The team pieced together the different parts needed to contest the Indy 500 last season, including a chassis owned by the Enersons, and plans to make another attempt at the great race this upcoming May.
Bill Abel already has his sights on expanding out further than the Indy 500, however, and made the decision to start seriously investing in his team’s equipment in order to achieve that goal.
A car, driver, equipment, and personnel can be found to make an occasional Indy 500 bid, but contesting an entire 18-race schedule requires the acquisition of a significant amount of resources.
“That’s really when we decided to make the jump to order our car,” Abel continued to RACER. “We’re going to try to do it the right way. We can’t afford to fund this entire program ourselves, so we’re going to be reaching out to different people, trying to figure out how to make it happen.
“We’re investing a lot already. Buying cars and equipment — we bought a timing stand from McLaren — and trailers and things like that is one thing, but securing a budget to run the whole season is a whole different animal, and we are definitely going to have to have some help there.
“But everybody that we’ve been dealing with within the paddock has been really, really good to deal with, and our plan is to be there full-time with at least one entry, maybe two — if that’s by finding a funded driver, that would be terrific. That’s one way to do it and we would certainly be open to that. We’re looking for those opportunities.”
For this year’s 500 run, Abel is leaning towards having RC Enerson drive for a second consecutive year.
Abel also has a 22-year-old son, Jacob Abel, that is set to race in his third season of Indy NXT with the family team in the final step of the IndyCar ladder. The youngest member of the Abel family has been helping the team to move up through the results with each passing year, ending 2023 with four podiums and a fifth place championship result.
Jacob would likely be a driver option in IndyCar as the team looks to expand further into the premiere series in the coming years.
