News from Abel Motorsports
WET WEATHER THE BIG WINNER ON OPENING DAY AT INDY
-ABEL MOTORSPORTS GAINS GROUND DESPITE DAMP CONDITIONS-
(May 16, 2023) SPEEDWAY, In- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
IndyCar’s newest team, ABEL Motorsports, based in Louisville, KY, had expected to put their newly updated Chevy/Dallara Indy 500 entry on track today for the first time. But a damp, soggy day forced IndyCar officials to scrub all on-track activity Tuesday, postponing the start of Indy 500 practice until Wednesday May 17 at noon ET.
That delay though could well prove beneficial to the ABEL team and driver RC Enerson. Enerson needs to complete an on-track refresher session at the wheel of the red and white #50 car before being cleared to practice and qualify for the 107th Indy 500 this weekend.
If Tuesday had run as scheduled, that wouldn’t have been possible and the team would have missed the first practice period. Now, with the rainout, Enerson will get his refresher laps in Wednesday morning and should be good to go with the rest of the 34 500 entries starting at noon.
“Today was one of those classic “sit and wait” days. It’s not a day we like. But I think it might be a blessing in disguise, because I’ll get to do my refresher in the morning and we should be good to go after that”, commented the 26-year-old Floridian. Enerson attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 two years ago but feels this year’s effort at the wheel of the ABEL Motorsports entry is a much better opportunity.
Team Manager John Brunner was disappointed with the rainout as well. “We would have liked to have had our install lap today, but nobody got to run. We didn’t lose any track time to anyone today. I like what they’ve done with the schedule for tomorrow. We’ll get the (ROP) refresher done in the morning and then we can run all day with everybody. I like where we’re sitting.”
Team Principal Bill Abel is just looking forward to seeing the red and white #50 car get on track. “For us (the rain) allowed us to get a few additional things done on the car that we needed to do. We went through tech (inspection) and we went back through tech again, which let us correct a couple of things we needed to fix. It just slowed things down a bit for us, kind of a reset time for us that’s probably good.”
Abel is also soaking in the atmosphere of the Indy 500 for the first time as a competitor. “For me it’s so unbelievable. It still doesn’t feel real to me. It’s such a cool thing, such a cool place to be. I can’t thank John Brunner, Neil Enerson, and RC enough for helping give us the chance to do this.”
ABEL Motorsports will be in action tomorrow, Wednesday May 17th starting at 10am. Official practice begins at Noon ET, with all sessions being streamed live on Peacock TV.
