Jacob Abel, born in 2001 in the USA, comes from a motorsport family: his father Bill Abel founded Abel Motorsports, the team under whose roof the son would later conduct his entire junior career. Unlike many competitors, Abel did not spend many years in international karting, but rather gathered only regional experience, including at the WKA Winter Cup 2016 in the Pro-IAME Junior class, before venturing into formula racing at just 16 years old in 2017.
His path led him first in 2017 and 2018 to the F4 United States Championship, where he raced for the family-owned team Abel Motorsports. In parallel and subsequently, he competed from 2018 to 2021 in the Formula Regional Americas, formerly F3 Americas, and celebrated his first major victories in formula racing in 2019 at Road Atlanta, which earned him fourth place in the final standings. Via Indy Pro 2000 and USF Pro 2000, Abel worked his way up the Road to Indy ladder and finished the 2021 season in sixth place before switching to Indy NXT full-time from 2022.
The highlight of his career so far was the 2024 Indy NXT season: after finishes of eighth (2022) and fifth (2023), Abel delivered his strongest junior season to date and became runner-up with three wins at Barber, Portland, and Indianapolis, three pole positions, and ten podium finishes behind Louis Foster. Back in 2020, he had claimed the Formula Pro USA F3 West Coast Winter Championship by winning all four races at Auto Club Speedway and Sonoma Raceway. He also made his mark in the sportscar arena, including with a third-place finish at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen as part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Era Motorsports in the LMP2 class. In 2025, his debut in the NTT IndyCar Series followed in the number 51 car of Dale Coyne Racing, which brought him his best result to date with eleventh place at Iowa.
For the 2026 season, Jacob Abel returns as a full-time driver to Abel Motorsports, his father’s team, with which he had already contested his junior years. The focus is once again on part-time racing in the IndyCar Series with the clear goal of competing in the 110th Indianapolis 500 and building on the experience of his debut year. After a career path that has taken him from the family-run Formula 4 team to the starting grid of America’s most prestigious race, Abel aims to show this season that he can establish himself permanently on the big IndyCar stage.
Jacob Abel in the News