Traditionally, just 33 cars start the Indianapolis 500, with any extra entries having to go through Bump Day during the qualifying weekend to bag a place on the starting grid. The last time this happened was in 2021.
Abel will be on the back foot since all its rivals took part in Friday's open test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with day two cancelled due to bad weather.
Abel is expected to turn its first laps at the Speedway on 16 May, when practice for the Indy 500 begins, and Enerson will be allowed to run his Refresher course which comprises 15 laps at 210-215mph and 15 laps at 215mph plus.
Other Indy 500 one-off entries for this year’s event include 2020 polesitter Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport), 2013 winner Tony Kanaan (Arrow McLaren) and Katherine Legge (Rahal Letterman Lanigan).
Three-time winner Ed Carpenter runs the 500 as part of his team’s oval-only third program.
The Louisville, KY-founded Abel Motorsports, which has a race shop less than a mile from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has run in USF2000, USF Pro 2000 (at that time called Indy Pro 2000) and Indy NXT (formerly Indy Lights).
This is Abel’s first foray into IndyCar, and has elected to run Enerson, who finished fourth in the 2015 Indy Lights championship, and who impressed in three IndyCar starts with Dale Coyne Racing and one with Carlin.
Source: Autosport