Portland Win Keeps ABEL Motorsports championship hopes alive

– Jacob Abel captures his third victory and ninth podium of the season in the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland

– Yuven Sundaramoorthy stays hot, brings home his sixth top 10 in the past seven races

Abel, 23, powered his No. 51 ABEL Construction Dallara into the lead going into the first turn and held off championship leader Louis Foster for the remainder of the of the race for his third win and ninth podium in 12 races. Teammate Yuven Sundaramoorthy, driving the No. 22 S Team Motorsports/ABEL Motorsports entry, came back from early difficulties to capture an eighth-place finish on Portland International Raceway’s tricky 12-turn, 1.967-mile road course.

The win keeps Abel 79 points back in the title chase, with two races remaining in the season.

Abel took the green in second position, with Sundaramoorthy fifth. Abel tucked behind the pole sitter going down the front straight then slid to the inside as the field headed into the notoriously tight Festival Curves. Abel timed the move perfectly, taking the lead into Turn 1, as Sundaramoorthy avoided contact between cars to take fourth.

Abel held the lead through the first lap, as Sundaramoorthy lost a bit of footing early, putting him back in ninth. Focusing forward, Abel consistently set faster lap times as he began to gain an advantage.

On lap nine, contact between two cars in Turn 9 brought out a full course caution, pausing the action. Back to green on lap 12, Abel refused to relent, fighting off a charge from behind through Turns 3 and 4, and again in Turn 9, to hold the lead. Meanwhile, Sundaramoorthy won a drag race down the front straight to take eighth position.

The action settled in through the race’s midpoint, with Abel holding a half second lead over second, as Sundaramoorthy looked for an opportunity to make a move – and laying down lap times among the leaders.

At the checkered flag, Abel had captured the victory by four-tenths of a second – and immediately thanked the ABEL Motorsports crew that had worked so hard to give him a solid race car.

“We didn’t roll off the trailer that well this weekend, but we were able to make up a ton of ground and ultimately win the race,” said Abel. “So huge congrats to the ABEL Motorsports team, they did a fantastic job. With Louis on pole, I knew I wasn’t going to let him have it easy. But it was a good battle, good racing.

“My goal for the end of the season is to enjoy my last few races in the series and end this year on a high note. It’s been a super strong year for the ABEL team and for me personally. I’m really happy with it. So even if the championship isn’t totally still in play, to get back to victory lane late in the season as both the team and I position ourselves for next year, it’s huge. I want to be in INDYCAR next year so hopefully that helps.”

For Sundaramoorthy, the difficulties early in the race made the difference, but a strong finish showed the mettle of the Wisconsin driver.

“The car was good, I just had difficulty getting it going early,” said Sundaramoorthy. “We collected it mid-race and got it going. I just tried to put a couple of laps together but then, you know, once people started using push-to-pass so it is what it is. We put it together in the end and got another top 10 finish, which is tough given how competitive this series is.”

ABEL Motorsports thanks partners ABEL Construction Company, Advance Ready Mix, Boyd Cat^®, S Team Motorsports, Quest Global and OMP for their continued support.

Next up for ABEL Motorsports and the INDY NXT by Firestone will be the Milwaukee 100, Sunday, August 31 at 3:50 p.m. ET at the Milwaukee Mile. The race will be streamed live in the U.S. on Peacock, while international viewers can watch via INDYCARLIVE, with INDYCAR Radio available at indycar.com and on Sirius XM.