{"id":6942,"date":"2024-04-22T13:50:01","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T17:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=6942"},"modified":"2024-04-22T13:50:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T17:50:01","slug":"abel-motorsports-trio-poised-for-success-at-barber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/22\/abel-motorsports-trio-poised-for-success-at-barber\/","title":{"rendered":"ABEL Motorsports trio poised for success at Barber"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sundaramoorthy looks to repeat his junior formula success, when he became the first Indian American driver to win an INDYCAR-sanctioned race<\/em><\/p>\n

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (22 April 2024) \u2013 Riding momentum from the INDY NXT by Firestone season opener six weeks ago on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., ABEL Motorsports heads to the scenic roller coaster that is Barber Motorsports Park for the 35-lap Grand Prix of Alabama \u2013 part of the Children\u2019s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Drivers Jacob Abel (Louisville, Ky.) and Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Oconomowoc, Wis.) have raced at Barber before during their junior formula careers (four races for Sundaramoorthy, nine races for Abel), while Josh Mason (Maresfield, UK) will get his first look at the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course this week.<\/p>\n

Barber has long been a driver favorite, with 80\u2019 of elevation changes and extremely high-speed corners. In fact, the slowest corner at Barber clocks in at nearly the same speed as the fastest corner at St Pete.<\/p>\n

Sundaramoorthy, 21, achieved a milestone at Barber in 2021, becoming the first Indian American driver to score a win in an INDYCAR-sanctioned series race when he captured a dominant USF2000 Championship victory from the pole position.<\/p>\n

\u201c2021 really was a breakout year for me,\u201d said Sundaramoorthy. \u201cThat year gave me a great deal of confidence as I continued up the ladder. I learned how to keep the momentum going through the inevitable ups and downs. That\u2019s been the benefit of coming up through the ladder series, knowing the tracks and in some cases, having had success on those tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heading into just his fifth INDY NXT weekend, Sundaramoorthy knows what he is looking for out of his ABEL Motorsports-prepared Dallara this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarber is such a high-commitment track: you have to have a good feel for the car, to know that you can trust the car, and just commit,\u201d said Sundaramoorthy. \u201cFinding that place with the INDY NXT car is the priority \u2013 if you make one tiny mistake, it makes a huge difference in time. Given how competitive the series is, one small mistake could be 10 positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abel, 23, hopes to capitalize on his second-place finish in the season opener on a track he knows well, having earned three top 10 finishes in four junior formula races at Barber. He topped the speed charts in the series test late last year so it\u2019s unsurprising that he counts the track as one of his favorites.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all the tracks we go to, Barber is probably the most fun to drive and the most liked by the drivers,\u201d said Abel. \u201cThere are so many elevation changes and high-speed corners, and the track surface is so smooth, so it requires a very different set up in the car than St. Pete. We were super strong in the test so hoping to carry that momentum into the race weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Showing solid pace in his Stateside debut in St. Pete, Mason, 22, flew home after the race and went straight to the simulator, ready to learn everything he could about the track before seeing it for the first time this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Pete was a good first step, looking at where we ended up compared with where we started,\u201d said Mason. \u201cObviously, as a driver, you\u2019re here to win, but for the first time in the car and the first time at St. Pete, there were some challenges, and I think we overcame them. We showed that we can compete at the front, with the pace we had. I\u2019m comfortable with the car and the crew \u2013 ABEL Motorsports is a brilliant team. I\u2019ve been with many different teams and ABEL is definitely the most open team, right from the start. They made me feel comfortable from the outset and looking at their history, they\u2019re good at what they do and they\u2019re very professional \u2013 but they have a fun side as well, which is a nice balance!\u201d<\/p>\n

With seven weeks between races, the break between St. Pete and Barber is the longest of the INDY NXT season. For Abel, living in Indianapolis and being near the shop \u2013 and coaching some of the junior formula racers \u2013 has helped to fill the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about staying focused,\u201d said Abel. \u201cI\u2019ve been at the shop a lot, working with all the team members and really making sure we’re on it come Barber. I\u2019ve also been doing a lot of coaching in the lower categories which keeps me at a racetrack. I think just working with race cars on track and telling people how to go fast is really good mental training for me. Because of that, I feel as though I\u2019m still in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

ABEL Motorsports thanks partners ABEL Construction Company, Advance Ready Mix, Boyd Cat\u00ae, S Team Motorsports, and OMP for their continued support.<\/p>\n

The INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Alabama takes the green flag Sunday, April 28 at 11:05 a.m. Eastern. The race will be streamed live in the U.S. on Peacock, while international viewers can watch via\u00a0INDYCARLIVE.com<\/a>\u00a0with INDYCAR Radio available at\u00a0indycar.com\/radio<\/a>\u00a0and on\u00a0Sirius XM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sundaramoorthy looks to repeat his junior formula success, when he became the first Indian American driver to win an INDYCAR-sanctioned race SPEEDWAY, Ind. (22 April 2024) [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-abel-motorsports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6944,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942\/revisions\/6944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}