FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Speedway, Ind. – Rounds 4 & 5 of the 2023 INDY NXT by Firestone championship on the Streets of Downtown Detroit turned out to be a real street fight for Abel Motorsports and their drivers, Jacob Abel, and Colin Kaminsky, as the competition on the newly designed circuit in Detroit provided close racing action all weekend long.
Only given one practice session to experiment with the new 9-turn circuit ahead of qualifying, getting as many laps in as possible would be key. Louisville KY. native, Jacob Abel, began experimenting right away with different lines through the corners, and different chassis setup with engineer Kent Boyer. In the 50-minute practice session, Abel managed 29 laps with a best lap time of 1:08.7.
Digesting what was learned in practice, Abel and his No. 51 Abel Construction team had to quickly come up with a plan for qualifying. Being a double-header weekend meant back-to-back qualifying sessions which saw Jacob Abel qualify 10th for race 1 and 9th for race 2.
Opening lap chaos, lead straight to a full-course yellow and ultimately a restart for the field. From there, Abel could tell that it would be chaotic throughout the 45-lap race and hung right with the lead pack able to avoid any incidents. Following that plan worked well for the series sophomore as he was able to work his way into 4th position where he remained for the distance of the race to claim his second top-5 finish of the season.
Rolling off from 9th in race 2, Abel got to work right away trying to make passes on the incredibly tight street course, including a pass for 8th position on lap 6 that saw some contact, but Abel managed to keep on. From there Abel spent the rest of the race protecting his top-ten position, coming home in 9th.
“It was a pretty up and down weekend for us, with the highlight being our 4th place finish in race 1. This track (Detroit) was super tough, and incredibly tight which made passing even harder and track position count so much. The atmosphere downtown was incredible all weekend, and the track was packed which was really cool to see. We are still right there in the top half of the championship, so we will take the points and start focusing now on Road America,” said Jacob Abel.
Making his first trip north to the Motor City, Colin Kaminsky, was excited to head to a brand-new street circuit that would reward whoever could get a handle on the track and car setup the quickest. Following the same program as his teammate, Kaminsky got to work right away exploring different lines and ways to navigate the Streets of Detroit, ultimately posting 30 laps in practice with a best time of 1:08.1.
A quick reset then straight into qualifying for Kaminsky and the No. 57 Slick Locks Dallara for both race 1 and race 2. Unfortunately, Kaminsky was not able to best his time from practice in qualifying for race 1 and would settle for 12th. Qualifying for race 2 however proved to be a different story, as Kaminsky was able to set his fastest lap of the weekend at a 1:07.6 putting him 7th for race 2.
Trouble for the front row on lap one, gave Colin Kaminsky two spots putting him 10th as the field would come back around for the restart. After working his way into 7th, Kaminsky would make slight contact with the wall bending suspension pieces in both the front and rear of the car. The Abel Motorsports team fixed the car as quickly as possible and sent Kaminsky back out 5 laps down. Kaminsky would continue running laps to gain as much knowledge on car setup as possible for race 2 the following day.
Kaminsky got off to a great start in race 2, working his way to 5th place by lap 15. From there Kaminsky hung with the lead pack looking for any advantage he can find to slide through into 4th. A late race restart with 2 laps to go, would cause Kaminsky to lose his 5th place position, as he was run wide into turn 1, which would result in Kaminsky being moved back to 8th right in front of his teammate. Kaminsky would finish the remaining lap in 8th for his second top-ten finish of the 2023 season.
“Even though we might not have the result we had hoped for this weekend, I really think we showed what we are capable of. We had the speed all weekend to run with the top group, but as we all found out track position was huge. This circuit was super tight, so passing was even that much harder, and any slight mistake resulted in lost positions. I can’t thank Abel Motorsports enough for another awesome weekend, and all of the work that they put in this weekend. Road America here we come,” said Colin Kaminsky.
It’s a quick turnaround for Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin, for round 6 of the 2023 INDY NXT by Firestone Championship on June 18th. Keep up with all things Abel Motorsports, by following the team on social media @abelmotorsports. Make sure you tune in live to Peacock on June 18th at 11:10am ET to catch all 20 laps of action live.
###
Abel Motorsports including team Principal, Bill Abel, has been competing since 1972. Abel Motorsports is now on to the third generation with Jacob Abel being the flagship driver for the team. The team was able to capture the inaugural F3 Americas Championship in 2018, and currently competes in the freshly rebranded INDY NXT by Firestone series, the official development series for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. For more information visit the official team website at: www.abelmotorsports.com
Media Contact: Jacob Donahue– Email: Jacobdonahueracing@gmail.com