After failing in his quest to land a full-time IndyCar Series ride for 2019, Jordan King set his sights on his next goal – compete in the Indianapolis 500.
The Englishman will attempt to make his first start in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing next May after securing the third Indy 500 entry fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
"I’m really happy and excited to announce that I’ll be driving in the 2019 Indy 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,” said the 24-year-old, who competed in the 11 road and street course races for Ed Carpenter Racing in 2018.
“This race is one that I have been working towards and a race I have always dreamt of racing in as it’s the jewel in the crown of IndyCar. I was at the race last year and I really enjoyed the whole weekend and knew straight away it was something that I had to be a part of so to be able to go there next year is definitely a huge moment in my career.”
After a career in junior formulas in Europe where King pursued Formula 1, King moved to IndyCar last season with Ed Carpenter Racing, contesting the street and road courses. He showed his natural ability and race pace from day-one by setting a new lap record at St. Petersburg on his debut race weekend. He qualified in the Fast Six two times and led 11 laps with a best finish of 11th at Toronto.
"Jordan certainly impressed me last year with his pace at a number of races,” added Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with David Letterman and Mike Lanigan.
“Of course those were all road and street courses but he quickly came to grips with the Dallara and it was apparent that he has the potential to do well. While this will be his first oval race, I think that given the amount of track time, he will get up to speed and come to grips with the challenges of oval racing just as quickly. Of course, it always helps to have two strong teammates and a strong team behind you to shorten the learning curve and we feel we provide that. We look forward to welcoming him to the team.”
King will join Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing garage at Indianapolis. His goal remains to secure a full-time ride in the IndyCar Series.
“We went from not being able to find a full-time drive for the season to securing a seat at one of the biggest races in the world which is a huge relief to be able to get sorted,” King said. “A huge thanks to RLL for the opportunity and I hope I can repay their faith in me with a good result. The race will be my first-ever on a superspeedway so it should be an exciting experience every time I get behind the wheel. The aim for the 500 is to prove myself as an oval racer. I already competed in the road and street courses this year so now I’ll be looking to impress and expand my CV to push towards a full-time drive.”