Jordan King Enters 2019 Indianapolis 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer

After spending the 2018 IndyCar season racing on the road/street courses for Ed Carpenter Racing, Jordan King will attempt to make his oval debut in 2019.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced King will enter the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 in a third entry for the team alongside Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato.

King impressed on his debut in 2018. The Englishman set a new track record at St. Petersburg on his first weekend in INDYCAR competition and led 11 laps last year. His best finish was 11th at the Honda Indy Toronto in July.

“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,” said King in a team release.

“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.”

King felt admiration for the track when testing at the IMS road course earlier this year.

“I wasn’t so much thinking about it, but I have to say when I drove down the straight and crossed over the yard of bricks at full speed, I did say to myself, ‘It’s the first time, it’s an iconic moment,’ and it put a smile on my face,” said King.

Team co-owner Bobby Rahal was impressed with King’s pace at a number of races last year but knows that there will be a bit of time to acclimate to the challenges of an oval.

“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,” said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with David Letterman and Mike Lanigan.

“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.”