King to make Indy 500 debut with RLL Racing

Jordan King will make his oval IndyCar debut in 2019 after joining the field for the 103rd Indianapolis 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

GP2 race winner and former Manor Formula 1 development driver King moved into IndyCar for 2017 with Ed Carpenter Racing, appearing in all the street and road course events with a best finish of P11 in Toronto.

Unable to secure a full-season seat, King confirmed on Wednesday he had agreed a deal with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for next year's Indy 500, teaming up with Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato for the race.

"I’m really happy and excited to announce that I’ll be driving in the 2019 Indy 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. 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," King said.

"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.”

“Jordan certainly impressed me last year with his pace at a number of races. 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," team owner Bobby Rahal added.

"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 is the latest additional entrant to the Indy 500 along with Helio Castroneves (Penske), Ed Jones (Ed Carpenter Racing with Scuderia Corsa) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren), the latter being confirmed last weekend.