No Indy entry, but PREMA still hopeful of IndyCar return later in 2026

PREMA Racing will not participate in the Indianapolis 500.

Multiple sources have told RACER the polesitters for last year’s Indy 500, which fielded two full-time entries for Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman, have shifted their efforts to making a return at some point after the month of May.

Led by PREMA IndyCar CEO Piers Phillips, the American arm of the Italian team owned DC Racing Solutions (DCRS) has been seeking new investors to buy PREMA’s IndyCar assets and relaunch the team under a new name in time to compete at the Indy 500.

Chevrolet, which supplied engines to PREMA in 2025, held two full-season leases for the team to use if found a way back to compete in its second IndyCar season, but efforts to buy the team from DCRS have so far been unsuccessful.

As a result, and having missed the opening month of the season, the engines being protected for PREMA have reportedly been released for use at the Indy 500 by Abel Motorsports in an entry for Jacob Abel, and in a third car run by AJ Foyt Racing with a driver to be named, to complete the field of 33.

With significant business transactions needing to be resolved, and without engines to deploy in May, the next opportunities for PREMA to return would be in June, at which point 10 races await to be run through the season’s conclusion on Sept. 6 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.