LIGHTS: Serralles making push for IndyCar chance

Carlin Racing's Felix Serralles says he's ready to make to move from Indy Lights to IndyCar, and he isn't alone. The 24-year-old Puerto Rican began his open-wheel training in Europe, has two Indy Lights seasons and three wins under his belt, and feels 2017 is the right time to take the final step on Mazda's Road To Indy.

"I think I have been ready for a few years," Serralles told RACER. "Racing in Europe taught me a lot about adversity and that has helped me in Indy Lights. I didn't have the best career in Europe, but it taught me a lot about when things go wrong you still have to push. I think I am ready, I think I am mature, I think I know a lot about the car, and setup-wise I can communicate really well with the engineers."

Serralles' maturity was put to the test at the most recent round in Mid-Ohio. Sunday's Lights race was less than flattering, and after repeated contact and a premature exit from the contest, his championship aspirations took a hit. Holding fourth with two events left on the calendar, he'll need flawless execution to move ahead of the top three and earn the IndyCar advancement prize that awaits the title winner. With or without the prize, Serralles says he's fixed on moving into the Verizon IndyCar Series.

"What it takes to go up is a blank check, basically," he added. "We don't have that at the moment, but hopefully if I can acquire a sponsorship, which I hope will be possible, then I really hope I will be in IndyCar next year. Or if I win the championship."

Serralles is locked in a battle with Carlin teammate Ed Jones, Andretti Autosport's Dean Stoneman and points leader Santi Urrutia from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, and if he looks behind the immediate championship contenders, Zach Veach, Shelby Blackstock, Kyle Kaiser and other young guns have earmarked 2017 as the right time to enter IndyCar.

It makes the race to land one of the few available IndyCar seats more heated than at any point in recent years, and since he can't guarantee the Lights championship will fall in his favor, Serralles hopes his driving will speak loud enough to catch the attention of interested team owners.

"I just want to gain as many points as I can and finish every race right now," he said. "I have proven that I can win the regular way, and if I'm starting in the back, I can still finish at the podium. Look at the Barber race where I went from P15 to P2, because it doesn't matter what you have in front of you; at the end of the day you have to push as hard as you can. If I see the opportunity, I'm definitely going to go for it."