Matty Brabham is like every other driver in the Indy Lights series. He’s displayed talent, tenacity, and wants to graduate to the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2015.

He’s also like most Indy Lights drivers when it comes to the available funding and opportunities required to make that leap. Without a family war chest to draw from, and with most IndyCar seats already filled next season, the son of 4-time IMSA GTP champion Geoff Brabham could find himself stuck on the open-wheel ladder.

Coming off consecutive Mazda Road To Indy titles in USF2000 and Pro Mazda, Brabham’s rookie season of Indy Lights has had its ups and downs. As recent examples have shown, the current Indy Lights car is a perfect fit for some drivers, while for others, its handling characteristics requires more time to master. Sitting fourth in the standings, Brabham has a win and a pole to his credit, and without a fair bit of misfortune and some mistakes of his own, he’d be challenging for the championship.

Based on the driving style he demonstrated on the first two runs of the open-wheel ladder, Brabham’s attacking ways would favor the Dallara DW12 Indy car chassis far more than the 2014 Indy Lights car, making a return engagement to the top-tier training series a possible waste of time.

Asked if he feels ready to step up to IndyCar, Brabham told RACER he draws inspiration from another standout who didn’t mesh with the Lights car yet has impressed his peers this year.

“My feeling if I’m ready or not, I just look at the people that have done the same thing I have and gone into IndyCar like Jack Hawksworth,” said Brabham. “Obviously, he’s done really, really well. And I compare myself to him a lot because, obviously, he won the Mazda Championship in the same similar fashion as I did and then he didn’t have a very good season in Indy Lights. His season in Indy Lights is looking a lot like mine. If I compare myself to him, I say, yeah, I’m ready. He’s doing an awesome job in IndyCar and he deserves to be there and he’s proved that.”

Brabham has given every indication he could be a future star in IndyCar. He’s part of a strong Indy Lights class, along with championship leader Gabby Chaves, Zach Veach, Luiz Razia, and Alex Baron that could make an impact in the years ahead. Given the sizeable obstacles those drivers face – a “carbon-fiber ceiling” – where talent alone isn’t enough to earn a job with the majority of IndyCar teams, Brabham’s prepared to spend another season in Lights if nothing materializes on the IndyCar front.

“It just comes down to, obviously, the opportunities and open seats and sponsorships,” he said. “Even if I got a slight opportunity, I’d take it 100% for sure with both hands. But it’s definitely hard to get that opportunity. I think doing Indy Lights, again, would be beneficial, for sure. It’s not going to be anything negative. Especially with the new car, I think it’s more so comparable to the IndyCar. It makes the stepping stone a little bit closer. It’s just that most of us are in limbo mode at the moment. Everybody’s in the same situation. They’re just waiting to see where everybody plays out. Once IndyCar teams sorts out their seats, it’s going to filter all down through the ranks and then we’ll see if any doors will open.”

Along with his advancement prize from winning the Pro Mazda title in 2013, Brabham’s Indy Lights program with Andretti Autosport is funded by United Fiber & Data. The 20-year-old has been with the Andretti team for three seasons, and with Michael Andretti’s interest in expanding to five Indy cars next year, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities for Brabham to step into that seat or the other UFD-sponsored entry currently driven by James Hinchcliffe.

With no guarantees beyond the current Indy Lights season, however, Brabham will have to search for the requisite sponsorship and wait to see how his future unfolds.

“I certainly – I couldn’t pay the IndyCar budget myself at all,” he admitted. “I think very few young drivers can. Obviously, my sponsor UFD has been really, really great to me and they’re a great bunch of guys. They’re obviously sponsoring Hinchcliffe as well, so I know they already understand they have commitments on that side of things. If they want to take me to IndyCar, I would be very, very grateful, but if they don’t, that’s fine also. I’m not owed anything from anyone.

“I’ve had the best sponsorship out of the whole Indy Lights group. We’ll just see how that one plays out and maybe there’s other sponsors that might come on board, but it’s just all about finding a sponsorship. It’s tough because it is getting towards the end of the year and I would like to know what everybody wants to do so I can start chasing it.”​