Sales of the brand-new Dallara IL15 Indy Lights chassis continue to grow, according to series boss Dan Andersen, with a bulk delivery due to take place next month.

“Car sales have picked up quite a bit,” Andersen told RACER. “I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll see 20 cars sold before the season opener in March, and 16 to 18 cars on the grid with a few kept as spares. We’ll have 10 cars delivered in the next 30 days. We might get more than that out of Dallara, but the first batch of 10 are sold. We have some people who’ve bought cars that will come in the second batch of 10 that want to be moved up, so we’re trying to help make that happen.

“And AER has been incredible with their support to get engine packages ready to go at the same time. It’s all coming together, and all of our vendors are working as fast as they can.”

Andersen, who also runs the first two steps on the Mazda Road To Indy ladder system, says the new IL15 owners will soon be identified.

“There are a lot of announcements that are about to come out from numerous teams, so we’ll have to let them reveal themselves, but strictly from the sales side, I can say a well-known Indy Lights team has purchased two cars and will take delivery of two more cars next year,” he noted. “A former Indy Lights an IndyCar team owner is close to coming in with a car, and that would be big. Another well-known Indy Lights team says they want to return once they get their budgets in place, and it would be two cars later this year or early next. Brian Belardi’s team just won the championship and they already announced they’re buying cars and we could see those numbers go up. 8Star Motorsports is in.”

The goal of attracting team owners from Europe has also been met, as Andersen shares.

“A big European team has bought two cars and is likely to go to four cars,” he confirmed. “There’s another European gentleman who is close to buying cars and is working on partnering with an American team at the moment. That deal is far along. And we look forward to all of the other team names being confirmed when it’s time. I think people are starting to see the new Indy Lights car is the real deal, and it’s a worthy alternative to anything they have across the pond. The old car was killing the series, and the only salvation worth considering was going to something new.”

After teams receive the first allotment of cars, Andersen says a large group test will showcase teams and drivers.

“We’ll have a big test with the first wave of cars in the middle of December, and I expect to see some more folks there taking a look and getting a good feel for what we have to offer,” he said. “I know a lot of us can’t wait to see everything come together in one place for the first time with a bunch of cars, and we’ll have another group test in January as more cars make it into the hands of team owners. It’s an exciting time for us.”