Danial Frost was working on a plan to graduate from Indy NXT to the NTT IndyCar Series in 2024, but he’ll need to wait until at least 2026 before that dream can be realized as national military service beckons for the 22-year-old.
The Singaporean, who won the opening Indy NXT race last season and went on to add two more podiums to claim sixth in the standings, has been aligned with Dale Coyne Racing.
“I’m taking a brief pause from racing to fulfill a compulsory commitment,” Frost announced. “It’s time for me to embark on a new journey in the military, serving my nation in Singapore for the next two years. Some individuals successfully transition back into racing after their military service, while others do not.
“[I] will keep my passion and motivation for motorsports alive in the USA through [a] public relations efforts for our next goal: IndyCar. Until then, I have to put my racing career on hold. Truthfully, it has been disturbing me due to the disruption of my racing career.”
Frost began racing on the American open-wheel ladder in 2018 in USF2000, and moved to Indy Pro 2000 from 2019-2020, where he won three races and finished third in the championship prior to moving to Indy NXT with Andretti Global in 2021. A switch to HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing in 2022 produced his first NXT victory, and in his return in 2023, a second win was secured.
A strong IndyCar test with Coyne in October of 2022 and the signing of a development contract with the team gave rise to the hope for Frost to land one of Coyne’s two vacant IndyCar seats as the new season draws near, but with his military stint confirmed, the six-year USF Championships and Indy NXT veteran is no longer in play.