The Uruguayan, who has finished runner-up in the Lights championship for the last two seasons, stated in August that he was in negotiations with “three winning teams” in IndyCar, but now says this has reduced to one.

"January should be when everything will be defined", Urrutia said on Thursday in a sponsor press conference in his home country. "By then I will know if I will race in IndyCar or not.

"There are no longer three teams in the negotiation, it is one. That team is in conversations with a sponsor that would give me the green light to be in IndyCar.”

Should that option not materialize, Urrutia says he has a “big opportunity” to race in Indy Lights again, with a possible entry in the Indianapolis 500.

"Those are the next steps – wait until January for a call from the United States," he said, "which is when they will tell me: ‘Santi you are in IndyCar’ or ‘Santi you will do Indy Lights again.’”

Urrutia, who tested an IndyCar from Schmidt Peterson Motorsport in 2016, has six victories in Indy Lights campaign and was the 2015 Pro Mazda champion.

Potential IndyCar employers among the established teams would be Dale Coyne Racing, who has still not named a teammate for Sebastien Bourdais, and Ed Carpenter Racing as road/street course driver sharing the #20 car with the team owner.

Of the new teams, Carlin’s two-car team is complete with Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton, while Juncos Racing has already announced a limited schedule for Kyle Kaiser. Harding Racing, which is set to run 2015 Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves in one car, has yet to confirm its plans for 2018, but is believed to be aiming for two cars to run the full season.