Jamie Chadwick has expressed her ambition to compete in 6-8 NTT IndyCar Series races next year. The Briton, who completed her second season of Indy NXT with Andretti Global, shared her goals on the home page of her new website, but the line was deleted at some point on Monday.
A winner from pole position at Road American in June, Chadwick was a two-time podium finisher on her way to placing seventh in the championship, a marked improvement from 12th as an NXT rookie in 2023. The three-time W Series champion is facing a packed driver market among those who hope to land one of the remaining seats on the IndyCar grid.
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Whether it’s her Andretti teammate Louis Foster who won eight races and ran away with the NXT championship, or runner-up Jacob Abel, or a range of Formula 1 and Formula 2 drivers searching for opportunities, or the sizable number of IndyCar drivers – including Rookie of the Year Linus Lundqvist – hunting for homes, Chadwick is facing a challenge to graduate in 2025.
She has her first IndyCar test scheduled with the Andretti team on September 30 at Barber Motorsports Park which, if it goes well, could help to move the 26-year-old higher up on a few short lists.
Andretti COO Rob Edwards doesn’t know what the future holds for Chadwick, but would welcome her back to Andretti’s NXT program if she wants to try and view for a championship.
“Ultimately, that decision rests with Jamie and her manager,” Edwards told RACER. “We would love to have her back for Indy NXT, if that was something that she wanted to do. Her aspirations are to do something in IndyCar in 2025, but it is a very crowded market at the moment. If she does come back to do NXT again, I think she’d certainly be a title favorite.
“An Indy NXT championship would go a long way to helping her achieve her ultimate aspirations. We’re supportive of whatever she does.”
Chadwick’s diminutive size made it hard to attack the Dallara IL15 Indy NXT car as a rookie, and with an intensive training program leading into 2024, she added the muscle mass required to get the most from the machine. The test at Barber, in a much heavier Dallara DW12 with greater downforce will provide Chadwick and interested teams with critical information about her ability to attack the Honda-powered hybrid Andretti Indy car.
And with the Andretti NXT team receiving plenty of interest from drivers after they won the title with Foster, the clock is ticking on being able to save a seat for Chadwick.
“The Barber test is a big marker in terms of decision making for them,” Edwards added. “You know, the Chris Griffis test in the middle of October is traditionally a date by which we try to have all of our seats in place. So that’s probably the window and the timeline for things to fall one way or the other.”