Jamie Chadwick has already been building towards a move to the IndyCar Series, the only question is if it happens in 2025 or not.
The Briton’s first date with IndyCar machinery - which was announced on Wednesday - will take place on 30 September at Barber Motorsports Park with Andretti Global, the same squad she has spent the past two seasons with in Indy NXT.
“I'm preparing as if I'm going to IndyCar next year from a physical standpoint as much as I can,” Chadwick told Motorsport.com. “I'm preparing from a sponsorship point of view, everything to pitch to go to IndyCar.
“I feel like the higher I aim, the higher I hopefully fall; that's kind of what we're aiming for.”
Chadwick became the first woman to win an Indy NXT race on a road or street circuit earlier this year in a flag-to-flag performance from pole at Road America. Additionally, no woman had previously earned pole on a road or street circuit in the series.
She became the third-ever female winner in Indy NXT, joining Pippa Mann and Ana Beatriz, who both won on ovals.
“There's so many things that need to fall into place,” said Chadwick. “We've got some people working around me to try and help me on it all as well.
“Putting these programs together - Indy NXT, IndyCar - isn't easy for anyone. It's a huge amount of money that needs to be raised. It's a huge amount of work that needs to go in. I'm preparing as much as I can to try and go to IndyCar next year.
“There are so many factors and the realism element of it I don't know at this point. A lot will depend on September the 30th, but the work really does have to start way before that.”
And while it’s not uncommon to see IndyCar debutants get trial runs at Sebring, Road America or even Portland, Chadwick wanted the challenge of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course based just outside of Birmingham, Alabama.
A significant reason for that was due to her Indy NXT initiation coming at Sebring, which was a helpful experience but didn’t provide a full scope of what she was stepping into following a career in Europe that included three W Series titles.
“I did my Indy NXT test at Sebring and the test went well,” she said. “It gave me a feeling for the car, but it's a very different track.
“It's a little bit more like the street tracks we go to, a lot slower speed, a very short lap time. I felt it gave me one picture of the Indy NXT car and that experience, but not the full picture. And for me, I think IndyCar, it would be the same sort of feeling as well.
“I really wanted to get as much of a picture of what the demands and what the Indy car would be like, and we narrowed down some tracks and Barber was probably at the top of the list. It's a track that every driver talks about being one of the most physical on the calendar, one of the most demanding. It's a tough track, it's high speed, it's flowing and there are a lot of blind corners.
“I want to know if I'm ready for IndyCar and I think that track is going to give me the best picture of if I am ready or not.”
Chadwick is under no illusions of the task that awaits, but she’s eager to, if nothing else, test herself in what is “by far the highest level” of car that she has had a chance to drive.
“I want to leave that test knowing, 'Okay, in the next few months I can really get on top of this and I think I could be in a good place or no, I need to reevaluate and think what other options might be for next year,'” she said.
With nothing guaranteed beyond the test, the 26-year-old simply wants to give herself the best possible shot at having options for next year, although she isn’t ruling out returning for a third campaign in Indy NXT next year.
“That's potentially an option, for sure,” Chadwick added. “Earlier in the year, I started to really think that was something that might be on the cards.
“And I think a lot of people would turn their nose at a third year of Indy NXT, but I look at my first year and I feel like my second year is kind of the year that I wish I'd had in my first year.
"If you want to then come back the second year and have a really clear opportunity of winning the championship, which, although we've had a big step up in performance, we haven't had that opportunity to be fighting for the championship.
“So yes, I think there is a potential for that, but that said, you know, I really wanna go to IndyCar.
“I think that we will learn a huge amount in IndyCar. If I have that opportunity, I would love to be able to take it.”
