Jamie Chadwick dominated the W Series for all three years of its existence, but this only added to the torrent of concerns about the championship’s viability in helping women find higher opportunities in racing. As a result, she will head stateside in 2023 and make her début in American open-wheel racing as she joins Andretti Autosport in Indy NXT.
She will drive the #28, a number vacated by Christian Rasmussen as he moves to HMD Motorsports, with sponsorship from DHL; the #28 DHL combination is also utilised by Andretti in the NTT IndyCar Series with Romain Grosjean. Chadwick is the first female driver to compete in Indy NXT since Carmen Jordá ran five races in 2010, but the first full-timer since Ana Beatriz and Pippa Mann the year prior.
In October, Chadwick participated in the Chris Griffis Memorial Test at Indianapolis, where she ranked last in sixteenth after clipping the wall.
“Andretti Autosport is proud to be supporting Jamie alongside DHL for the 2023 Indy NXT season,” said team owner Michael Andretti. “Jamie’s successful career speaks for itself, but the Indy NXT series gives Jamie the opportunity to continue her development in a new type of racing. DHL is a long-standing team partner; we are happy to welcome them to the Indy NXT series and excited to welcome Jamie to the team. We’ve turned out five Indy NXT champions over the years and look forward to continuing our role in developing new talent.”
Indy NXT, formerly known as Indy Lights, is the second rung of the USF Pro Championships below the top-tier IndyCar Series. The American open-wheel ladder, known colloquially by its former name Road to Indy, has become a popular landing spot for drivers unable to land better chances in European formula racing. For example, Christian Lundgaard and Marcus Armstrong came to IndyCar from Formula 2 while Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson did so from Formula One.
Chadwick has been the W Series’ best driver by a significant margin since it: inaugural season in 2019. She scored the championship all three years of operation along with winning eleven of twenty-one races ever held. She opened 2022 by winning the first five races followed by a runner-up in the penultimate round. Even a retirement in the last weekend before the season was abruptly abandoned did little to impact the title battle as she won by fifty points.
Since 2020, she is a test driver for Williams Racing as part of their driver academy. However, as her W Series domination did not translate into seats in F1 or its feeder series, she has kept busy competing elsewhere such as Extreme E and the Race of Champions. She scored a podium at the former’s 2021 Ocean X Prix for Veloce Racing. At ROC in January, she represented Team Great Britain with David Coulthard, where they were eliminated in the Nations Cup quarter-finals; Chadwick was then knocked out of the individual tournament by Colton Herta. Incidentally, Herta races in IndyCar for Andretti. She will return to ROC in 2023.
“I’m hugely excited to be joining Andretti Autosport for the 2023 Indy NXT season with DHL,” stated Chadwick. “My aim is always to challenge myself and continue my progression as a driver and this represents not only a big step up but also a big step towards my goal of competing in the highest categories of single seater racing. Andretti Autosport’s standing in the sport is second to none and I hope to bring more success to such a prestigious team. I can’t wait to get started.”
Chadwick joins a team whose drivers finished second through fourth in the 2022 championship with Sting Ray Robb, Matt Brabham, and Hunter McElrea. The lattermost won Rookie of the Year honours and has confirmed his return to the team for 2023. Andretti has also signed Indy Pro 2000 champion Louis Foster.
