Jamie Chadwick prepares for testing at Indy Lights

Jamie Chadwick, two-time W Series champion, continues to compete in the Women’s Series this season and has already won every race but one, so there’s little stopping her from being the strongest again.

At the same time, the W Series organizers are actually violating one of the series’ basic tenets, as it was originally assumed that the racers who won the title should make way for new entrants. But now Chadwick’s career finally takes a turn: soon she will be driving the car of the American youth championship Indy Lights.

Admittedly, so far only on tests: on September 21 in Sebring, Jamie will be introduced to a new technique for her together with Andretti Autosport. The team confirmed they would give the 24-year-old British racer the opportunity to assess the level of her professional training.

Jamie drives a Dallara IL-15 with Mazda’s 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo engine with an output of approximately 450 hp. – such machines have been used in Indy Lights since 2015.

Since 2019, Chadwick has been training at the Williams Racing Academy and working on the team’s simulator, whose specialists help her improve her skills, as can be seen from the results. During Formula 1 race weekends, however, she mainly talks to the press, participates in the marketing program and sometimes drives a race taxi.

You can hardly expect more to follow, so it makes sense that Jamie is getting ready to try another series, and Indy Lights fits right in with that. In addition, participation in the overseas youth championship is not as expensive as appearances in F3 and even more so in F2.

“Chadwick will test at Sebring and she will be on the Indy Lights list next year,” said Ron Edwards, CEO of Andretti Autosport.