Following on from last week’s world exclusive on Jamie Chadwick’s upcoming Indy Lights test, F1 Feeder Series spoke to soon-to-be 2022 Indy Lights champion Linus Lundqvist about what the W Series ace can expect from her tryout.

By Jeroen Demmendaal

On September 21, Jamie Chadwick will take the wheel of an Indy Lights Dallara IL-15 for the first time. First reported by F1 Feeder Series earlier last week, the British driver and two-time W Series champion will test with Andretti Autosport at the Sebring road course in Florida.

Old rival Lundqvist ‘happy to see’ Chadwick’s opportunity

To get an idea of what she can expect from her first taste of Indy Lights, few are better suited to provide relevant insight than Linus Lundqvist. 

The Swede, who is set to clinch the 2022 Indy Lights title at Laguna Seca this weekend, competed against Chadwick during the entire 2018 British Formula 3 season. Next, he moved to the United States and made the switch from Formula Regional cars to Indy Lights.

Lundqvist, who won the British F3 title in 2018 while Chadwick finished eighth overall, said he was pleased to hear that his formal rival will be getting a shot at Indy Lights. “Yeah, I was happy to see that she’s doing a test,” he told F1 Feeder Series. 

Excited to see what she can do and what she thinks of the Lights car.

Linus Lundqvist

“Obviously we kept in touch a little bit. She’s been doing very well in the W series. It will be interesting to see how she does over here. Obviously, it was some years ago, I’m not the same driver as I was in 2018 and I’m sure she’s not. Excited to see what she can do and what she thinks of the Lights car.”

A big step

Asked to comment on the differences between the Formula Regional cars used in British F3 and W Series and the Indy Lights car, Lundqvist said there’s a big difference between the machinery. 

In my head I did close to the perfect lap and then I was like, you know, five or six tenths off

Linus Lundqvist on his first tests in an Indy Lights car

“In 2020 when I did Formula Regional Americas, it was probably the biggest step of my career going into the Lights car just how the car drives and how you have to drive it to extract lap time,” he explained.

“I know multiple times in pre-season, like in the first couple of tests, in theory in my head I did close to the perfect lap,” he laughs, “and then I was like, you know, five or six tenths off [my teammate] David Malukas!”

Lundqvist realised he had to completely change his driving style compared to what he was used to in the Regional cars. “When I went and looked at David’s onboard, it was oversteer, understeer, whatever, but he just deals with it. While mine was calm, you know, just hitting the apex and all of that, but that’s not how you extract lap time out of a Lights car.

“So it took a little bit of time to get used to, but super rewarding when you do do it. It will be interesting to see how she can adapt to it.”

Header Photo Credit: Gavin Baker Photography