After three years in FIA Formula 3, Sophia Floersch has left the European open-wheel ladder and the Alpine Academy and switched to Indy NXT with HMD Motorsports. Before the 2025 season gets underway next weekend, the German driver discussed the exciting new phase in her career.

By Jeroen Demmendaal

The moment she steps into the room, it’s clear that she’s buzzing about being here. It is late January and Sophia Floersch has joined a media call with selected outlets, including Feeder Series, to discuss her upcoming rookie season in Indy NXT. Throughout the session, she repeats numerous times that she is “super excited” about joining the nine-car HMD Motorsports squad for 2025 and the new challenge ahead.

In other words, Sophia Floersch has found a new racing home in the United States. And it’s easy to see why the American racing scene fits her.

Early on in the session, the 24-year-old briefly refers to how she feels “political decisions” are rife within the European racing ladder. When Feeder Series asks her what she expects to find in Indy NXT and how she hopes it will differ from FIA F3, she looks back at her visit to the Indy NXT season finale in Nashville last year.

“To be honest, just from being in Nashville already, you see that the paddock in IndyCar and Indy NXT is a lot more open,” Floersch explains. “I don’t know when I went to a race event the last time where it was actually possible for teams to check other teams’ cars – to be next to each other, with the mechanics working next to each other. There are no pit boxes where you’re not allowed in. It’s just a lot more open. The people are actually nice to each other and not just trying to screw each other over.”

“Obviously in every sport, everywhere you go, there’s politics,” she adds. “And I think that’s normal nowadays, and you will never get it out. But here the sport is still in focus. It’s still about pure racing here and I’m just excited to get going.

“I didn’t have a race weekend myself yet, so it’s always difficult to say, but from talking to every single driver who went here, they are all like, ‘I’m never, ever going back to Europe. America is the best racing place to be because the car is great, the teams are great and it’s actually fun to do.’ I just hope that I also get that feeling over the next couple of weeks and months.”

Speaking with and listening to Floersch is a refreshing experience because she has clear views and opinions. Of course, this will come as no surprise to those who have followed her career most closely. Feisty and fearless, Floersch is a driver who chooses her own path and says what she thinks regardless of what is fashionable. While she has advocated more equality of opportunity in motorsport, she does not believe in segregation by gender as a suitable means to reach that goal and has dismissed W Series and F1 Academy as gimmicks that have done little to bring about real change.

Floersch therefore had no interest in joining W Series and stuck with mixed-gender series because she believed they offered the only path for truly improving as a driver. Hence she also has little time for lines of questioning that focus on her sex rather than her performance. Responding to a question from another outlet, Flörsch rejects the notion that she represents women by racing in Indy NXT.

“I don’t want to be treated like a female racing driver,” she says. “I’m just a racing driver. That’s always what I said in Europe, in every single championship I did. I just want to race against the best and see what’s best for me as a racing driver, and not for me as a female driver.”

Having said that, it makes sense that she found her way to the United States. Compared with the European open-wheel ladder, the American scene has been a more fertile ground for female drivers in recent decades. While none since Giovanna Amati in 1992 has entered an F1 grand prix, the IndyCar Series featured plenty of credible female competitors, including Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher, Simona de Silvestro and Tatiana Calderón. The same goes for Indy NXT, in which Jamie Chadwick secured a race win and an additional podium finish only last year.

Indy NXT is also a logical next step for Floersch after three years of FIA F3. Both series use a Dallara chassis and there are few differences between them, she says.

“Driving-wise it’s really similar. The Indy NXT car has a turbo engine. That’s probably the biggest difference on corner exits that you need to get used to,” she explains. “The biggest difference is the tyres. With the Firestones, I personally think it’s amazing to actually get a feeling for the car, because you can just push on them and even slide on them, to know where the limit is and even sometimes go over the limit.

“With the Pirellis, that’s not really possible because they just get damaged. So that’s a positive side on test days because you can really develop your driving with the car.”

That development was apparent during pre-season testing at Sebring and Laguna Seca, where Floersch improved her pace throughout the sessions. A particular highlight was the morning session on the second day of the Sebring test, which she finished with the fourth-fastest time among 20 drivers.

“Last year I had one test day in Barber and it was the first day in the car for me,” Floersch tells Feeder Series when asked about her Indy NXT experiences so far. “If you ask anyone, it’s probably the toughest track to have a first day in a car because it is really demanding and hard to read. So to be honest, that was really about just getting the feeling for the car and getting into a groove.

“Then over the winter, I kind of had an idea on how the car is feeling and what to focus on, and that’s what we tried to develop and make even better in Sebring and Laguna Seca. You try to keep the momentum up, try to get better mile by mile.”

Another new challenge will be oval racing, which Floersch has never done before. There are four ovals on the 14-round 2025 Indy NXT schedule: Gateway, Iowa, Milwaukee and Nashville.

“Oval racing is probably going to be the biggest challenge, obviously as a European driver,” she says. “I’ve never done it, but I think sometimes you need new challenges to be motivated and to become a better driver, a better athlete. So I’m just going to take it as it comes.”

One benefit for Floersch in being an HMD driver is that the team have a wealth of data from their other eight cars.

“What’s really nice is that in this championship, you have onboard videos, which is different to F3 and F2 where you have nothing,” she says. “That makes life a lot easier as a new driver coming to the series, because you have a lot of material to watch, especially when you race with a team with many cars and a huge past.”

In terms of logistics, Floersch says she plans on commuting back and forth between Germany and the US in the first few months of the season. Then from May onwards, when the schedule tightens up, Floersch expects to spend a longer period solely in the United States.

“When we have those back-to-back races, it doesn’t make sense to fly back for one day and fly back here again. I haven’t decided yet where I want to stay – probably close by here [in Indianapolis], just to be close to the team.”

Before all that, she’ll have to tackle the bumpy streets of St. Petersburg at the season opener on March 2. Floersch is aware of the challenge ahead but also excited.

“I think St. Petersburg is not the easiest track to have the first race happening, but I love street circuits,” she enthuses. “I’ve been racing on different street circuits in the past years and it’s about being on track every single lap and getting a feeling for it to build up the performance. And from what I’ve heard at least is that the event in general is sick!”

Header photo credit: Travis Hinkle / Penske Entertainment