Armstrong is aiming for a full-time IndyCar campaign in 2023

With four wins and eight podiums under his belt in Formula 2, Marcus Armstrong is ready to take the next step in his open-wheel career. If his plans come to fruition, he will compete on the NTT IndyCar Series grid next season as a contender for Rookie of the Year.

After completing a successful first IndyCar test last week at Sebring with Dale Coyne Racing, the 22-year-old is hoping to make a permanent home in North America.

“Of course IndyCar is what I want to do,” Armstrong told RACER. “There is no secret. I’ve always been drawn to the championships from a young age because I’m a Kiwi and watched Scott Dixon kick ass from the age of two. I was always very attracted to the championship. I would love to come and obviously nothing is official but it is definitely my first choice. I’m working on it.”

The New Driver Evaluation Test at Sebring ended with Armstrong fourth fastest of the five drivers present. Afterward, the DCR team noted that it may have been the only company to comply with the engine supplier’s request for a push-to-pass start, which adds roughly 40 hp. to engine power. With P2P in mind, the team is confident that Armstrong would have been right behind Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist, who was in the lead.

“It was a lot of fun,” Armstrong said of the test. “That day I realized how intense IndyCar (is) and definitely the identity of IndyCar is different from each category with the reactivity of the steering wheel and the feedback and how hard you have to drive. So I was aware that it was going to come out on the day and it definitely lived up to the expectations placed on it just in the sense that you have to drive it hard.

“Surprisingly, the car is quite easy to feel compared to Formula 2. In discussing this with my engineers, we talked about the sidewall size of the Firestone tires, which helps me feel the car quite well compared to the 18-inch Pirelli [F2 tires] that I’m used to. So that’s pretty cool.

“The weight distribution is very different and it just felt very strong through the corners and obviously going into the corners it has quite a lot of grip compared to what I’m used to. And it was a lot of fun because you can push hard and not suffer any consequences coming out of the corner. So, from my point of view, it’s a lot of fun to drive.”