Armstrong will drive the #11 Ganassi-Honda on the 12 road and street courses on the 2023 IndyCar schedule, with Takuma Sato taking over the ride on the five ovals. And already, the 22-year-old New Zealander has been impressed by the outlook and approach of the 14-time IndyCar champions.
“Everyone has been giving me more information than I could have ever imagined really,” he said. “So open with everything and how they approach things. I've been genuinely impressed by the organization, just the strategic point of view that Chip Ganassi Racing has. It's really quite remarkable. I can understand why they've had so much success.”
However, Armstrong admitted that he has no option but to get up to speed immediately.
“I think fundamentally I need to get on it straightaway,” he said. “I have all the information in the world really. Obviously [Alex Palou] has won a championship, Scott [Dixon] has won more than a couple, Marcus [Ericsson] won the Indy 500. It's a very accomplished group. I have all the information to learn from, which is really cool.
“I just need to hit the ground running, do well immediately. That's my target, to maximize myself from the beginning. Obviously I understand how competitive this championship is, and I need to learn a new car with limited test days. But that's part of the challenge.
“The organization and the strategic view that Ganassi has I think is going to help me for that.”
Armstrong also spoke with admiration about the depth and experience within the Ganassi team.
“It's funny when I talk to people around the [raceshop], they talk about when they arrived at Chip Ganassi Racing. I was like, ‘I wasn't born yet, but cool…’. A lot of people have been there forever. So much experience, so much knowledge. I'm a fan of the sport as well as a driver, so I like to learn everyone's stories.
“My teammates – I haven't really spent much time with them, but just to understand where they came from, how they sort of grew as drivers is really interesting to me. The engineers, as well. They all have a lot of history. Certainly my engineer [Eric Cowdin] has been there, done that. I draw inspiration from that.”
Asked about the culture shock of motorsport in America compared with Europe, Armstrong replied: “I think that everyone is very open. It seems like racing is a lifestyle as opposed to a job. That was sort of my first impression, which is a real positive thing. There's no such thing as work hours. If you need to stay in the office ’til 10, you stay in the office ’til 10, and no one is going to ask questions. That's really quite unique. Again, it's something that excites me because everyone is as committed as I am, I feel.”
Armstrong said that he plans to parlay his road/street course ride into a fulltime IndyCar campaign.
“As a racing driver, I'd love to be doing everything,” he said. “It's certainly my target in the future to be doing the full season. But at the moment I'm fairly happy with how it's panned out. It's sort of the perfect way to introduce myself into this championship and work my way to a full campaign.”
