Scott Dixon first, then Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, so who's next? Possibly multiple New Zealand Grand Prix winner Nick Cassidy.

Chip Ganassi Racing, which runs Scott Dixon and will have a part-season programme in place for Armstrong, has continued its driver evaluation project by testing Nick Cassidy. The Kiwi sampled one of the team’s Honda-powered Indy cars during the last significant group test prior to the start of the season.

Revered for his speed and adaptability, the 28-year-old joined CGR at Sebring International Raceway, where approximately two-thirds of the full-time field will run on the short outer loop across two days.

“We’re excited to be able to test Nick and owe a debt of gratitude to IndyCar and Nick’s team for making this happen,” said CGR managing director Mike Hull. “This is all in an effort to understand the driver landscape going into 2024 so we can be ready.”

Nick Cassidy said it was a “big honour” to test for Chip Ganassi Racing. He is currently in the third and final year of contract with Envision and, although he admits IndyCar is of interest, he felt “lucky” to be with Envision in Formula E and wanted to ensure his next deal was a long-term solution.

“If I’m going to be here, I’m going to be committed; the Indy 500 is something that everyone should dream to win. It’s one of the biggest races in the world.”

So he is keeping his options open for 2024 amid interest in IndyCar.

Driving the sole Honda-powered car in action in the eight-car test, Cassidy drove a total of 156 laps of the 1.7-mile short course, and finished the day 0.636s off top spot but within 0.4s of the second placed car.

Cassidy spent four seasons in Japan’s open-wheeler Super Formula and won the championship in 2019. He said it took a couple of hours to adapt back to powerful and heavy open-wheel cars, but that by the afternoon he was able to give his best.