Louis Foster delivered a perfect weekend in Detroit by smashing the lap record in qualifying to take pole position, which he converted to earn victory and jump up to second in the Indy NXT championship.
Foster, 20, has always been a strong qualifier and delivered four pole positions in his rookie season last year, so his first pole in 2024 after a rollercoaster start to the season is a huge milestone for the work Foster and his Andretti Global team have put into improving.
“It’s about time, really,” said Foster, who is backed by Copart, a global leader in online auto auctions.
“We’ve had a lot of pace. It’s nice to get my first pole this season. We’ve been fast all season, just haven’t had the best of luck and a few mistakes by me. Happy to get a pole.”
A frantic race would be tough to manage for any driver with four incidents at a very short and narrow Downtown Detroit circuit. However, Foster led all 45 laps, and set the fastest lap to complete the rare racing hat-trick of pole, fastest lap and the race win. He was pressed hard, especially with each caution erasing his advantage and giving the drivers behind a chance to strike on the restarts.
But Foster firmly batted away any challenge to take his second win in a row. He is now 25 points behind the championship leader, behind Jacob Abel and he jumped ahead of Nolan Siegel.
“We’re second in points now,” Foster said.
“We’ve had a fantastic few days here in Detroit, topping each practice session, taking pole and then the race win with the fastest lap.
“So that’s 2 wins in 2 races, so a big thank you to my crew for a great car and team performance.
“At the start, I was just managing the gap. About midway through, I pulled quite a gap on Caio Collet, thinking he killed his tyres. But to be fair to him, he came back at me quite hard in the late stages of race.
“It was getting close, but we had enough pace to keep him off.”
Foster now heads to Road America in Wisconsin for the first of three races in June, with May-July proving the busiest of the season.
“Road America is a real old-school racing track, with fast, flowing sections, elevation changes and a lot of challenges for a driver,” adds Foster.
“It’s really satisfying when you get it right at somewhere like that.
“After a strong weekend in Detroit, we’re just going to take it race by race and score the maximum amount of points available and go from there.
“I have to say a big thanks to Andretti, Copart, Novara, Poggesi and everyone who supports me. We’ll try to build some momentum as the races come thick and fast now.”
Foster will be in action at Road America from June 7-9.
In the UK you’ll be able to watch Louis race live on Sunday on Sky Sports Mix. In America the event will be broadcast on Peacock and for countries which don’t have a broadcast partner, the sessions are available on IndyCar Live for streaming.
Road America circuit schedule – Central time zone
Friday June 7
Practice 1 - 1450-1535 (UK 1950-2035)
Saturday June 8
Practice 2 - 1000-1045 (UK 1500-1545)
Qualifications - 1430-1500 (UK 1930-2000)
Sunday June 9
Race - 1305-1420 (UK 1805-1920)
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