Louis Foster vaulted up the Indy NXT points standings with a brilliant drive to second place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Andretti Autosport driver Foster was in the top five in every session at the famed Speedway’s road course event, the third race of the Indy NXT season.
After qualifying an excellent third, and after two attempts to start the race failing, the third was a charm for reigning Indy Pro 2000 champion Foster who pulled off an opportunistic overtake on Andretti team-mate Hunter McElrea at the first turn, immediately pressuring the polesitter Matteo Nannini.
Foster and the leader Nannini drove away from the rest of the field during the race establishing a gap of 10 seconds to the third place driver. Foster saved his overtaking boost for the final laps and was sat just behind his rival for the whole race.
He got within a couple of tenths on the last lap, but ultimately Nannini used the clean air out front to his advantage. Foster was just 0.3909s behind.
Still, it was the first race without an issue for Foster so far this season and the result satisfied his pre-weekend goal.
“Points meant prizes for us this weekend after a tough start to the year in terms of results,” said Foster, who is backed by Copart, a global leader in online auto auctions.
“The Andretti Autosport #26 team has been so supportive and the pace of the car has been good, we’ve just had some sort of issue in all the races so far.
“This weekend was a step towards where we want and expect to be. A huge thank you to them for their hard work through the last few months.
“I thought the win was going to be possible in the closing stages but it can be tough to overtake here and we just came up short, but the points make this weekend a huge success for us.”
Foster can now watch the Indy 500 and support his Andretti IndyCar team-mates on their journey to win arguably America’s biggest race.
Following that, Foster will be back in action on the first weekend of June at the new downtown Detroit street race, with two Indy NXT races to capitalise on.
“Every race is a bit of an unknown this year because of the new tyre for the series, but this race especially is a great equaliser as no one has raced or tested there in the past,” added Foster.
“Let’s hope we can use that to our advantage and bag another load of points there.”
Notes to editors
Louis Foster
Louis Foster is a 19-year-old British racing driver from Hampshire aiming to take the racing world by storm. He’s a member of the BRDC SuperStars and races for the Andretti Autosport team in Indy NXT by Firestone.
Son of British Touring Car and GT racer Nick Foster, Louis has been around motorsport for the majority of his life.
Foster had a successful karting career before making his debut in Ginetta Juniors where he won nine races and scored 19 podiums in his first season.
A step up to the British F4 championship delivered six wins and 13 podiums in his first season of single-seater racing, while his debut BRDC British F3 campaign kept up a 100% winning record in his car racing career with three victories and six podiums.
In 2021 Foster stepped up to racing in Europe and added three wins in Euroformula Open, took a further 10 podiums and two pole positions in a series which raced in front of Formula 1 on occasion this year.
His performances led to a nomination for the prestigious Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, an honour which was repeated a year later.
The following year he made his debut in America and won half of the races on the way to the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 championship. He won on all three types of tracks, including on street courses and ovals which he hadn’t raced on before.
Outside of motorsport Louis is a keen rugby and hockey player as well as enjoying off-road mountain biking and training in the gym.
Foster is sponsored by auction giant Copart, which sells more than 300,000 cars per years in the UK and more than 3M cars per year worldwide. He is also backed by Chambers Recycling Solutions, Novara Technologies, One Sports Management Group and Poggesi.
For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact barry@onesmgroup.com
Indy NXT by Firestone
Indy NXT (formerly Indy Lights before a major rebrand for 2023) is the top level of junior racing in the United States.
It is organised and promoted by Penske Entertainment - which also owns NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - and is the premier route for drivers hoping to reach INDYCAR.
It races on road courses, street circuits and ovals, just like the stars of INDYCAR.
The series races with cars made by Dallara, with the distinctive Halo device used to help protect the drivers. The cars feature turbocharged, 2-litre engines producing 450bhp, and are tricky to control which gives drivers a good learning curve ahead of reaching IndyCar.
Winning the series awards a prize fund worth a reported $1.4 million, and includes tests at Texas and Indianapolis, an Indy 500 start and an entry into one additional IndyCar race.
Past champions of the series include Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward.
Indy NXT by Firestone calendar
March 5 St Petersburg
April 30 Barber
May 13 Indianapolis road course
June 3-4 Detroit (doubleheader)
June 18 Road America
July 2 Mid-Ohio
July 22 Iowa
Aug 6 Nashville
Aug 11 Indianapolis road course
Aug 26 Gateway
September 3 Portland
September 9-10 Laguna Seca (double header)