Andretti Autosport Indy NXT driver Louis Foster is aiming to take his victorious form to a new track this weekend, with the series visiting the Iowa oval.
Foster, 19, won the last race at Mid-Ohio and has been on pole for three of the seven Indy NXT races this season, but a string of bad luck means the driver of the #26 Copart/USF Pro Championship car is still fighting his way back into the championship hunt in fourth.
His win at Mid-Ohio was the perfect way to start, but Iowa is a tough test because Foster - only in his second year of racing in the US - hasn’t raced here with only a recent test to prepare.
“The win at Mid-Ohio was the perfect reset and the culmination of all the speed we’ve shown finally turning into a result,” says Foster, who is backed by Copart, a global leader in online auto auctions.
“The whole Andretti Autosport team and everyone around me has worked so hard to make this happen, so I’m hoping we can continue that momentum now in the second half of the season where the races come thick and fast.
“Iowa is a really tough test as a lot of my rivals raced here in this series last year whereas it wasn’t on the Indy Pro 2000 calendar.
“This place is extremely bumpy and tyre wear can be a huge issue if you let it, so managing the tyre and keeping it in the right window over a stint will be vital.”
One of the complications of this weekend is the condensed schedule where Foster will only get 45 minutes on track Friday afternoon before qualifying later that day, which doesn’t help with maximising learning the track.
“It’s the same for everyone though, so we have to get the best out of the situation we can,” adds Foster.
“We’re getting to the business end of the season now so there’s no excuses.
“I’ve heard this is a really good event after it returned to the calendar in IndyCar last year and I’m looking forward to racing somewhere new again.”
On his first ever oval race, Foster won last year - at the Lucas Oil Raceway - on his way to the Indy Pro 2000 championship.
Iowa is the first oval of the season and there's one more to go, at Gateway in August.
After this weekend there will only be six races left in the Indy NXT season. There’s three races in August and then three in September including the double-header at Laguna Seca completing the season.
Iowa schedule - Eastern Time (BST -5)
Friday, July 21 Practice 1 1515-1600 (2015-2100) Qualifying 1830-1915 (2330-0015) Saturday, July 22 Race 1110-1220 (1610-1720) Indy NXT is available to watch on Peacock TV in the USA and on Sky Sports in the UK for certain sessions. The race on Saturday will be shown on Sky Sports Mix channel at 1600. In countries where Indy NXT is not scheduled to be broadcast, it is available through the IndyCar Live streaming service.
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)