Louis Foster – Syndication Server

Foster tops Chris Griffis Memorial Test at Indy

Andretti Global’s Louis Foster was fastest during Friday afternoon’s dry running at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indy NXT by Firestone Chris Griffis Memorial test on its road course, which shouldn’t come as a surprise for the Briton who’s …

Foster’s lap of 1m14.8432s was 0.0769s faster than another standout from 2023, Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel, in second.

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“Hopefully, we can keep our form like last year into 2024,” Foster said. “Looking forward to the rest of the offseason and doing some more testing so we can improve on what we did today.”

The biggest impression from the test was reserved for 2023 USF Pro 2000 champion Myles Rowe, who made his NXT test debut with HMD Motorsports at the test and set the third-fastest lap of the day with a 1m14.9487s tour of the 14-turn circuit, which led all rookies and the nine-deep HMD team.

“Pretty impressive, especially for his first time in the car and working with the engineer,” HMD GM Mike Maurini told RACER. “We made a seat for him in June or July, but there’s work to do there to get him fitted to the car a bit better. There was a point where we had eight HMD drivers in the top 10, so as a team, we were very proud of that.

“And with Myles, there are some drivers who do what they’re told to do and go out and improve, but with him he listens, analyses, and makes improvements by really taking everything in and then adjusting. There’s more areas that need improvement, obviously, which we’ve seen with rookies in the past, and we’re excited to work with him and all of HMD’s drivers to get ready for the next season.”

Rowe’s HMD teammates followed in fourth with Siegel, rookie Caio Collet in fifth, Reece Gold in sixth, Christian Bogle in seventh, Kaylen Frederick in eighth, Michael d’Orlando in ninth, and Andretti rookie Bryce Aron completed the top 10.

A large field of 21 Indy NXT cars were assembled for the one-day test; the USF Championships takes over for the rest of the weekend with its three classes for the Fall Combine.

The 2024 Indy NXT by Firestone season starts Sunday, March 10 on the streets of St. Petersburg.

RESULTS

Andretti team impressed after Foster’s first IndyCar test

Andretti Global COO Rob Edwards had nothing but positive things to say about 2022 USF Pro 2000 champion and standout Indy NXT rookie Louis Foster, who completed his first NTT IndyCar Series test with the team on Tuesday at Road America. The two-time …

The two-time NXT race winner who placed fourth in the standings on debut with Andretti got up to speed in one Andretti’s Honda-powered IndyCar entries while sharing the circuit during IndyCar’s ongoing hybrid engine testing took place at the 4.0-mile road course with Chevy and Honda.

“Louis went through all the typical items on his first set of tires, and by the second set, he was hunkering down with the program,” Edwards told RACER. “He did 74 laps total during the day and he just did a very good job.

“When you watch a young driver at these first tests, you’re looking to see if the lap times are all over the place, or do they improve each time and work down in a good steady progression. And Louis worked in a good steady progression. He was good with his feedback, he was honest about the challenges he had during the day, and when he goes back next time, he’ll have a lot to build upon. But altogether, Louis did a very good job for us.”

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The 20-year-old from England has impressed on a consistent basis since he arrived in the U.S. in 2022. Although it’s unclear whether Foster will seek a return to Indy NXT or try to find a seat in IndyCar, Edwards believes his countryman has the talent to reach the top of the open-wheel ladder on merit.

“One of the challenges for IndyCar at the moment is establishing a benchmark, other than a checkbook, for who should be in the series or not,” he said. “Racing in Formula 1, generally, there’s a talent requirement, as well as the funding. And I think that’s unfortunate, because some of the young drivers with talent aren’t necessarily getting their due, based purely on their talent.”

Foster was all smiles after his first IndyCar experience.

“It was great. It’s a lifelong dream to have a go and thank you to Andretti for giving me the opportunity,” he said. “I thought it went well. It was difficult to figure out where we were at pace-wise since I was the only car that wasn’t a hybrid. But I know I was driving on the limit around there and I was happy with the car and happy with the balance, happy with my driving, and just looking forward to what the future holds.”

Count Edwards as someone who would like to hold onto Foster for another year of NXT.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Louis’ got the potential to do very well in IndyCar,” he said. “We were invested in that path with him this year, and he’ll be well served by having another season in Indy NXT before he graduates. There are a lot of good things this year that he did and I think those drivers who did two years in NXT benefited from the second year.

“Colton Herta put two years in [Indy NXT] to use to prepare himself for IndyCar, and Christian Rasmussen, the new champion of NXT, is a perfect example where he used his second year to learn more and demonstrate just how good he is, for which he was rewarded. I think for the future, Louis has the potential to be a very good IndyCar driver, but I also think another year of Indy NXT will probably help just refine some of the skills that will benefit him more when he gets there.”

Foster doesn’t disagree, but he’s not ready to say where he’ll be found in 2024.

“There’s no harm in doing a second year, but we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “I’m still up in the air about what’s gonna happen.”

Foster steers clear of chaos, grabs second Indy NXT win at Portland

Louis Foster converted pole position into a dominant victory at Portland, while opening lap chaos claimed Hunter McElrea, among others, leaving Christian Rasmussen with a 65-point lead with two races to go. From his fourth pole of the season, Foster …

From his fourth pole of the season, Foster wasted no time in hitting the gas exiting Turn 12 to put some healthy distance between himself and Andretti Autosport teammate and fellow front-row starter McElrea at the drop of the green.

That left McElrea vulnerable to the second-row starters, points leader Rasmussen and HMD Motorsports teammate Kyffin Simpson. As they braked for tight Turn 1 chicane, fifth-place starter Reece Gold was knocked from behind by Victor Franzoni’s Juncos Hollinger Racing car. That sent Gold into Rasmussen, McElrea, and Simpson, and the ensuing chaos also ended the race for Jacob Abel and Josh Pierson. Rasmussen resumed by himself, but McElrea needed assistance and then headed for the pits for repairs.

The restart saw Foster leading eighth-place starter Danial Frost and Nolan Siegel who had both skipped through the mess unharmed, while behind them were Jagger Jones and Jamie Chadwick, up from 13th and 16th respectively. Rasmussen restarted ninth, and was up to sixth at the end of the first green-flag lap. He had floor damage, so was losing downforce, and he was being cautious, too, knowing that his only true title threat, McElrea, had been more seriously hobbled and was running four laps down.

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Up front, Foster seemed easily able to edge away from Frost, pushing his margin to 3.5s by lap 15. At the same time, Frost was was 2s ahead of Siegel, who had 3.5s over the battle between Jones, Christian Bogle and Rasmussen.

There was stasis until seven laps to go when Bogle’s presence forced Jones to take a defensive line at the end of the back straight. Jones then moved slightly to the right before the left hander, and struck Bogle’s front wing, damaging it and sending his own car out of control and across the grass on corner exit. He limped to the pits with a deflated tire, while Bogle tried to struggle on and defend from Rasmussen.

Nearer the front, there was a cleaner looking battle, as Frost was 5.6s behind leader Foster, but less than 0.5s ahead of Siegel. At the start of the final lap, Frost swung right to protect the inside line into Turn 1, but Siegel kept on around the outside which gave him the inside for Turn 2 and second place duly changed hands.

Thus Foster claimed his second Indy NXT win almost 8s clear of Siegel and Frost.

Almost 17s back, Bogle had no problem holding off Rasmussen, while Chadwick’s sixth is her best result of the season.

RESULTS

Foster beats Indy NXT title challengers to pole in Portland

The Indy NXT championship battle is down to Christian Rasmussen of HMD Motorsports and Hunter McElrea of Andretti Autosport, but both were outpaced by 2022 USF Pro 2000 champion Louis Foster at Portland Saturday. A frantic 20-minute session saw a …

A frantic 20-minute session saw a six-way battle for pole on a very busy 1.964-mile Portland International Raceway.

With a minute to go, it appeared that the title contenders would monopolize the front row, with challenger McElrea delivering a 62.7924s lap, a tenth and change ahead of points leader Rasmussen.

However, with his sixth and final lap, McElrea’s teammate Foster slipped in a 62.6302s effort to take pole by 0.1622s, so that Andretti has locked out the front row.

HMD cars fill the next four slots, with Kyffin Simpson joining Rasmussen on row two, and Reece Gold and Nolan Siegel in fifth and sixth.

Series returnee Victor Franzoni wrung a 63.2201s lap out of his Juncos Hollinger Racing car, but teammate Matt Brabham was struggling for pace and spun, costing him his best lap and relegating him to the back of the field for causing a yellow.

Danial Frost will line up eighth for HMD, ahead of an all Abel Motorsports fifth row, Jacob Abel a few hundredths ahead of Yuven Sundaramoorthy.

The Indy NXT race begins at 10:20 a.m. PT time (1:20 p.m. ET) Sunday.

RESULTS

Foster claims breakthrough Indy NXT win at Mid-Ohio

Reigning Indy Pro 2000 champion Louis Foster at last claimed the Indy NXT win he had long threatened, snatching the lead from polesitter Christian Rasmussen late in the race at Mid-Ohio. From the drop of the green flag, the top four drivers held …

Reigning Indy Pro 2000 champion Louis Foster at last claimed the Indy NXT win he had long threatened, snatching the lead from polesitter Christian Rasmussen late in the race at Mid-Ohio.

From the drop of the green flag, the top four drivers held position, meaning Rasmussen’s HMD Motorsports car led Foster of Andretti Autosport, with their respective teammates Kyffin Simpson and Hunter McElrea in third and fourth. However, Reece Gold (HMD) got muscled back to seventh by championship leader Nolan Siegel (HMD) and Jacob Abel (Abel Motorsports).

Just four laps into the race, the track started catching sprinkles of rain, and on lap 6 Christian Bogle (HMD) spun off on the exit of Turn 2, bringing out the full-course caution.

The lap 9 restart saw Rasmussen well able to hold off Foster, with Simpson and McElrea equally comfortable but Siegel had to work hard to hold off Abel, Gold, Jagger Jones, and Jones’ Cape Motorsports teammate Enaam Ahmed, who found a way around Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rasmus Lindh at Turn 5. At that same spot on lap 16, the other JHR car of Matteo Nannini pulled off with a mechanical issue.

By lap 20 of the 35, Rasmussen had a 1.4s advantage over Foster., who had Simpson 0.75s behind him, with McElrea a further second in arrears. As the only drivers who had set 111mph laps, it was little surprise that this quartet had separated themselves from the opposition, Siegel running four seconds back from McElrea, with Abel two seconds behind the points leader. A little further back, Lindh had reclaimed ninth from Ahmed.

On lap 25, Gold dived down the inside of Abel at Turn 4 to grab sixth place. Two laps later, this was the site of the race-winning move. The rain sprinkles had increased in intensity and a mistake from Rasmussen allowed the chasing pack to close in. Down the long back straight to Turn 4, the leader protected the inside line, so Foster flicked to the outside and braked much later. Despite locking up his right-front, he got the move done and was into the lead.

The Andretti driver now had a large flatspot, but his tires got a rest when the cautions flew again for Siegel making a rare mistake at Turn 10, sliding off the road and needing rescuing.

The restart with four laps to go saw Foster eke a gap, and Rasmussen lost out to teammate Simpson under braking for Turn 2.

Lindh and Ahmed moved into the top eight as a result of Jones spinning off with a puncture, and Lindh found himself at the back of a very close train between Rasmussen, McElrea, Gold and Abel.

Three times a pole winner this year, Foster finally became a race winner by 0.4385s ahead of the very impressive Simpson, with Rasmussen eventually dropping four seconds back as he successfully defended the final podium spot.

RESULTS