INDY NXT Champ Louis Foster on his American dream and becoming an INDYCAR driver for 2025

Born and raised in the UK, British racing driver Louis Foster began his career on home soil, after being encouraged into karts by his dad. After karting and competing in racing categories in the UK and Europe, Louis soon realised that his dream was to race in the United States of America, and the NTT INDYCAR Series was the goal. 

Louis' move Stateside began with a stint in the USF Pro 2000 Championship, where he finished first, and the INDY NXT by Firestone, in which he secured the title to become Champion in his second year with Andretti Global. Louis' on-track talent and success has led to him reaching one of his life goals: to become an INDYCAR driver. 

Silverstone caught up with Louis to learn more about his American dream, representing the UK across the pond and what his goals are in INDYCAR from 2025 onwards with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. 

Louis was initially introduced to motorsport by his dad, who encouraged him to start karting at seven years old. From then on, Louis and his brother, Harry, would spend their weekends karting for fun. 

"It was exciting and exhilarating, so I just kept doing it, but there wasn't one key moment in particular that made me start," Louis says. "I just know that I ended up in a go kart one day.

"It was very different to all the other sports I'd done as a kid, growing up playing football and rugby, but I really enjoyed it." 

Louis continued karting through his younger years, but never did anything super competitive in a go kart, like many aspiring racing drivers do. He did one year of national karting in the UK but didn't enjoy it, and never travelled to Europe to compete; for Louis and his family, it was all about club racing. 

"I won a few club championships here and there but my karting career wasn't serious at all compared to some other drivers," he says. "It was more just a bit of fun."

Following on from his time in go karts, at 14, Louis joined the Ginetta Junior Championship. It was the only option for him at the time because of his age, but he jumped into the closed wheel championship and finished second, only eight points behind the Champion, something he never expected in his first year. 

"We thought I would spend two or three years with Ginetta Juniors, that was my initial plan," Louis says. "But once I did a really good job that year, there was no point in doing a second year of it." 

Louis completed the 2018 Ginetta Junior Championship with nine wins and ten other trips to the podium. After a successful 2018 campaign in closed wheel racing, there was nothing else Louis could compete in except British Formula 4. 

"It wasn't a goal to go and do GTs at that point," Louis says. "It wasn't really a goal to do Formula 1 or INDYCAR. It was just about seeing what happened." 

Although Louis wanted to do well and he wanted to win in his early racing career, he was still planning on going to university and doing a degree. His mindset focused more on what he wanted to study and what job he wanted after university, rather than on wanting to be a professional racing driver. 

It wasn't until during the BRDC British Formula 3 campaign in 2020 that Louis realised he had talent on-track, and he could make a proper go of racing as a career. 

"The fact that I am where I am now, although it's sunk in now I'm focused on getting the work done to be competitive in INDYCAR, looking back at it, at me four or five years ago, obviously it's very surreal," Louis says. "I do wake up and it hits me, and I've got to pinch myself a little bit." 

Ultimately, Louis didn't actually plan on competing in single seaters, but when the opportunities arose, he took them. When the British F3 opportunity came around, he found himself with a plan for the following three years in the future, but until then, he took each opportunity and each race as it came. The success of his season in British F3 and finishing third in the championship was a huge turning point in his career. 

"That was when I decided that I was going to go to America," he says. "I just knew the European ladder wasn't going to work out for me so I knew I had to go to America, and I'm glad I did." 

Prior to making the move to the USA, Louis competed in the 2021 Euroformula Open Championship, with the primary purpose being to prepare him to test in an INDYCAR further down the line in his career. 

"We did it strategically so that when I did my first INDYCAR test, I would've driven something with similar downforce," he says. "No matter what happened that year, the goal was always to go to America." 

Louis' time in this championship saw him race against new drivers, many of whom he is still friends with today despite their careers being based in Europe, as well as making him a better racing driver. 

Of course, moving to a different continent away from family and friends is a huge sacrifice to make for anyone and although Louis made sacrifices when deciding to move, he found it easier to assimilate into American life. He went to university initially so was living with others of a different age which made it easier for him to settle into his new home and a new way of living. 

"I didn't find it super difficult because it's what I wanted to do and if you want to do something, you'll figure out a way to make it easier for yourself," he says. "It felt very homely and I never really felt out of my depth.

"It was just what I wanted to do and I was there, basically living my dream." 

It’s not rare for British drivers to make the move to America at some point in their career. In recent years, a number of young British drivers have moved across the pond to join the INDYCAR ladder in some capacity. However, Louis knew for a long time before making the move that he wanted to take his career to America. The financial backing offered by INDYCAR and Andersen Promotions, in the form of prize money for winning championships, was also a huge factor in Louis’ move. In total, over the last few years, Louis has received over $1.7 million from winning championships. 

“Without that, at the end of the day in black and white, I wouldn’t be where I am now,” he says. “I don’t know what I’d be doing. I imagine I’d still be racing somewhere, but I could be back home in England or continuing my studies. 

“Before I even moved to America, I knew that I wanted to do INDYCAR. We put all the steps in place to do that, but being in America has been really special and I don’t see myself leaving any time soon.” 

Louis’ move to America in 2021 soon saw him competing in the USF Pro 2000 Championship, a side-step from his European career and one way to familiarise himself with the Indy structure without the pressure. Without the full budget for an INDY NXT campaign, Louis joined USF Pro 2000 to get his name out into the world of American motorsport.

“No one knows anyone coming over from Europe and vice versa, they’re quite separate worlds in a way,” Louis says. “USF Pro 2000 allowed me to get my name out there in my first year; when I turned up in 2021, no one knew me but then by the end of 2022, everyone knew me.” 

Louis’ USF Pro 2000 campaign was hugely successful. He won seven races and was crowned Champion at the final round of the season in Portland. The financial support Louis received as his prize for winning the championship was crucial in helping him secure an INDY NXT seat with Andretti for 2023. In his first year in INDY NXT, Louis finished just shy of the title in P4. Heading into his second season of the championship with the same team, Louis’ only goal was to become INDY NXT Champion. 

“The goal was always to go out there and win the race weekend or do the best we could,” he explains. “It didn’t matter if we’d already won the championship like in Nashville, or if we were on the verge in Milwaukee. 

“If I didn’t win this year, we wouldn’t be moving up to INDYCAR. The only goal was to win the championship.” 

Across 14 starts this season, Louis finished in the top 10 at each race, started on pole six times and secured eight race wins. After the summer break and with four races to go, Louis was leading the championship with 77 points. It was at the penultimate round of the season at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin that Louis became INDY NXT Champion after a long year of incredibly hard work. 

“There was definitely a bit of expectation to win the Championship, so I was prepared to win it that weekend,” Louis says. “Crossing the line as the champion is an awesome feeling and it just makes it all worth it, all those sacrifices.” 

Louis is one of only a few British drivers representing the UK and British motorsport on American soil. He has special memories of Silverstone from his time competing in England during his early career. At the Silverstone round of the 2018 Ginetta Junior Championship, Louis won all three races. 

“That was quite a special one for me,” he says. “I had a really strong weekend there in F4 too, with two wins and a third place.” 

Also a BRDC SuperStar, Louis has been part of British Grands Prix in the past, joining other young drivers onstage at the event in 2023 to talk about his racing experiences so far. He was selected for the BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award in both 2021 and 2022, making the final four both times. 

“It was great to be selected for the award and to drive against different drivers I hadn’t previously raced against,” he says. “I got to drive different cars: the F2, LMP3 and GT3 cars, which was super fun. 

“To support the BRDC in America too, and really show what the grassroots of British motorsport can produce, it’s special.” 

 

After a successful INDY NXT campaign this year, Louis is making the move up to INDYCAR for 2025 with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. Right now, he is fully focused on preparing for the season ahead, but Louis has dedicated years of his life so far to working on making this dream come true. 

“I’m over the moon,” he says. “It’s a lifelong dream to be able to call myself an INDYCAR driver. 

“It’s one thing to become an INDYCAR driver and another thing to stay an INDYCAR driver. It’s going to be even harder work than ever before, longer hours in the gym, longer hours revising track layouts and data but it’s a dream come true.” 

Louis may have worked towards securing a seat in INDYCAR over the past few years, but the goal has always been to win INDYCAR, a Championship with some of the best drivers in the world. 

“It’s a very tough place to be, a tough place to stay in and a tough place to have success in,” he says. “It’s a dream to be here now but the overall goal is to go and win either the Championship or the Indy500, the biggest sport race in the world.”