Louis Foster will kick off his new journey racing in America this weekend as he takes on the St Petersburg street circuit for new team Exclusive Autosport.
Foster, 18, is heading into his fifth year of car racing off the back of a sensational year in the Euroformula Open Championship. There, he took three wins, a further 10 podiums and two pole positions.
He now switches to the Indy Pro 2000 Championship with the goal of making it to the world-renowned IndyCar Series. Indy Pro 2000 is two levels below, with the Indy Lights championship in between.
“The desire and the plan to move to America has been in the works for a few years now,” said Foster, who is from Odiham in Hampshire and is backed by Copart, a global leader in online auto auctions. “I probably knew towards the end of the 2019 season that coming to America was going to be the route I eventually wanted to take. “There’s a lot of opportunities out in the US, and I’m willing to work for them. I think it’s a very good decision long term. “I’ve been here for six months now and it’s been so fun, I’ve gone from living in a rural village in the UK and then moving to a city here in LA. Meeting new people and making friends has been great.”
But it hasn’t all been free time and fun for Foster who immediately turned his attention to familiarising himself with the Tatuus single-seater he’ll race this year, and the team that will run it in 2022.
“The preparation has been great for St Pete,” added Foster. “It’s probably not quite as much testing as I’d get in Europe, but we’ve still managed to do around 10 days in the car, a good amount. “Really gelling with the team now, getting to know everyone, and everyone is getting to know their roles and responsibilities. “So hopefully for St Pete we should be able to come out of the gates strong. It will be a difficult track to learn, since we only have 30 minutes to practice and 30 minutes to qualify! “It’s not a lot of time to get to grips with my first time on a proper street course. It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to.”
Foster is looking forward to driving for Exclusive, which won the teams’ title in Indy Pro 2000 this year giving the British teen confidence in what they can achieve together.
“The goal is pretty obvious this year - to win the championship,” Foster added. “Hopefully we should have a good package and a good chance this year.”
You can watch Foster in action this weekend via the Road to Indy YouTube channel and on the Indy Pro 2000 website.
(https://www.youtube.com/user/RoadtoIndyTV, https://www.indypro2000.com/)
St Petersburg schedule (Eastern Time)
Thursday
Practice 1500-1530
Friday
Qualifying 0745-0815
Race 1140-1225
Saturday
Race 0800-0845
Notes to editors
Louis Foster
Louis Foster is an 18-year-old British racing driver from Hampshire aiming to take the racing world by storm. Louis has recently moved to the USA in a bid to further his ambitions behind the wheel. 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. Last season in Euroformula Open Foster added three wins, 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. 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. For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact barry@onesmgroup.com Indy Pro 2000 Championship Indy Pro 2000 Championship is the second-tier series on what is called the Road to Indy. Starting in USF2000 at the bottom rung, drivers who win each championship are awarded a scholarship to compete in the next series up. USF2000 is followed by Indy Pro 2000, Indy Lights and then the Indy Lights champion receives a scholarship over $1 million to race in IndyCar The series races on permanent road courses, street circuits and an oval in its Mazda-powered Tatuus IP22, a new car introduced this year which should help improve safety and create a level playing field between the teams. There are 18 races at 11 tracks, including at the Indianapolis in the Month of May supporting the Indy 500. 2021 calendar Feb 23-25 St Pete Mar 21-22 Barber May 12-14 Indianapolis (road course) May 26-27 Lucas Oil Raceway Jun 9-12 Road America Jun 30-Jul 3 Mid-Ohio Jul 15-17 Toronto Aug 18-20 Gateway Sep 1-4 Portland
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