Andretti Global’s Louis Foster executed the perfect racing hat-trick of pole, fastest lap and victory in the INDY NXT race at Gateway leading every single lap to remain the only driver to win on an oval this year.
His championship lead is up to 91 points with three races remaining after his sixth win of the year, and this is the fourth race of the season he's managed a racing hat-trick.
Foster, who turned 21 on July 27, secured his first Indy NXT oval pole position in qualifying on Friday at the St. Louis track setting a new track record in the process, and despite multiple restarts to contend with, looked increasingly assured with every restart.
Caution periods on laps 2-5, 8-15 and 53-59 bunched the field up, but no one was able to get ahead of the British driver who won the Iowa race earlier this year to maintain his vice-like grip on the championship lead.
He eventually won by 3.3 seconds.
“Andretti gave us a really, really good car today,” said Foster, who is backed by Copart, a global leader in online auto auctions.
“A massive thank you to them.
“I was just able to go out there, turn laps, look after the tyres, just manage the gap behind me.
“Team chemistry is so important when trying to succeed on an oval. As a whole team we have great people working together, who enjoy what they do and enjoy doing it well. We’ve been working really hard this year as a team and we’re seeing the rewards of that.”
One thing that was new about this win for Foster was that he got to taste real champagne on a podium for the first time after his 21st birthday last month. Even if it stung his eyes, it was worth it.
There is a chance that Foster could wrap up the championship at the next race at Portland this weekend, but he’s firmly focused on performing to the best of his ability regardless of his points situation.
“For Portland, we won it last year, so there's no reason why we can't win again,” said Foster.
“We have a good idea of what we want to do car-wise for next weekend. We've already had discussions about it. I'm quite comfortable showing up there with a strong car.
“Again, the aim will be to put it on pole at Portland and win that one. If we do that, I think we mathematically might be near a closing. I'd love for us to do that.
“At the end of the day, as any driver will tell you, it's about driving for points. If the best we can get out of the next few rounds is third or fourth, we take it, we move on. The aim is still to go out and win, but that’s not the attitude that got us here.
“We’ll go out, do our best and try to maximise our points.”
There’s no rest for Foster with Portland proving a crucial event and the last road course of the season before Milwaukee and the Nashville oval finish the season as two races featuring for the first time in Foster's era.
The Oregon-based west-coast Portland circuit is 1.967 miles long with 12 corners. Foster won from pole last year.
In the UK you’ll be able to watch Louis race on Sky Sports F1 channel with the race live on Sunday at 18.10pm UK time.
Portland road course schedule - Eastern time zone
Friday August 23
Practice 1 1645-1730 (2145-2230 UK)
Saturday August 24
Practice 2 1420-1505 (1920-2005 UK)
Qualifying 1920-1950 (0020-0050 UK)
Sunday August 25
Race 1310-1425 (1810-1925 UK)
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