Louis Foster, who just wrapped up his rookie season in Indy NXT, was given his first sampling of an IndyCar on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old visited Road America with the Andretti Global crew, and was able to complete 74 laps of the newly-repaved circuit.
His debut outing was marked with good feedback and steady progression, the standard things that teams look for when fielding a new driver one of their powerful machines.
“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,” Andretti Global COO Rob 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.”
Foster is working his way towards an IndyCar seat in the near future. He has an Indy Pro 2000 championship under his belt, and was only five points away from taking the Indy NXT Rookie of the Year award while driving for Andretti this past season.
He is likely to run Indy NXT for a second season in 2024, but is still keeping his options open with his early sampling of the top-level series cars.
“It was great. It’s a lifelong dream to have a go and thank you to Andretti for giving me the opportunity,” said Foster after sharing the track with a couple hybrid test cars.
“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.”
