Short Oval Learning Curve Continues for Rookie Louis Foster With Two 14th Finishes at Twin Iowa 275s in RLL Droplight Honda
Rookie Learns on Fast Iowa Speedway by Completing all 550 laps in NTT INDYCAR SERIES Events
By: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Photo Courtesy RLLR)
NEWTON, Iowa (July 14, 2025) – Rookie Louis Foster and his No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Droplight Honda team were prepared for two long races at Iowa Speedway last weekend (July 12-13) in the Sukup 275 Doubleheader events, races 11 and 12 in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
After a tough race last month in the short oval at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) near St. Louis, the rookie driver from England was set to continue his “short oval” learning curve at the tough, fast “Bullring” east of Des Moines. And that is exactly what the 21-year-old racer did in the Twin 275-lap contests on Saturday and Sunday.
Still coming off his impressive qualifying runs at Road America and Mid-Ohio in recent weeks, Foster had just one practice round to gain information for the two-lap qualifying circuits on Saturday afternoon. And the 2024 INDY NXT champion recorded solid times for 12th and 16th in the 27-car fields at the lightning quick 0.894-mile high-banked oval track.
In the opener on Saturday night (Synk 275 presented by Sukup), Foster drove a consistent race with superb RLL pit crew work and dicing with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES veterans in tight quarters on the fastest short track in North America. Louis was able to increase his point lead in the “Rookie of the Year’ standings with a 14th finish, staying on the lead lap to the checkered flag.
“It was good to get a good result on an oval,” said Foster Saturday. “It matched roughly what we did at the Indy 500, more or less. I think the pit stops were also phenomenal by the boys, so thank you to the No. 45 Droplight crew. We should have probably finished, maybe towards the top 10, had we just had a (car) balance that was a bit more comfortable for me to drive. But we can improve it for Sunday’s race.”
In Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275 presented by Sukup, Foster began from the 16th position, but he moved to 12th quickly in the first portion of the race. Many yellow flags played into Foster and RLL Droplight crew’s strategy as pit stops became key late the 275-lap distance. With late pit stops, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES lineup switched dramatically, and three-wide racing was the norm. Foster fought his way back to the lead lap. At the finish, Foster took 14th for both Iowa races as he completed all 550 laps for the weekend.
The 14th places for Foster kept him in the “Rookie of the Year” points lead by five as the national open-wheel tour heads to Canada this weekend (July 18-20) for the annual battle in the Toronto streets, the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
“I’ll take a P14,” Foster said. “We got lucky with the yellow, for sure. Positives are we walk out of here with a good amount of points. So, all in all, it was a good weekend. We’ve got work to do on the balance of the car to try to understand why we struggled today to get on pace. But sometimes you get unlucky and sometimes you get lucky. Today we got lucky.”
Practice begins Friday, July 18, at the 11-turn, 1.786-mile Exhibition Place circuit in Toronto at 3 p.m. EDT, followed by a second practice round on Saturday, July 19, at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Qualifying with the Firestone Fast Six is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The 90-lap, 160.74-mile street race begins at 12 p.m. EDT and will be shown live on the FOX Network.
