Photo: Joe Skibinski
Becoming the first driver since 2007 to score more than 600 points in a year, Louis Foster’s charge to the 2024 Indy Nxt title was the kind of season that couldn’t be ignored and what he needed for an IndyCar chance
Through the first three Indy Nxt events of 2024, it looked like a title fight would play out between Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel and HMD Motorsports’ Nolan Siegel. The latter was the highest-placed returnee from 2023, when he won twice en route to third in the standings, while Abel had gone two seasons without winning but had finally clicked with Indy Nxt’s car.
Fast forward a further three events, and Andretti Global’s Louis Foster was 35 points clear at the top after taking pole, victory and leading every lap of both races in the Laguna Seca double-header and Siegel was no longer racing after signing a multi-year deal with McLaren to become one of its IndyCar drivers.
Despite Siegel’s departure, the title fight was still wide open. HMD’s Caio Collet had been on the podium four times and Andretti’s Jamie Chadwick had won at Road America as she continually improved in her sophomore campaign.
There was also another huge factor that was yet to come into consideration, and one that can do more for IndyCar ambitions than season-long brilliance: oval pace.
After Laguna Seca, there were two more road courses on the schedule but four ovals. That was twice as many as 2023, with Abel and Foster finishing second at Iowa Speedway and Gateway respectively that year. Like the rest of the field, both were new to the Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway.
The last time Indy Nxt had three oval races was 2018, a number it had maintained after dropping down from five in 2013.
Qualifying on an oval with a two-lap average speed of 170mph (as was the case at Iowa) is hard enough, but running at a similar pace for lap after lap while sharing the track with everyone else is a different level of pressure and tiny mistakes on ovals have big consequences.
Absolute pace
| Pos. | Driver | Pace | Pos. | Driver | Pace | Pos. | Driver | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foster | 100.242% | 9 | Brooks | 101.193% | 18 | Browne | 101.751% |
| 2 | Abel | 100.465% | 10 | Hedge | 101.241% | N/A | Porto | 101.785% |
| 3 | Collet | 100.627% | 11 | de Alba | 101.245$ | 19 | Missig | 101.907% |
| 4 | d’Orlando | 100.664% | 12 | Sundaramoorthy | 101.337% | 20 | Allaer | 101.972% |
| 5 | Siegel | 100.752% | 13 | Mason | 101.343% | 21 | Miller | 102.385% |
| 6 | Chadwick | 100.786% | 14 | Rowe | 101.444% | 22 | Escotto | 102.649% |
| 7 | Roe | 100.907% | 15 | Gold | 101.547% | 23 | Koolen | 102.658% |
| N/A | Jones | 100.913% | 16 | Bogle | 101.595% | 24 | Brewer | 104.570% |
| 8 | Aron | 101.058% | 17 | Pierson | 101.612% | 25 | Ferns | 109.600% |
Driver did less than three rounds. No average when only one event attended
Foster was frank that his approach was to nullify those factors mentally, and romped to the title by winning all four oval races.
“I am quite thoughtful in things I do. I think a lot about things I say and do and how I act both on and off the track,” he said.
“People say they perform better under pressure; I disagree completely. I don’t think anyone does. I think if you could take pressure off, you’ll perform better. So that’s my way of going about things. I try and take pressure off in situations, look at big pictures and kind of spell it out for myself in a way. To compute information better. To get it all clear in my head. Of what I need to do and the situation that I have, and how to deal with that.
“So pressure-wise, for me it’s keeping [it] off of myself as much as possible. Because I think you perform better when you’re less stressed. Because no one likes being stressed.”
His team-mate James Roe Jr beat to him pole at Iowa by 0.0054 seconds, but Foster passted him for the lead with six laps to go for victory after focusing on tyre management from the very start of the race while sitting in his mirrors. There had been extreme concern about tyre durability after drivers suffered from blistering in practice, and the race length was shortened from 75 to 55 laps.
The pace car’s two interventions in the race helped alleviate the issue further, but denied Roe a shot at victory as yellow flags waved shortly after Foster’s pass. There were two other gifts for the points leader, as Collet caused the first caution period by spinning out early, and Abel retired mid-race with a slashed rear-right tyre.
Oval pace
| Pos. | Driver | Pace | Pos. | Driver | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foster | 100.058% | 11 | Sundaramoorthy | 101.519% |
| 2 | Chadwick | 100.423% | 12 | Rowe | 102.163% |
| N/A | d’Orlando | 100.611% | 13 | Pierson | 102.357% |
| 3 | Abel | 100.627% | N/A | Escotto | 102.672% |
| 4 | Collet | 100.975% | 14 | Browne | 102.815% |
| 5 | Hedge | 101.043% | 15 | Miller | 102.999% |
| 6 | Roe | 101.069% | N/A | Koolen | 103.012% |
| 7 | Aron | 101.116% | N/A | Allaer | 103.263% |
| 8 | Brooks | 101.187% | N/A | Missig | 103.279% |
| 9 | de Alba | 101.228% | 16 | Gold | 103.378% |
| 10 | Bogle | 101.379% | 17 | Ferns | 109.600% |
Driver did less than three rounds. No average when only one event attended
If Laguna Seca hadn’t been the turning point of the season, then that race certainly was as Foster led lights-to-flag in the next three oval races. Combined with Iowa that came to 236 laps in front, with Roe leading for 49.
On the road and street courses, Foster took wins on Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the streets of Detroit to accompany his Laguna Seca double, was second at three other venues and only off the podium at Barber Motorsports Park and in race one of two at IMS (when he finished a season-low seventh).
Abel and the HMD trio of Callum Hedge, Christian Bogle and Jonathan Browne were also classified as finishers of every race, but Abel came home outside of the top 10 twice and the HMD drivers never even led a lap. Hedge did come fourth in the standings through his consistency, but only made the podium in Detroit.
Foster also led 126 laps away from the ovals, bettering Abel’s 105, while Collet spent 59 laps in front (leading early on in IMS race two then taking with a lights-to-flag win at Mid-Ohio), Siegel led from start-to-finish in the 45-lap St. Petersburg season opener and Chadwick’s Road America win came by navigating various challenges to stay at the front for all 20 laps.
If you take away laps spent behind the pace car, then Foster still led over 200 laps of green flag action on ovals and over 100 elsewhere, the kind of form that put him in contention for an IndyCar seat as much as the $850,000 prize he had for becoming champion and could spend on IndyCar testing and entries into the Indianapolis 500 and one other event in 2025.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing signed Foster not only for next season but on a multi-year contract, and before he had even tested their car, while Abel is relying on impressing teams up close in the cockpit in his attempt to secure an IndyCar graduation as his impressive 2024 existed firmly in the shadow of Foster’s sublime one.
USFP2000 has top title fight, but where are next Indy Nxt stars?
Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Lochie Hughes would likely have been USF2000 runner-up as a rookie in 2023 if not for a disastrous weekend at Mid-Ohio, and having proven himself at that level he stepped up to USF Pro 2000 for this year and won on debut.
But the Turn 3 Motorsport driver then sank to sixth in the standings while Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Johnson surged ahead. He had five races of experience from 2023, winning two of them, and he was victorious in four of the first six races of this season. That run was ended when he was disqualified from victory in race two on IMS’s road course due to having a modified component on his car, not just losing the 30 points for winning but being docked 30 points too.
His lead went from 55 to 15 points, with TJ Speed’s Hunter Yeany his closest rival. Johnson was then handed a gift as Yeany had run out of budget and promptly dropped off the grid, so he instead had a 22-point margin over Hughes who after a single top-10 finish at the NOLA Motorsports Park triple-header had been on the podium in all three races at IMS.
The momentum was swinging back into Hughes’ favour, and next up was the year’s sole oval race which awarded significantly more points to the top 16 than any other contest. Hughes finished the Freedom 90 at Indianapolis Raceway Park in third, Exclusive Autosport’s Braden Eves won and Johnson was classified 17th after crashing out. Now 24 points split the top four.
Johnson led by a point over Hughes, who two weeks later at Road America won all three races as Johnson lacked pace. He started outside of the top 10 twice, but his recovery drives were not enough to prevent Hughes romping into a 50-point lead.
He responded at Mid-Ohio with victory in both races, and as Hughes finished fourth and seventh the gap closed back down to 26 points with two rounds to go and with Pabst Racing’s win-free Jace Denmark a further six behind.
The top two were split by 0.0905s in Toronto practice, but the gap grew to 0.459s in the first qualifying session with Hughes in second and Johnson eighth. They returned to the top in Q2, split by 0.1114s and with Denmark 0.0767s behind Johnson.
Average start and finish positions
| Rank | Driver | Start | Rank | Driver | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hughes | 4.22 | 1 | Hughes | 4.94 |
| 2 | Johnson | 4.72 | N/A | Aron | 5.00 |
| 3 | Denmark | 5.33 | 2 | Denmark | 5.56 |
| 4 | Yeany | 5.60 | 3 | Yeany | 5.75 |
| 5 | Sikes | 6.00 | 4 | Johnson | 6.00 |
| N/A | Aron | 6.00 | 5 | Brooks | 6.65 |
| 6 | Brooks | 6.36 | 6 | Sikes | 8.61 |
| 7 | Sceats | 7.61 | 7 | Sceats | 8.89 |
| 8 | Clark | 7.81 | 8 | van Berlo | 9.00 |
| 9 | van Berlo | 8.00 | 9 | Dyszelski | 9.67 |
| 10 | Dyszelski | 9.00 | 10 | Mossman | 9.78 |
Driver did less than three rounds. No average when only one event attended
Johnson ploughed into the back of TJ Speed’s Liam Sceats at the opening corner of race one, and Hughes pitted at the end of lap one but charged back up to fifth from 14th. Simon Sikes took victory over team-mate Denmark, who cut Hughes’ lead by two points. Hughes led lights-to-flag in race two, and Denmark passed Johnson early before they swapped places again.
After a lengthy period sat in Hughes’ mirrors, Johnson had his first go at taking the lead undone by yellow flags. When pressuring again a few laps later a spin turned into a race-ending crash, and Denmark lost second to Sceats late on but retained his status as effectively Hughes’ only title rival as Johnson only just remained in contention.
Taking pole for both races of the Portland finale kept Johnson’s title hopes alive, and he held off a charging Sikes to win a wet race one. But Hughes’s run to sixth was enough to crown him champion as a spin, puncture and pitstop left Denmark in 14th.
Another lights-to-flag win for Johnson in race two ahead of Hughes, Sikes and Denmark meant he snatched back the championship runner-up spot and ended the season 40 points behind. Had VRD provided him with a legal car in race two at IMS, then finishing 10th that day would’ve been enough to claim title honours come season-end.
Hughes still step up to Indy Nxt with Andretti in 2025, Johnson will look beyond VRD and America by racing in Formula Regional Oceania and GB3, and Denmark’s plans are undecided (but he’s unlikely to spend a third year in USFP2000).
Ricardo Escotto will solely focus on Indy Nxt after competing there part-time this year alongside coming ninth in USFP2000, and at the time of writing the highest-placed driver confirmed to be continuing on the third rung of the USA’s single-seater ladder is Alessandro de Tullio who did the last three rounds of the 2024 USFP2000 season and came 20th in the standings.
Pabst’s Christian Brooks skipped the last two rounds after also stepping up to Indy Nxt mid-season, but has no 2025 seat at present, while Bryce Aron stepped down to USFP2000 for the Freedom 90 to get some oval experience.
It’s a big contrast to last year, when the top four in the points and seven others graduated to Indy Nxt in some capacity for 2024.