The 2024 INDY NXT champion Louis Foster has signed up with RLLR for 2025 IndyCar season; as Jak Crawford sticks with DAMS for 2025 F2 season.
RLLR –
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced today that 2024 INDY NXT by Firestone champion Louis Foster, who just completed a dominant run to his second open wheel title in three years, will make his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut with the team in 2025 as part of a multi-year deal. Details on the sponsorship for the entry will be announced at a later date.
Foster, 21, won a series-high eight of the 14 races this season in the INDY NXT Championship for Andretti Global. He led the series in wins (8), poles (7), podiums (12), laps led (362/640) and completed every lap of competition to beat Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel to the title by 122 points. His previous title came in the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 Series, where he won seven races en route to being named the champion in the season finale.
Foster tested an Indy car for the first time in September of 2023 with Andretti Global at Road America. RLL is currently working to solidify Foster’s test program in preparation for the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season and that may include a test later this year. The 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opens Sunday, March 2 on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, for the 21st Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
North America’s premier open-wheel series will crisscross the United States, including a stop for the 109th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 26, before culminating in Nashville for the championship finale Sunday, August 31. All on-track action can be seen live on FOX and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
LOUIS FOSTER, driver for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: “I am really looking forward to working with the team. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have Indy 500 victories, obviously Bobby has won an Indy 500 and there is a great wealth of knowledge with the team. I want to thank Bobby, David and Mike for their faith in my abilities and I want to thank all my sponsors who have helped me achieve my dream of driving in INDYCAR, in particular Copart.
“I can’t wait to start my INDYCAR career with the team and hopefully we can have a long and successful career together. I’m hoping that coming off the experience gained from winning the INDY NXT championship, that will leave me in a good stance to get the ball rolling. This is where the hard work starts. We will start the preparations and make sure we get hit the ground running in St. Pete.”
BOBBY RAHAL, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: “We are very pleased that we have been able to come to an agreement with Louis to have him drive for the team for the next several years. He obviously dominated INDY NXT in 2024 and we feel he has a big future ahead of him and are happy to support the ladder system INDYCAR has created. We look at this as a long-term relationship that will go beyond the existing terms and are very excited to get started on preparations for the 2025 season and his series debut.”
MIKE LANIGAN, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: “We are very excited to have Louis Foster drive for us over the next few years. I look forward to watching him grow into a future INDYCAR star. He reminds me of another driver — the late, great Justin Wilson.”
Jak Crawford –
The Aston Martin Driver Development Programme member has impressed during his first year with the squad in 2024, taking victory in Barcelona along with four further podiums. With events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to come, Crawford currently sits a positive fifth in the standings on 116 points.
Still only 19, the American will be entering his third season in the series and looks to use his experience in the category to embark on an even stronger campaign in 2025. Crawford is set for a busy year, combining his F2 drive with increased work for Aston Martin Formula 1 Team. The 2025 Formula 2 season starts in Melbourne, Australia on 14-16 March.
Jak Crawford: “I’m really happy to be continuing with DAMS Lucas Oil for 2025 following on from a positive campaign so far in 2024. We’ve still got two rounds of this season to go as we’re pushing for a top-five finish, and I hope that we can take a further step forward next year, to be challenging more regularly at the front.
“I can see how determined everyone in the team is to compete further up the grid, which is why I’ve decided to stay for a second year. Motor racing is a team sport and not an individual one, so we’ll improve together and hopefully next year we can see the rewards on track.”
[Note: The story is as per press release]
