25-year-old Nick Foster has thrown himself into the deep end during 2017. Now the only full-time Australian driver in the FIA WEC, Foster is driving with Gulf Racing for the 2017 season, and with a Porsche Carrera Cup Australia title under his belt and a new life in Europe, has his sights set on earning a factory drive.
Prior to the Monza Prologue, Foster had never driven a GTE car. But he’s adapted quickly, and impressed during the race at Silverstone, when he mixed in with the top three in the GTE Am class in the team’s Porsche 911 RSR. His debut performance will have left him excited about the potential for himself and teammates Ben Barker and Mike Wainwright to score podiums this season.
“Stoked is probably the best way to describe how I feel,” Foster said to DSC when asked about his full-season drive. “I’ve been trying to push for the WEC and this kind of racing, as I wanted to leave one-make racing. The motorsport industry is strange at the moment.
“I moved to Germany last year and more recently the UK this year, and was looking at ADAC GT masters, it’s a strong home-grown series, but I found a home at Gulf, mainly through Ben (Barker),” he continued. “We’ve known each other for about 10 years, but haven’t raced together. We’ve done all the same series, but never together, always a year behind or in front of each other. We skipped the rivalry thing, to become teammates.”
Unlike most drivers, Foster’s ultimate goal has always been racing in sportscars. Moving up the single-seater ladder to F1, or like many Australian drivers, to V8 Supercars, has never been on the agenda.
“GT and endurance racing has always been a goal, it’s been tougher than what I anticipated to achieve, but I like that,” he told DSC. “I do everything myself from managing myself to driving, my own website, everything. I like it to be close, and personal. Building the relationships in Europe is tough, the industry is vast once you leave Australia.
I don’t come from a motorsport family. I got into karting as a hobby at a young age and it grew from there.
“My jump came from a Porsche test at Lauzitsring for a scholarship, which went well. That put me in touch with Timo (Bernhard) and Klaus Graf, who were instrumental in bringing me to Germany.
“I don’t come from a motorsport family. I got into karting as a hobby at a young age and it grew from there. My sportscar interest peaked when the ‘Race of a Thousand Years’ came to Adelaide in 2000. My dad took me and I saw that, the racing at night was awesome. I remember seeing the crocodile-liveried Audi, which took my breath away. I still have the model of that at home.
“That drew me in, and everything I’ve done from that point has even to get to where I am now. It’s not the most direct route, and there’s still a way to go, but it’s a really good opportunity to be involved in WEC, and sportscar racing.”
Because of his career goal, racing domestically in Australia was something that Foster didn’t see as an option either. Moving continents is tough, but he’s motivated, and feels that Europe is the best place for him find opportunities going forward.
“I moved to Europe to become a factory driver, and make a name for myself. I’ve dived in the deep end and as much as I would love to, there’s no way to achieve that in Australia, there’s not enough racing.
“I mean, in terms of GT racing, at the moment Australian GT is quite big, but it’s a Pro/Am category which focuses on Ams. That’s how it survives, and I enjoy that type of racing, but as a career path, moving to that from the most competitive series in Australia (Porsche Carrera Cup Australia) outside of V8 Supercars, it’s not the right way to go I think.”
Mark (Webber) has done so much for the sport and for its popularity in Australia, so it’s a real honour to fly my nation’s flag now that he’s stopped racing
With eight races still to run this season, Foster has plenty of time to adapt to the style of racing which the WEC imposes. He also needs to get used to the new circuits, having only raced in Australia, in the German Carerra Cup last year and at Spa once to this point. It’s a shame, he says, that there’s not a race for him on home soil!
“I’d love for the WEC to go to Australia, and not just because I know the circuits,” he added. “It’s still an awesome calendar though.
“Mark (Webber) has done so much for the sport and for its popularity in Australia, so it’s a real honour to fly my nation’s flag now that he’s stopped racing.
“This year there’s so much to learn. I’ll be racing in longer races than what I’m used to, in a new car, and with new people. It’s a huge challenge, and the Am class is really competitive but Ben proved last year that performing well in one-make prepares you well.
“I’ve been a Porsche man for the last five or six years, but that’s not why I chose Gulf. The team is great and last year was impressive, particularly in reliability. You can see why when you see them in the workshop, all the mechanics are top guys.
“Racing with Porsche is not the be all, end all. If Gulf were racing with someone else I would grab it with both hands if the opportunity was good.
“But it works well in this instance because I can keep the relationship with the brand going, and you never know where that might take you…”
