Foitek won the 1986 Swiss Formula 3 Championship before advancing toward Formula One. His junior career culminated in that domestic title, after which he pursued a seat in the top category.
Foitek entered Formula One at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix with EuroBrun. The 1989 season was notable for the banning of turbocharged engines, which expanded the field to 39 entries and re-introduced pre-qualifying sessions for the slowest teams. EuroBrun had struggled badly in 1988, and Foitek was required to use the ER188B — an update of the previous year's car — in those pre-qualifying sessions. Of eleven rounds with EuroBrun, he reached the main qualifying session only once, at the opening race in Brazil, where he subsequently failed to make the grid.
After leaving EuroBrun he was called up to replace Christian Danner at Rial for the Spanish Grand Prix. The team was in considerable disarray — several crew members had departed mid-season — and the Rial ARC2 was running approximately five seconds a lap off the next-slowest car. During his single race with Rial, Foitek suffered a rear-wing failure at high speed, crashed heavily, and left the team immediately after.
Foitek opened the 1990 season with Brabham, filling the seat for the first two rounds while David Brabham prepared to step up to Formula One. He qualified for both events — Phoenix and Interlagos — and made his first actual race start in Phoenix, though he retired from both races without finishing.
Once David Brabham took possession of the seat, Foitek moved to Onyx, replacing Stefan Johansson, who had departed unhappy with the team's management. By this point his father Karl was involved in partly running the Onyx operation. Foitek qualified for his first four races with Onyx and was classified seventh at Monaco — the best result of his Formula One career — although he had been running sixth until a late collision with Eric Bernard, who was lapping him, ended that prospect. As the season progressed Onyx's financial and operational limitations became increasingly apparent; Foitek qualified only once in the team's final four races before Onyx folded following the Hungarian Grand Prix.
In 1992 Foitek made two starts in CART, driving for A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Both outings ended with mechanical retirements. He subsequently left professional racing and returned to Switzerland.
Foitek is involved in running Foitek Automobile, the family's Ferrari and Maserati dealership in Altendorf, Switzerland.