1996 Indy Lights season

The 1996 PPG/Firestone Indy Lights Championship Powered By Buick consisted of 12 races. Canadian David Empringham captured three wins on his way to the championship.

Calendar

Race No	Track	State	Date	Laps	Distance	Time	Speed	Winner	Pole Position	Most Leading Laps	Fastest Race Lap
1	Homestead	Florida	March 3, 1996	37	2.4574011=90.9238407 km	0'31:51.723	171.220 km/h	David Empringham	David Empringham	David Empringham	?
2	Long Beach	California	April 14, 1996	44	2.558787=112.586628 km	0'54:17.817	124.412 km/h	David Empringham	Gualter Salles	David Empringham	?
3	Nazareth	Pennsylvania	April 28, 1996	75	1.5223978=114.179835 km	0'49:08.616	139.404 km/h	Dave DeSilva	Claude Bourbonnais	Dave DeSilva	?
4	Brooklyn	Michigan	May 25, 1996	50	3.2186=160.93 km	0'32:30.239	297.065 km/h	David Empringham	David Empringham	David Empringham	?
5	Milwaukee	Wisconsin	June 2, 1996	75	1.6607976=124.55982 km	0'38:39.070	193.360 km/h	Mark Hotchkis	Mark Hotchkis	Mark Hotchkis	?
6	Detroit	Michigan	June 9, 1996	36	3.6482831=131.338192 km	0'56:39.773	139.073 km/h	Tony Kanaan	David Empringham	Tony Kanaan	?
7	Portland	Oregon	June 23, 1996	39	3.138135=122.387265 km	0'44:55.609	163.449 km/h	Gualter Salles	Tony Kanaan	Gualter Salles	?
8	Cleveland	Ohio	June 30, 1996	32	3.8124317=121.9978144 km	0'43:04.913	169,910 km/h	Gualter Salles	Mark Hotchkis	Gualter Salles	?
9	Toronto	Canada	July 14, 1996	41	2.8709912=117.710639 km	0'49:52.728	141.596 km/h	Gualter Salles	Jeff Ward	Gualter Salles	?
10	Trois-Rivières	Canada	August 4, 1996	50	2.4477453=122.387265 km	0'58:44.951	125.192 km/h	Hélio Castro-Neves	Hélio Castro-Neves	Hélio Castro-Neves	?
11	Vancouver	Canada	September 1, 1996	44	2.7406379=120.588068 km	0'53:55.713	134.164 km/h	Claude Bourbonnais	Jeff Ward	Tony Kanaan	?
12	Monterey	California	September 8, 1996	34	3.6016134=122.454856 km	0'43:55.832	167.248 km/h	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	?

Race summaries

Homestead race

Held March 3 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. David Empringham won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. David Empringham
2. Chris Simmons
3. Mark Hotchkis
4. David DeSilva
5. Jeff Ward

Long Beach race

Held April 14 at Long Beach, California Street Course. Gualter Salles won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. David Empringham
2. Tony Kanaan
3. Gualter Salles
4. Hélio Castro-Neves
5. Alex Padilla

Nazareth race

Held April 28 at Nazareth Speedway. Claude Bourbonnais won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. David DeSilva
2. David Empringham
3. Mark Hotchkis
4. Chris Simmons
5. Jeff Ward

Michigan race

Held May 25 at Michigan International Speedway. David Empringham won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. David Empringham
2. Mark Hotchkis
3. Jeff Ward
4. Robby Unser
5. Hélio Castro-Neves

Milwaukee race

Held June 2 at The Milwaukee Mile. Mark Hotchkis won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Mark Hotchkis
2. Greg Ray
3. David Empringham
4. Gualter Salles
5. Chris Simmons

Detroit race

Held June 9 at Belle Isle Raceway. David Empringham won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Tony Kanaan
2. Alex Padilla
3. Claude Bourbonnais
4. José Luis Di Palma
5. Jaki Scheckter

Portland race

Held June 23 at Portland International Raceway. Tony Kanaan won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Gualter Salles
2. Alex Padilla
3. David Empringham
4. Claude Bourbonnais
5. Tony Kanaan

Cleveland race

Held June 30 at Burke Lakefront Airport. Mark Hotchkis won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Gualter Salles
2. Claude Bourbonnais
3. Hélio Castro-Neves
4. Nick Firestone
5. Hideki Noda

Toronto race

Held July 14 at Exhibition Place. Jeff Ward won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Gualter Salles
2. Claude Bourbonnais
3. Hideki Noda
4. Shigeaki Hattori
5. Alex Padilla

Trois-Rivières race

Held August 4 at the Trois-Rivières, Quebec Street Circuit. Hélio Castro-Neves won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Hélio Castro-Neves
2. Tony Kanaan
3. Alex Padilla
4. David Empringham
5. Bertrand Godin

Vancouver race

Held September 1 at Pacific Place. Jeff Ward won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Claude Bourbonnais
2. Tony Kanaan
3. Jeff Hotchkis
4. Alex Padilla
5. David Empringham

Laguna Seca race

Held September 8 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Tony Kanaan won the pole.

Top Five Results

1. Tony Kanaan
2. Hélio Castro-Neves
3. Claude Bourbonnais
4. Alex Padilla
5. Jeff Ward

Final points standings

Driver

For every race the points were awarded: 20 points to the winner, 16 for runner-up, 14 for third place, 12 for fourth place, 10 for fifth place, 8 for sixth place, 6 seventh place, winding down to 1 points for 12th place. Additional points were awarded to the pole winner (1 point) and to the driver leading the most laps (1 point).

Place	Name	Country	Team	Total Points
1	David Empringham	Canada	Forsythe Racing	148	22	21	16	22	14	1	14	-	8	12	10	8
2	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	Tasman Motorsports	113	3	16	1	-	6	21	11	-	-	16	17	22
3	Gualter Salles	Brazil	Brian Stewart Racing	108	8	15	2	8	12	-	21	21	21	-	-	-
4	Claude Bourbonnais	Canada	Forsythe Racing	104	-	6	1	-	5	14	12	16	16	-	20	14
5	Mark Hotchkis	United States	Leading Edge Motorsport	102	14	4	14	16	22	4	3	1	4	-	14	6
6	Alex Padilla	United States	Team Medlin	90	-	10	-	-	-	16	16	-	10	14	12	12
7	Hélio Castro-Neves	Brazil	Tasman Motorsports	84	-	12	-	10	2	-	5	14	-	22	3	16
8	David DeSilva	United States	Genoa Racing	61	12	3	21	6	-	8	1	-	-	6	-	4
9	José Luis Di Palma	Argentina	Tasman Motorsports	56	-	8	8	5	-	12	2	6	5	2	8	-
10	Chris Simmons	United States	Team Green	54	16	-	12	1	10	6	-	2	-	-	6	1
11	Jeff Ward	United States	Dorricott Racing	53	10	5	10	14	-	2	-	-	1	-	1	10
12	Greg Ray	United States	Team Green	48	6	2	-	-	16	5	8	3	-	8	-	-
13	Shigeaki Hattori	Japan	Dorricott Racing	42	4	-	3	-	8	-	6	4	12	5	-	-
14	Hideki Noda	Japan	Indy Regency Racing	34	2	-	6	-	1	-	-	10	14	1	-	-
15	Robby Unser	United States	PacWest Lights	25	-	-	-	12	3	3	-	-	3	4	-	-
16	Bertrand Godin	Canada	Forsythe Racing	21	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	10	2	3
17	Felipe Giaffone	Brazil	Leading Edge Motorsport	20	-	-	-	3	4	-	-	8	-	-	-
			Brian Stewart Racing													5
	Nick Firestone	United States	Brian Stewart Racing	18	-	-	-	2	-	-	4	12	-	-	-	-
19	Jack Miller	United States	Brian Stewart Racing	12	-	-	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	4	-
	Jaki Scheckter	South Africa	FRE Racing	12	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	-	-	-	-	2
21	Roque Aranda	Paraguay	RaceCars	8	-	-	4	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
22	Freddy van Beuren	Mexico	RaceCars	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	5	-
23	Doug Boyer	United States	Summitt Motorsports	5	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Casey Mears	United States	Team Mears	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	-	-	-	-
25	Robbie Buhl	United States	FRE Racing	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-
	Rodolfo Lavín, Jr.	Mexico	Leading Edge Motorsport	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-
27	José Cordova	Brazil	FRE Racing	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Shan Groff	United States	Team Leisy/McCormack	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Complete Overview

first column of every race

10

= grid position

second column of every race

10

= race result

R21=retired, but classified NS=did not start NQ=did not qualify (18)=place after practice, but grid position not held free

Place	Name	Country	Team
1	David Empringham	Canada	Forsythe Racing	1	1	2	1	3	2	1	1	6	3	1	R21	7	3	11	R21	8	6	11	4	14	5	9	6
2	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	Tasman Motorsports	9	10	3	2	11	R12	4	R17	13	7	5	1	1	5	3	R19	4	R24	2	2	6	2	1	1
3	Gualter Salles	Brazil	Brian Stewart Racing	5	6	1	3	14	R11	3	6	7	4	2	R22	2	1	2	1	2	1	6	R15	16	R21	13	19
4	Claude Bourbonnais	Canada	Forsythe Racing	24	NQ	8	7	1	R16	2	R18	5	8	4	3	9	4	6	2	6	2	9	R20	7	1	2	3
5	Mark Hotchkis	United States	Leading Edge Motorsport	2	3	11	9	5	3	6	2	1	1	7	9	14	10	1	R18	11	9	7	R19	10	3	6	7
6	Alex Padilla	United States	Team Medlin	12	17	7	5	19	R15	-	-	18	17	6	2	5	2	7	R20	7	5	4	3	2	4	5	4
7	Hélio Castro-Neves	Brazil	Tasman Motorsports	(18)	NS	5	4	7	R17	15	5	10	11	12	R17	8	8	5	3	3	R23	1	1	3	R10	4	2
8	David DeSilva	United States	Genoa Racing	3	4	10	10	2	1	7	7	2	R19	9	6	12	12	16	16	14	R15	12	7	5	R18	7	9
9	José Luis Di Palma	Argentina	Tasman Motorsports	13	15	4	6	9	6	14	8	14	14	10	4	15	11	8	7	13	8	5	11	8	6	19	13
10	Chris Simmons	United States	Team Green	4	2	16	R23	8	4	11	12	3	5	17	7	11	R21	13	11	16	R14	13	R17	13	7	11	12
11	Jeff Ward	United States	Dorricott Racing	8	5	13	8	4	5	9	3	(7)	NS	8	11	6	R17	4	13	1	R20	3	R16	1	R20	3	5
12	Greg Ray	United States	Team Green	7	7	14	11	12	R18	12	15	4	2	19	8	13	6	12	10	19	R16	8	6	17	R17	15	16
13	Shigeaki Hattori	Japan	Dorricott Racing	11	9	27	NQ	6	10	8	R19	9	6	14	13	16	7	9	9	5	4	15	8	15	R16	16	14
14	Hideki Noda	Japan	Indy Regency Racing	14	11	9	R16	10	7	17	13	8	12	11	R16	4	R20	10	5	9	3	14	12	4	R13	8	15
15	Robby Unser	United States	PacWest Lights	16	13	24	R15	13	R14	5	4	12	10	18	10	21	15	-	-	17	10	17	9	12	R14	18	20
16	Bertrand Godin	Canada	Forsythe Racing	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	7	10	5	11	11	10	10
17	Felipe Giaffone	Brazil	Leading Edge Motorsport	17	14	15	R24	15	R13	13	10	11	9	15	R18	3	R16	13	6	-	-	-	-
			Brian Stewart Racing																					9	R22	12	8
	Nick Firestone	United States	Brian Stewart Racing	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	11	16	16	16	R20	18	9	14	4	15	R19	-	-	-	-	-	-
19	Jack Miller	United States	Brian Stewart Racing	19	21	17	R18	18	6	20	R20	19	18	22	R15	19	19	20	14	21	R21	20	10	22	9	22	23
	Jaki Scheckter	South Africa	FRE Racing	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	5	10	R18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	11
21	Roque Aranda	Paraguay	RaceCars	-	-	19	R20	17	9	16	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
22	Freddy van Beuren	Mexico	RaceCars	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19	12	10	12	18	13	21	8	17	17
23	Doug Boyer	United States	Summitt Motorsports	6	8	6	R22	?	NQ	19	16	15	13	13	R19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	?	NS	-	-
	Casey Mears	United States	Team Mears	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	18	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
25	Robbie Buhl	United States	FRE Racing	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	11	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Rodolfo Lavín, Jr.	Mexico	Leading Edge Motorsport	18	16	22	R19	?	NQ	18	14	17	15	21	12	20	14	21	15	21	R13	19	R18	20	R12	20	21
27	José Cordova	Brazil	FRE Racing	15	12	18	R25	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Shan Groff	United States	Team Leisy/McCormack	-	-	26	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	?	NS	23	22
-	Mauricio Slaviero	Brazil	RaceCars	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	17	13	17	R17	18	R18	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Mattias Andersson	Sweden	Brian Stewart Racing	21	20	21	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Sohrab Amirsardari	Canada	Leading Edge Motorsport	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	14	-	-	-	-	23	R17	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	José Giaffone	Brazil	Leading Edge Motorsport	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	16	R14	19	R19	21	18
-	Andy Boss	United States	Performance Racing	20	19	20	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	David LaCroix	United States	Performance Racing	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	18	R15	-	-
-	Niclas Jönsson	Sweden	Team Leisy/McCormack	-	-	25	R17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Diego Guzman	Colombia	RaceCars	10	18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Peter Faucetta, Jr.	United States	FRE Racing	-	-	-	-	16	R19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Paulo Carcasci	Brazil	RaceCars	-	-	12	R21	-	-	21	NQ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	18	R15	-	-
-	Danny Candia	Paraguay	RaceCars	22	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Bob Reid	United States	?	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	22	R22	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Harry Puterbaugh	United States	Team Leisy/McCormack	23	23	-	-	(20)	NS	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-