2017 Indy Lights

The 2017 Indy Lights season was the 32nd season of the Indy Lights open wheel motor racing series and the 16th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series. A 16-race schedule was announced on September 14, 2016.[1] The schedule included a stop at Gateway Motorsports Park for the first time since 2003. This replaced the race at Phoenix International Raceway after it returned to the schedule for only a single season. The Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca round to end the season was omitted, as it was for the other Road to Indy series.

2017 Indy Lights season
Indy Lights
Season
Races16
Start dateMarch 12
End dateSeptember 3
Awards
Drivers' champion Kyle Kaiser
Teams' championBelardi Auto Racing
Rookie of the Year Colton Herta
Matheus Leist, winner of the 2017 Freedom 100

American Kyle Kaiser driving for Juncos Racing led a steady campaign where he finished every lap of the season in a season where no particular team or driver was dominant and in doing so essentially clinched the championship with one round remaining (he only had to start the final round). Kaiser won three races with an additional three podium finishes. Santiago Urrutia struggled during the first half of the season but logged six podium finishes in the last seven races, including two wins, to vault his way to second in the championship. Colton Herta won six poles, but was only able to convert that to two wins and he finished third in the championship. Brazilian rookie Matheus Leist had a brilliant stretch of races in the middle of the season, capturing three wins, but was otherwise unremarkable and wound up fourth. Zachary Claman DeMelo won a single race and finished fifth in points while 2016 Pro Mazda Championship winner Aaron Telitz bookended the season with his only two wins and finished sixth. Nico Jamin won three races but also suffered four DNFs and fell to seventh in points. Juan Piedrahita captured his first Indy Lights pole at Gateway Motorsports Park, his 57th Indy Lights start.

Team and driver chart
  • All drivers compete in Cooper Tire–shod Dallara chassis with Mazda AER engines.
Team No. Drivers Rounds
Andretti Autosport 27 Nico Jamin[2] All
28 Dalton Kellett[3] All
48 Ryan Norman[4] All
Andretti Steinbrenner Racing 98 Colton Herta[5] All
Belardi Auto Racing[6] 5 Santiago Urrutia[7] All
9 Aaron Telitz[8] All
51 Shelby Blackstock[9] All
84 Chad Boat 15
Carlin[6] 11 Garth Rickards[10] All
13 Zachary Claman DeMelo[11] All
22 Neil Alberico[12] All
26 Matheus Leist[13] All
Juncos Racing[6] 18 Kyle Kaiser[14] All
31 Nicolas Dapero[15] All
Team Pelfrey[6] 2 Juan Piedrahíta[16] All
3 Patricio O'Ward[17] 1-4

Schedule
Rd. Date Race name Track Location
1 March 11 St. Petersburg 100 Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida
2 March 12
3 April 22 Legacy Indy Lights 100 Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama
4 April 23
5 May 12 Grand Prix of Indianapolis Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Speedway, Indiana
6 May 13
7 May 26 Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval Speedway, Indiana
8 June 24 Grand Prix of Road America Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
9 June 25
10 July 9 Mazda Iowa 100 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa
11 July 15 Grand Prix of Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario, Canada
12 July 16
13 July 29 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio
14 July 30
15 August 26 Illinois 100 Gateway Motorsports Park Madison, Illinois
16 September 3 Grand Prix of Watkins Glen Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York

Race results
Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race Winner
Driver Team
1 St. Petersburg 1 Aaron Telitz Colton Herta Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz Belardi Auto Racing
2 St. Petersburg 2 Colton Herta Colton Herta Colton Herta Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing
3 Birmingham 1 Kyle Kaiser Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport
4 Birmingham 2 Colton Herta1 Santiago Urrutia Colton Herta Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing
5 Indianapolis GP 1 Nico Jamin Matheus Leist Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport
6 Indianapolis GP 2 Kyle Kaiser Zachary Claman DeMelo Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing
7 Indianapolis Matheus Leist Santiago Urrutia Matheus Leist Matheus Leist Carlin
8 Road America 1 Matheus Leist Kyle Kaiser Matheus Leist Matheus Leist Carlin
9 Road America 2 Colton Herta Zachary Claman DeMelo Zachary Claman DeMelo Zachary Claman DeMelo Carlin
10 Iowa Colton Herta Dalton Kellett Matheus Leist Matheus Leist Carlin
11 Toronto 1 Kyle Kaiser Colton Herta Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing
12 Toronto 2 Colton Herta Kyle Kaiser Colton Herta Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing
13 Mid-Ohio 1 Santiago Urrutia Shelby Blackstock Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Belardi Auto Racing
14 Mid-Ohio 2 Colton Herta Santiago Urrutia Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport
15 Gateway Juan Piedrahíta Zachary Claman DeMelo Juan Piedrahíta Santiago Urrutia Belardi Auto Racing
16 Watkins Glen Colton Herta Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz Belardi Auto Racing
1Qualifying canceled due to weather and grid was set on points

Championship standings

Drivers' championship
Scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   11th   12th   13th   14th   15th   16th   17th   18th   19th   20th 
Points 30 25 22 19 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
  • The driver who qualified on pole was awarded one additional point.
  • An additional point was awarded to the driver who led the most laps in a race.
  • The driver who obtained the fastest lap in a race was awarded one additional point.
Pos Driver STP ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOH GAT WGL Pts
1 Kyle Kaiser 6 4 2 2 3 1* 9 3 2 5 1* 1 12 12 4 7 330
2 Santiago Urrutia 13 2 15 13 7 2 5 2 11 2 3 11 1* 2 1 2 310
3 Colton Herta 2 1* 10 1* 12 10 13 12 3 4 4 10* 2 6 3 3 300
4 Matheus Leist 15 11 4 7 5 3 1* 1* 4 1* 13 5 11 10 10 4 279
5 Zachary Claman DeMelo   8 7 5 14 2 11 6 10 1* 6 2 3 5 4 6 6 274
6 Aaron Telitz 1* 5 13 5 6 13 2 11 5 9 5 2 8 5 15 1* 271
7 Nico Jamin 7 14 1* 3 1* 4 10 6 14 7 14 12 3 1* 11 5 269
8 Neil Alberico 3 15 3 4 4 6 4 7 8 11 8 14 6 9 12 11 225
9 Juan Piedrahita 14 10 11 11 DNS 5 8 5 10 10 6 4 10 11 2* 9 208
10 Shelby Blackstock 4 6 7 8 9 14 11 8 6 13 11 13 4 3 9 12 207
11 Ryan Norman 10 9 12 9 8 7 14 4 7 8 10 6 9 7 8 10 200
12 Dalton Kellett 12 12 6 10 13 9 3 9 9 3 12 9 7 13 7 13 198
13 Nicolas Dapero 9 8 9 6 11 8 12 14 12 12 7 7 14 8 5 8 187
14 Garth Rickards 11 13 14 12 10 12 7 13 13 14 9 8 13 14 13 DNS 146
15 Patricio O'Ward 5 3 8 15 58
16 Chad Boat 14 7
Pos Driver STP ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOH GAT WGL Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th–10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
(1 point)
Italics Ran fastest race lap
(1 point)
* Led most race laps
(1 point)
1 Qualifying cancelled
no bonus point awarded
Rookie
  • Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

Teams' championship
Pos Team Points
1 Belardi Auto Racing 393
2 Andretti Autosport 389
3 Carlin 365
4 Juncos Racing 282
5 Team Pelfrey 162

References
  1. http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2016/09/14/2017-mazda-road-to-indy-schedules-revealed/
  2. https://www.andrettiautosport.com/news/jamin-to-join-andretti-autosport-2017-indy-lights-line-up
  3. http://indylights.com/news/kellett-returns-to-andretti-autosport-for-2017
  4. https://www.andrettiautosport.com/news/ryan-norman-named-third-driver-to-andretti-indy-lights-roster
  5. http://www.motorsport.com/indylights/news/colton-herta-quits-europe-to-race-indy-lights-in-2017-859635/
  6. http://indylights.com/news/mazda-road-to-indy-teams-drivers-to-gain-head-start-on-2017-season
  7. http://www.indylights.com/news/belardi-auto-racing-confirms-urrutia-for-2017
  8. http://www.motorsport.com/indylights/news/belardi-signs-pro-mazda-champ-telitz-for-2017-848021/
  9. http://www.indylights.com/news/belardi-auto-racing-signs-blackstock-for-2017
  10. http://www.carlin.co.uk/news/indy-lights/rickards-moves-indy-lights-carlin/
  11. "Claman DeMelo ready for Indy Lights assault". February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  12. "Alberico returns with Carlin for 2017 season". February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  13. "Leist joins Carlin for Indy Lights". February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  14. http://www.juncosracing.com/american-kyle-kaiser-looks-to-lead-juncos-racing-in-2017-indy-lights-championship/
  15. http://www.motorsport.com/indylights/news/dapero-graduates-with-juncos-to-indy-lights-855090/
  16. http://indylights.com/news/piedrahita-to-rejoin-team-pelfrey-il-in-2017
  17. http://www.indylights.com/news/o-ward-joins-team-pelfrey-il-for-spring-training-and-the-season-opener
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