Grand Prix of Indianapolis (Indy Lights)

The Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis is a pair of twin races in the Cooper Tire Indy Lights Series, held on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is held as a support race to the Brickyard 400 of the NASCAR Cup Series.

Indy Lights Grand Prix
Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire
VenueIndianapolis Motor Speedway
First race2005
Previous namesLiberty Challenge (2005–2007)
Mazda Grand Prix of Indianapolis (2015)
Grand Prix of Indianapolis Indy Lights (2014, 2016–2018)

The race was previously known as the Liberty Challenge from 2005–2007. It originally was held as a support race to the United States Grand Prix, and from 2014 to 2019, it was part of the IndyCar Series. For 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the race will move to the NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 weekend.

Race history

For the first three years of its existence, the Indy Pro Series was contested on oval tracks only. This was also true of the parent IndyCar Series, at the time. All Indy Pro Series races were run as support to IndyCar Series events. Road course and street course events were added to both series in 2005, and the series became known as Indy Lights in 2008.

In 2005, the series added the Liberty Challenge, as a support race to the Formula One United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. This move allowed the Indy Pro Series drivers valuable exposure in front of the Formula One teams and fans. Some drivers, such as Graham Rahal, ran this race as a one-off, while running other series (such as the Champ Car Atlantics).

The Liberty Challenge was the only Indy Pro Series race at the time which was not run as support to an IndyCar Series weekend. Also, the Indy Pro Series became the only racing series to hold races on both the oval and road course tracks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Freedom 100 has been held on the oval since 2003. In 2007, a twin race format was introduced. After 2007, the U.S Grand Prix left Indianapolis, and the Liberty Challenge race was put on hiatus.

In 2014, the race was revived as part of the new IndyCar Grand Prix weekend, where all four IndyCar-sanctioned divisions participate in races on the road course during the first weekend of the Indianapolis 500 race meeting. In addition, the Indy Lights began utilizing the newer road course layout used by the IndyCar Series.

Race results
Year Date Day Winning Driver Race Distance Time of Race Winning Speed
Miles Laps
2005 June 18 Saturday Marco Andretti 65.1 25 35:57.3780 108.465 mph
2006 July 1 Saturday Alex Lloyd 59.9 23 35:53.516 100.159 mph
2007 June 16 Saturday Hideki Mutoh 46.9 18 26:09.8910 107.320 mph
June 17 Sunday Bobby Wilson 46.9 18 28:40.9170 97.901 mph
2014 May 9 Friday Matthew Brabham 63.4 26 40:12.7538 94.618 mph
May 10 Saturday Luiz Razia 97.56 40 56:23.3259 103.808 mph
2015 May 8 Friday Jack Harvey 73.2 30 39:13.4976 111.924 mph
May 9 Saturday Sean Rayhall 85.4 35 48:08.2758 106.401 mph
2016 May 13 Friday Ed Jones 73.17 30 41:15.4848 106.408 mph
May 14 Saturday Dean Stoneman 85.365 35 46:45.5881 109.536 mph
2017 May 12 Friday Nico Jamin 73.17 30 38:29.3542 114.063 mph
May 13 Saturday Kyle Kaiser 85.365 35 45:11.5257 113.336 mph
2018 May 11 Friday Colton Herta 73.17 30 39:07.7629 112.197 mph
May 12 Saturday Colton Herta 85.365 35 45:28.9254 112.614 mph
2019 May 10 Friday Robert Megennis 73.17 30 38:16 114.739 mph[1]
May 11 Saturday Rinus VeeKay 108.119 45 44:38 114.761 mph[2]

Qualification Results
Year Date Day Pole Sitter /
Fast Qualifier		 Pole 1-Lap
Qualifying Time		 Pole Speed Number of
Qualifiers		 Slow Qualifier
Speed		 Mean Qualifying
Speed
2005 June 17 Friday Marco Andretti 01:26.2360 108.539 mph 14 98.033 mph 105.234 mph
2006 June 30 Friday Graham Rahal 01:25.5810 109.580 mph 18 105.203 mph 107.959 mph
2007 June 15 Friday Hideki Mutoh 01:25.2810 109.966 mph 25 102.883 mph 107.541 mph
2014 May 9 Friday Matthew Brabham 01:18.4256 111.958 mph 11 108.655 mph 110.811 mph

Event Records
Year Driver
Fastest Race 2005 Marco Andretti Time: 35:57.3780 Speed: 108.465 mph 65.1 Miles 25 Laps
Fastest Qualification Run 2007 Hideki Mutoh Time: 01:25.2810 Speed: 109.966 mph 2.605 Miles 1 Lap
Fastest Race Lap 2005 Marco Andretti Time 01:25.9110 Speed: 108.950 mph 2.605 Miles 1 Lap
Most Starts by a Driver 2005–2007 Jaime Camara; Wade Cunningham; Chris Festa 4 Starts each
Most Participants 2007 25 Starting Drivers

Previous course layouts
  • Course layout from 2005-2007
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References
  1. https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2019_Grand_Prix_of_Indianapolis_Race_1/IL
  2. https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2019_Grand_Prix_of_Indianapolis_Race_2/IL

Sources
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