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. 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.
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. 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

TeamDriversRounds
Andretti Autosport27 Nico JaminAll
Andretti Autosport28 Dalton KellettAll
Andretti Autosport48 Ryan NormanAll
Andretti Steinbrenner Racing98 Colton HertaAll
Belardi Auto Racing5 Santiago UrrutiaAll
Belardi Auto Racing9 Aaron TelitzAll
Belardi Auto Racing51 Shelby BlackstockAll
Belardi Auto Racing84 Chad Boat15
Carlin11 Garth RickardsAll
Carlin13 Zachary Claman DeMeloAll
Carlin22 Neil AlbericoAll
Carlin26 Matheus LeistAll
Juncos Racing18 Kyle KaiserAll
Juncos Racing31 Nicolas DaperoAll
Team Pelfrey2 Juan PiedrahítaAll
Team Pelfrey3 Patricio O'Ward1-4

Schedule

Rd.DateRace nameTrackLocation
1March 11 St. Petersburg 100Streets of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, Florida
2March 12 St. Petersburg 100Streets of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, Florida
3April 22 Legacy Indy Lights 100Barber Motorsports ParkBirmingham, Alabama
4April 23 Legacy Indy Lights 100Barber Motorsports ParkBirmingham, Alabama
5May 12 Grand Prix of IndianapolisIndianapolis Motor Speedway road courseSpeedway, Indiana
6May 13 Grand Prix of IndianapolisIndianapolis Motor Speedway road courseSpeedway, Indiana
7May 26 Freedom 100Indianapolis Motor Speedway ovalSpeedway, Indiana
8June 24 Grand Prix of Road AmericaRoad AmericaElkhart Lake, Wisconsin
9June 25 Grand Prix of Road AmericaRoad AmericaElkhart Lake, Wisconsin
10July 9 Mazda Iowa 100Iowa SpeedwayNewton, Iowa
11July 15 Grand Prix of TorontoExhibition PlaceToronto, Ontario, Canada
12July 16 Grand Prix of TorontoExhibition PlaceToronto, Ontario, Canada
13July 29 Grand Prix of Mid-OhioMid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, Ohio
14July 30 Grand Prix of Mid-OhioMid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, Ohio
15August 26 Illinois 100Gateway Motorsports ParkMadison, Illinois
16September 3 Grand Prix of Watkins GlenWatkins Glen InternationalWatkins Glen, New York

Race results

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
Points3025221917151413121110987654321