The 2008 IRL Firestone Indy Lights Series, formerly the Indy Pro Series, was the seventh season of the developmental open-wheel racing series under the Indy Racing League ownership, and the 23rd in Indy NXT combined history.
As part of the unification with Champ Car in February 2008, all previous seasons of the Indy Pro Series from its inaugural season in 2002 were combined with the historical records of the old Indy Lights development series, which ran under CART management from 1986 to 2001. On March 22, 2008, Firestone signed on to be the title sponsor, and thus the Indy Pro Series was retitled into Firestone Indy Lights Series. The link between both series was further established within the Firestone Firehawk Cup, which was awarded to the champion between 2002 and 2013.
After passing on his scholarship for winning the Atlantic Championship before the IndyCar-Champ Car unification, Raphael Matos won the Indy Lights championship driving for Andretti Green/AFS Racing. Matos reached the finale at Chicagoland Speedway with a three point lead over Richard Antinucci, who was racing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports and lost all chances after crashing halfway through the race. Matos scored three wins against Antinucci's two, all of them on road courses, with both drivers splitting the St. Petersburg and Watkins Glen doubleheaders.
Rookie of the Year honors went to one of Antinucci's teammates, Ana Beatriz, who finished third in points and won in Nashville, becoming the first woman in history to win an Indy Lights race. She finished 21 points clear of series veteran Arie Luyendyk Jr, Matos' teammate for his first full season since 2004, who finally got his first win at the final round in Chicagoland in his 62nd attempt.
Despite his complete lack of oval background, British driver Dillon Battistini surprised by being the class of the field on this discipline for Panther Racing. He won in his first race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and at the Freedom 100, for a total of four oval wins. However, his lack of pace on the road courses and multiple issues during the year dropped Battistini to 6th in the points behind rookie J. R. Hildebrand, the winner at Kansas. Wins were also achieved by Pablo Donoso, James Davison, Bobby Wilson and demoted IndyCar driver Franck Perera for a total of 10 different winners during the season, which as of 2023 stands as the all-time Indy NXT record.
After one year with an in-house operation, Chip Ganassi Racing partnered for the 2008 season with Apex Racing, which would run the operation under the new name of Integra Motorsports with CGRT. The alliance between American Spirit Racing and Atlantic Racing Team that gave birth to Team KMA was dissolved, as American Spirit kept on running the rebranded team. Kenn Hardley Racing left the series and sold their equipment to new team Alliance Motorsports, while Team E also entered the series in place of departing teams Cheever Racing and SpeedWorks. A new venture called FuZion Autosports by former team owner Dave McMillan registered an entry for driver Adam Andretti, but neither the team or the driver made an appearance during the year, after McMillan joined Integra Motorsports as team manager.
Strong grids continued for the second year in a row, with 20 drivers at least in each round, up to 23-24 drivers at most rounds and 27 starters for the Freedom 100, which stands as the all-time record for the event. This would filter into the start of the 2009 season, right before the economic downturn in auto racing. 12 drivers contested all sixteen races, and a total of 40 drivers competed during the season.
Drivers and teams
TeamNoDriversRounds Team Moore Racing2 Jeff Simmons 2–13 Jonathan Klein 14–1622 Pablo Donoso 5–12, 14–15 Jonathan Klein 13 Dillon Battistini 16 Brian Stewart Racing3 Juan Manuel Polar 1–4 Marc Williams 5–6 Pablo Donoso 13, 16 33 Wade Cunningham 1, 4–6 Mitch Cunningham 2–3, 8–9, 11–12, 14–15 Guthrie Racing4 Sean Guthrie All9 Tom Wieringa 123 Logan Gomez All44 Robbie Pecorari 13–1654 Micky Gilbert 5–7, 10, 13, 16 Matt Lee 8–9 Robbie Pecorari 11–12 Juan Manuel Polar 14–1555 Robbie Pecorari 4 Tom Wieringa 5, 16 Franck Perera 7–15 RLR Andersen Racing 5 Andrew Prendeville 1–12 Daniel Herrington 13–16 25 J. R. Hildebrand All Michael Crawford Motorsports 6 Jake Slotten 1, 4–5 Robbie Pecorari 2–3 Daniel Herrington 8–9, 11–12 C. R. Crews 13 Tom Dyer 14–16 8 Nathan Freke 1–3 Mark Olson 4–9, 11–12, 14–15 P. J. Abbott 13 Sam Schmidt Motorsports7 Richard Antinucci All11 James Davison All20 Ana Beatriz All34 Jon Brownson 1, 4–6 Travis Gregg 7, 1377 Jonny Reid 14–15 Integra Motorsports w/ CGRT9 Marc Williams 2–3 Jonny Reid 5–12 Wade Cunningham 16 Panther Racing15 Dillon Battistini 1–15 Bobby Wilson 1616 Brent Sherman All Team E17 Bobby Wilson 1–13 American Spirit Racing18 Cyndie Allemann All Playa Del Racing21 Al Unser III 1–5 Alliance Motorsports24 Chris Festa 1–6, 10 Marc Williams 7 Wade Cunningham 11–12 Christina Orr 13–16 Andretti Green-AFS Racing26 Arie Luyendyk Jr. All27 Raphael Matos All SWE Racing43 Pablo Donoso 1–4 Robbie Pecorari 5, 7, 10 Mike Potekhen 13–1692 Mike Potekhen 5 Mile High Motorsports54 Micky Gilbert 1–4
Schedule The biggest change within the schedule came with the discontinuation of the Liberty Challenge at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, after the United States Grand Prix entered into a hiatus. Its two races were replaced with a return to Kansas Speedway, where the series had not raced since 2004, and a second race at Mid-Ohio, which meant that all road course events had been turned into doubleheaders. With the return of Kansas, most IndyCar races on U.S. ovals were supported by Indy Lights, with the exception of Texas and Richmond. Rd.DateRace nameTrackLocation1March 29Miami 100 Homestead–Miami SpeedwayHomestead, Florida2April 5–6Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Streets of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, Florida34April 27Hard Rock 100 Kansas SpeedwayKansas City, Kansas5May 23Firestone Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySpeedway, Indiana6June 1Milwaukee 100 Milwaukee MileWest Allis, Wisconsin7June 21Jeld-Wen 100 Iowa SpeedwayNewton, Iowa8July 5Corning Duels at Watkins Glen Watkins Glen InternationalWatkins Glen, New York910July 12Sun Belt Rentals 100 Nashville SuperspeedwayLebanon, Tennessee11July 19–20Mid-Ohio 100 Mid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, Ohio1213August 9Kentucky 100 Kentucky SpeedwaySparta, Kentucky14August 23–24Carneros 100 Infineon RacewaySonoma, California15Valley of the Moon 10016September 7SunRichGourmet.com 100 Chicagoland SpeedwayJoliet, Illinois
Race results RoundRacePole positionFastest lapMost laps ledRace WinnerDriverTeam1Homestead–Miami Speedway Raphael Matos Sean Guthrie Richard Antinucci Dillon BattistiniPanther Racing2Streets of St. Petersburg Raphael Matos Raphael Matos Raphael Matos Raphael MatosAndretti Green-AFS Racing3 Jeff Simmons Raphael Matos Jeff Simmons Richard AntinucciSam Schmidt Motorsports4Kansas Speedway Richard Antinucci Ana Beatriz J. R. Hildebrand J. R. HildebrandRLR Andersen Racing5Indianapolis Motor Speedway Dillon Battistini Bobby Wilson Dillon Battistini Dillon BattistiniPanther Racing6Milwaukee Mile Pablo Donoso Bobby Wilson Bobby Wilson Bobby WilsonTeam E7Iowa Speedway Arie Luyendyk Jr. Dillon Battistini Arie Luyendyk Jr. Dillon BattistiniPanther Racing8Watkins Glen International Franck Perera Raphael Matos Raphael Matos Raphael MatosAndretti Green-AFS Racing9 Logan Gomez Raphael Matos Richard Antinucci Richard AntinucciSam Schmidt Motorsports10Nashville Superspeedway James Davison Arie Luyendyk Jr. Ana Beatriz Ana BeatrizSam Schmidt Motorsports11Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Raphael Matos Raphael Matos Raphael Matos Raphael MatosAndretti Green-AFS Racing12 Jonny Reid Mitch Cunningham Jonny Reid James DavisonSam Schmidt Motorsports13Kentucky Speedway Raphael Matos Arie Luyendyk Jr. Dillon Battistini Dillon BattistiniPanther Racing14Infineon Raceway Franck Perera Franck Perera Franck Perera Franck PereraGuthrie Racing15 Pablo Donoso Franck Perera Pablo Donoso Pablo DonosoTeam Moore Racing16Chicagoland Speedway Raphael Matos Brent Sherman Raphael Matos Arie Luyendyk Jr.Andretti Green-AFS Racing
Race summaries
Miami 100 Saturday March 29, 2008 Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida Race weather: 82 °F, fair skies Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 57.2075 sec (2 laps) 186.899 mph (300.785 km/h) Race Summary: As opposed to the previous year's race which was repeatedly slowed by major incidents, the 2008 season opener ran free of any major incidents. Polesitter Raphael Matos was passed in the opening laps by a hard-charging Richard Antinucci who started fifth. Antinucci dominated the middle portion of the race, but when he started to reach lapped traffic, rookie Dillon Battistini was able to catch him and the two battled for the remainder of the race. Following a caution flag with less than 10 laps to go, Battistini was able to find his way around Antinucci to take his first series win in his first race, which was also his first race on an oval track. The 23 cars running at the finish is a series record.Lewandowski, Dave. Great Start, IndyCar.com, March 29, 2008
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 12 15 Dillon BattistiniPanther Racing670:38:07.8215450 25 7 Richard AntinucciSam Schmidt Motorsports67+1.68484542 313 16 Brent ShermanPanther Racing67+4.0942035 411 26 Arie Luyendyk Jr.AGR-AFS Racing67+4.1484032 515 24 Chris FestaAlliance Motorsports67+4.1992030Race average speed: Lead changes: 4 between 3 driversCautions: 2 for 7 laps
St. Pete 100 Race 1 Saturday April 5, 2008 Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida Race weather: 84 °F, fair skies Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 1:06.4669 sec, 97.492 mph (156.898 km/h) Race Summary: Raphael Matos dominated the race and captured his third win at St. Pete in 3 races. The race was slowed 3 times early in the race by caution flags caused by two spins by Bobby Wilson and Mitchell Cunningham going off course, but the final 26 laps were run without a full-course caution. Matos drew the number four following the race, meaning that the top four positions would be inverted and Jeff Simmons would start race 2 from the pole.
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 11 27 Raphael MatosAGR-AFS Racing400:49:25.51584051 22 7 Richard AntinucciSam Schmidt Motorsports40+3.1577040 33 20 Ana BeatrizSam Schmidt Motorsports40+10.8371035 45 2 Jeff SimmonsTeam Moore Racing40+15.2206032 56 25 J. R. HildebrandRLR-Andersen Racing40+15.6018030Race average speed: Lead changes: noneCautions: 3 for 6 laps
St. Pete 100 Race 2 Sunday April 6, 2008 Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida Race weather: 79 °F, overcast Pole position winner: #2 Jeff Simmons (4th place in race 1) Race Summary: Jeff Simmons led the first half of the race from the pole, which was slowed many times by caution flags. On a restart on lap 25, the fastest car on the track Raphael Matos tried to pass Simmons, but the two banged wheels and Ana Beatriz passed both of them and took the lead. Simmons would eventually retire from the race due to the damage incurred and Matos had to pit to replace a flattened tire. Beatriz would lead until a restart on lap 30 when she and her teammate came together in the middle of turn 1. Beatriz spun and attempted to rejoin the race right in front of the car of Pablo Donoso. The two made heavy contact and were out of the race. Antinucci continued on to the victory. He was later penalized 10 points for making avoidable contact with Beatriz.2008 race results::Streets of St. Petersburg, IndyCar.com, April 6, 2008