The 2012 Indy Lights season was the 27th season of the series and the eleventh sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IZOD IndyCar Series. It began March 24, 2012, in St. Petersburg.

The championship was dominated by the Sam Schmidt Motorsports team with French driver Tristan Vautier winning the championship by eight points ahead of experienced Argentine teammate Esteban Guerrieri. SSM drivers won seven out of the twelve races over the course of the season and Vautier also claimed the rookie of the year title. Colombian driver Gustavo Yacamán from Team Moore Racing finished a tight battle for third with countryman Sebastián Saavedra.

Team and driver chart All drivers will compete in Firestone Firehawk–shod Dallara chassis. Team Drivers Rounds Sam Schmidt Motorsports 3 Victor Carbone All 7 Oliver Webb All 11 Esteban Guerrieri All 77 Tristan Vautier All Team Moore Racing 2 Gustavo YacamánEl Tigrillo Yacamán se queda en la Indy Lights, el Colombiano, March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012 All 22 David OstellaOstella Joins Team Moore in Firestone Indy Lights Series , David Ostella PR, January 2, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2012 All Andretti AutosportAFS Racing 26 Carlos MuñozMuñoz, Castenada Join Indy Lights for St. Pete , "RACER.com", March 19, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2012 All 27 Sebastián Saavedra All Bryan Herta Autosport 28 Troy Castaneda 1–2 Nick Andries 3 Anders Krohn 4, 7 Juncos Racing 86 João Victor Horto 1–2, 4 Bruno Palli 12 Chase Austin 7 87 4 Team E 17 Brandon Wagner 4 Belardi Auto Racing 4 Jorge Goncalvez All 9 Alon Day 1–7 Peter Dempsey 8–12 19 Mike LarrisonKnowlton, Veronica. Mike Larrison Joins Belardi Auto Racing Belardi Auto Racing, May 4, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2012 4, 6–7, 12 Brooks Associates Racing 8 Alex Jones 3 Adderly Fong 11 Fan Force United 24 Armaan Ebrahim 1–5 Bryan Clauson 6–7 Stefan Wilson 12 42 Emerson Newton-JohnGuerra, Kate. Newton-John enters the Freedom 100 with Fan Force United , IndyCar, April 30, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2012 4, 11 Younessi Racing 15 Peter DempseyDempsey returns to Firestone Indy Lights with Younessi , May 7, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2012 4–5 16 Rodin YounessiYounessi Racing enters Indy Lights , Racer, February 28, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012 1, 5 Jeffrey Mark Motorsport 76 Juan Pablo Garcia All Hillenburg Motorsports 20 Darryl Wills 1–3

Schedule IndyCar announced that all Firestone Indy Lights Series races would be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network in 2012. Rnd Date Race Name Track Location 1 March 24 St. Petersburg 100 Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida 2 April 1 Grand Prix of Alabama Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama 3 April 15 Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California 4 May 25 Firestone Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana 5 June 2 Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan 6 June 15 Firestone Indy Lights 100 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 7 June 22 Sukup 100 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa 8 July 7 Toronto 100 Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 9 July 21 Edmonton 100 Edmonton City Centre Airport Edmonton, Alberta 10 August 5 Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières Circuit Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières, Quebec 11 September 1 Grand Prix of Baltimore Streets of Baltimore Baltimore, Maryland 12 September 15 Auto Club Speedway Foundation 100 Auto Club Speedway Fontana, California

Race results Rd. Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Winning driver Winning team 1 St. Petersburg Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Sam Schmidt Motorsports 2 Barber Sebastián Saavedra Sebastián Saavedra Sebastián Saavedra Sebastián Saavedra Andretti Autosport 3 Long Beach Sebastián Saavedra Victor Carbone Esteban Guerrieri Esteban Guerrieri Sam Schmidt Motorsports 4 Indianapolis Gustavo Yacamán João Victor Horto Victor Carbone Esteban Guerrieri Sam Schmidt Motorsports 5 Belle Isle Oliver Webb Gustavo Yacamán Oliver Webb Gustavo Yacamán Team Moore Racing 6 Milwaukee Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Sam Schmidt Motorsports 7 Iowa Tristan Vautier Esteban Guerrieri Tristan Vautier Esteban Guerrieri Sam Schmidt Motorsports 8 Toronto Victor Carbone Gustavo Yacamán Gustavo Yacamán Gustavo Yacamán Team Moore Racing 9 Edmonton Carlos Muñoz Esteban Guerrieri Carlos Muñoz Carlos Muñoz Andretti Autosport 10 Trois-Rivières Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Sam Schmidt Motorsports 11 Baltimore Tristan Vautier Sebastián Saavedra Tristan Vautier Tristan Vautier Sam Schmidt Motorsports 12 Fontana Sebastián Saavedra David Ostella Carlos Muñoz Carlos Muñoz Andretti Autosport

Driver standings Pos Driver STP BAR LBH INDY DET MIL IOW TOR EDM TRO BAL FON Pts 1 Tristan Vautier 1* 2 3 3 5 1* 4* 11 6 1* 1* 4 2 Esteban Guerrieri 2 3 1* 1 7 3 1 6 3 4 3 3 453 3 Gustavo Yacamán 6 4 10 4 1 8 2 1* 7 2 2 11 4 Sebastián Saavedra 3 1* 2 5 6 2 13 2 2 9 10 14 383 5 Carlos Muñoz 14 14 5 2 2 5 7 10 1* 3 11 1* 377 6 Victor Carbone 5 5 4 6* 4 6 3 3 8 8 DNS 5 340 7 Oliver Webb 4 13 6 15 3* 12 12 5 4 5 6 8 310 8 David Ostella 15 9 8 18 13 4 5 7 10 6 4 2 298 9 Juan Pablo Garcia 7 8 7 11 9 11 14 8 9 10 9 10 260 10 Jorge Goncalvez 11 10 9 12 DNS 9 6 9 11 7 7 13 247 11 Peter Dempsey 14 11 4 5 11 5 12 164 12 Alon Day 12 6 11 8 8 7 DNS 147 13 Armaan Ebrahim 8 12 12 13 10 97 14 Mike Larrison 9 13 11 9 80 15 João Victor Horto 13 7 7 69 16 Darryl Wills 10 11 15 54 17 Chase Austin 10 8 44 18 Bryan Clauson 10 10 40 19 Troy Castaneda 9 15 37 20 Anders Krohn 19 9 34 21 Rodin Younessi 16 12 32 22 Emerson Newton-John 17 12 31 23 Stefan Wilson 628 24 Bruno Palli 7 26 25 Adderly Fong 8 24 26 Nick Andries 13 17 27 Alex Jones 14 16 28 Brandon Wagner 16 14 Pos Driver STP BAR LBH INDY DET MIL IOW TOR EDM TRO BAL FON 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 notparticipate(DNP) Not competingIn-line notationBoldPole position(1 point)ItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps(2 points)1Qualifying cancelledno bonus point awardedRookie of the YearRookie

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Points 50 40 35 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

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