The 2016 Indy Lights season was a season of open wheel motor racing. It was the 31st season of the Indy Lights series and the 15th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series.

Dubai born British sophomore driver Ed Jones won the championship by a narrow two point margin over rookie Uruguayan Santiago Urrutia. Jones won two races compared to Urrutia's four wins but Jones more consistently finished on the podium. American Kyle Kaiser won twice and made few mistakes and finished third in points. Kaiser finished just ahead of American Zach Veach whose season began poorly but won three of the last ten races. Dean Stoneman and Félix Serrallés also captured two wins, but were much less consistent and finished fifth and sixth in the championship respectively. Swede Felix Rosenqvist won three races but missed much of the season due to his role as a Mercedes factory driver in Europe.

Jones' Carlin team won the teams' championship and in the final race of the season, Jones' Carlin teammate Serrallés ceded fourth place to Jones on the final lap, allowing him to win the championship.

Team and driver chart All drivers compete in Cooper Tire–shod Dallara IL-15 chassis with Mazda AER engine. Team Drivers Rounds Andretti Autosport 27 Dean StonemanMalsher, David. Andretti signs Stoneman for Indy Lights, Motorsport.com, February 24, 2016, Retrieved 2016-02-24 All 28 Dalton Kellett All 51 Shelby BlackstockMalsher, David. Blackstock staying at Andretti Autosport, leads opening Lights test, Motorsport.com, November 21, 2015, Retrieved 2015-11-25 AllBelardi Auto Racing 5 Zach VeachKhorounzhiy, Valentin. Veach returns to Indy Lights with Belardi , Motorsport.com, November 25, 2015, Retrieved 2015-11-25 All 14 Felix Rosenqvist 1–8, 12–13 45 James French 9–10 Carlin 4 Félix Serrallés All 11 Ed Jones All 22 Neil Alberico All Juncos Racing 13 Zachary Claman DeMelo All 18 Kyle Kaiser All McCormack Racing 34 Davey Hamilton Jr. 17–18 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 7 RC Enerson 1–8 17 André Negrão All 55 Santiago Urrutia All 77 Scott Anderson 1–2, 4–7 Heamin Choi 3, 8, 11, 17–18Team Pelfrey 2 Juan Piedrahita 1–13 Sean Rayhall 17–18 3 Scott Hargrove 1–8 Garett Grist 9–10, 12–18

Team Pelfrey purchased the assets of 8Star Motorsports

Schedule The 2016 schedule was released on October 27, 2015. Phoenix and Road America returned to the calendar. Long Beach was removed from the schedule, and with the IndyCar Series not returning to the Milwaukee Mile, Indy Lights will not return either.

The Grand Prix of Boston was announced in late May 2015. The race was scheduled to be run on Labor Day Weekend on September 4, 2016. The proposed street circuit was based in the Boston Seaport District. On April 29, 2016, Boston newspapers reported that the race weekend, which was to include an Indy Lights support race, had been canceled. The race was replaced by a race at Watkins Glen International, on the same weekend.

The season will expand to 18 races, two more than the previous season. All races on road courses and street circuits will be double headers with the exception of Watkins Glen, which, like the oval tracks, will have only one race.

All races will be run in support of IndyCar races except the final weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which will be a Mazda Road to Indy headliner weekend.

Rd. Date Race name Track Location TV 1 March 12 Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Lucas School of Racing Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida NBCSN 2 March 13 3 April 2 Indy Lights Grand Prix of Phoenix Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona NBCSN 4 April 23 Legacy Indy Lights 100 Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama NBCSN 5 April 24 6 May 13 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Speedway, Indiana NBCSN 7 May 14 8 May 27 Mazda Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval Speedway, Indiana NBCSN 9 June 25 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Road America Road America Elkhart Lake, WI NBCSN 10 June 26 11 July 10 Indy Lights Iowa Challenge Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa NBCSN 12 July 16 Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto NBCSN 13 July 17 14 July 30 Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio NBCSN 15 July 31 16 September 3 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Watkins Glen Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York NBCSN 17 September 10 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California NBCSN 18 September 11

Race results

Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race WinnerDriverTeam 1 St. Petersburg 1 Kyle Kaiser Zach Veach Zach Veach Félix Serrallés Carlin 2 St. Petersburg 2 Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Belardi Auto Racing 3 Phoenix Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing 4 Birmingham 1 Ed Jones Santiago Urrutia Ed Jones Ed Jones Carlin 5 Birmingham 2 Ed Jones Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 6 Indianapolis GP 1 Ed Jones Zachary Claman DeMelo Ed Jones Ed Jones Carlin 7 Indianapolis GP 2 Ed Jones Felix Rosenqvist Dean Stoneman Dean Stoneman Andretti Autosport 8 Indianapolis Ed Jones Neil Alberico Dean Stoneman Dean Stoneman Andretti Autosport 9 Road America 1 Zach Veach Zachary Claman DeMelo Zach Veach Zach Veach Belardi Auto Racing 10 Road America 2 Ed Jones Dean Stoneman Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 11 Iowa Ed Jones Zach Veach Ed Jones Félix Serrallés Carlin 12 Toronto 1 Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Belardi Auto Racing 13 Toronto 2 Felix Rosenqvist Félix Serrallés Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Belardi Auto Racing 14 Mid-Ohio 1 Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 15 Mid-Ohio 2 Santiago Urrutia Félix Serrallés Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 16 Watkins Glen Santiago Urrutia Dean Stoneman Zach Veach Zach Veach Belardi Auto Racing 17 Laguna Seca 1 Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing 18 Laguna Seca 2 Ed Jones Zach Veach Zach Veach Zach Veach Belardi Auto Racing

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 PHX ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOHWGL LAG Pts 1 Ed Jones 10 7 2 1* 2 1* 4 21 4 13 31 6 5 6 11 2 2 4 363 2 Santiago Urrutia 4 13 4 11 1* 2 2 14 9 1* 5 4 4 1* 1* 12 5 2 361 3 Kyle Kaiser 3 2 1* 15 6 6 3 16 6 6 6 3 3 9 6 4 1* 3 334 4 Zach Veach 16* 3 8 3 10 5 10 10 1* 3 2* 9 6 5 4 1* 3 1* 332 5 Dean Stoneman 8 6 5 16 3 3 1* 1* 2 9 4 5 14 3 2 10 13 9 316 6 Félix Serrallés 1 4 7 2 15 7 5 6 3 14 1 2 10 4 10 7 8 5 311 7 André Negrão 6 5 6 8 11 9 16 15 10 2 13 11 2 2 3 3 9 6 268 8 Shelby Blackstock 14 11 14 4 5 10 7 4 13 5 12 10 9 8 5 6 10 11 227 9 11 16 11 5 7 13 14 13 5 4 8 13 13 7 7 9 12 7 199 10 Dalton Kellett 15 10 10 9 9 16 12 3 14 12 9 8 11 11 9 11 7 13 193 11 Neil Alberico 12 15 9 12 14 11 13 7 11 11 11 12 8 12 8 5 6 10 193 12 Felix Rosenqvist 7 1* 15 14 8 4 6 9 1* 1* 185 13 Juan Piedrahita 9 8 12 7 16 15 11 8 12 7 7 14 12 135 14 RC Enerson 5 12 3 6 4 8 15 11 111 15 Garett Grist 7 10 7 7 10 12 8 11 15 103 16 Scott Hargrove 2 14 13 13 12 14 9 5 93 17 Scott Anderson 13 9 10 13 12 8 61 18 Heamin Choi 16 12 10 15 12 40 19 Sean Rayhall 4 8 32 20 James French 8 8 26 21 Davey Hamilton Jr. 14 14 14 Pos Driver STP PHX ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOHWGL LAG 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(1 point)*Led most race laps(1 point)1Qualifying cancelledno bonus point awardedRookie Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

Teams' championship PosTeamPoints 1 Carlin413 2 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports w/ Curb-Agajanian384 3 Belardi Auto Racing322 4 Andretti Autosport281 5 Juncos Racing275 6 Team Pelfrey135

See also 2016 IndyCar Series season 2016 Pro Mazda Championship season 2016 U.S. F2000 National Championship

References

External links