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 (he only had to start the final round). 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 All drivers compete in Cooper Tire–shod Dallara chassis with Mazda AER engines. Team Drivers Rounds Andretti Autosport 27 Nico Jamin All 28 Dalton Kellett All 48 Ryan Norman All Andretti Steinbrenner Racing 98 Colton Herta All Belardi Auto Racing 5 Santiago Urrutia All 9 Aaron Telitz All 51 Shelby Blackstock All 84 Chad Boat 15 Carlin 11 Garth Rickards All 13 Zachary Claman DeMelo All 22 Neil Alberico All 26 Matheus Leist All Juncos Racing 18 Kyle Kaiser All 31 Nicolás Dapero All Team Pelfrey 2 Juan Piedrahíta All 3 Patricio O'Ward 1–4

Schedule

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

Race results

Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race WinnerDriverTeam 1 St. Petersburg 1 Aaron Telitz Colton Herta Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz Belardi Auto Racing 2 St. Petersburg 2 Colton Herta Colton Herta Colton Herta Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing 3 Birmingham 1 Kyle Kaiser Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport 4 Birmingham 2 Colton Herta1 Santiago Urrutia Colton Herta Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing 5 Indianapolis GP 1 Nico Jamin Matheus Leist Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport 6 Indianapolis GP 2 Kyle Kaiser Zachary Claman DeMelo Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing 7 Indianapolis Matheus Leist Santiago Urrutia Matheus Leist Matheus Leist Carlin 8 Road America 1 Matheus Leist Kyle Kaiser Matheus Leist Matheus Leist Carlin 9 Road America 2 Colton Herta Zachary Claman DeMelo Zachary Claman DeMelo Zachary Claman DeMelo Carlin 10 Iowa Colton Herta Dalton Kellett Matheus Leist Matheus Leist Carlin 11 Toronto 1 Kyle Kaiser Colton Herta Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing 12 Toronto 2 Colton Herta Kyle Kaiser Colton Herta Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing 13 Mid-Ohio 1 Santiago Urrutia Shelby Blackstock Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Belardi Auto Racing 14 Mid-Ohio 2 Colton Herta Santiago Urrutia Nico Jamin Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport 15 Gateway Juan Piedrahíta Zachary Claman DeMelo Juan Piedrahíta Santiago Urrutia Belardi Auto Racing 16 Watkins Glen Colton Herta Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz Belardi Auto Racing 1Qualifying canceled due to weather and grid was set on points

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 ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOH GATWGL Pts1 Kyle Kaiser 6 4 2 2 3 1* 9 3 2 5 1* 1 12 12 4 73302 Santiago Urrutia 13 2 15 13 7 2 5 2 11 2 3 11 1* 2 1 23103 Colton Herta 2 1* 10 1* 12 10 13 12 3 4 4 10* 2 6 3 33004 Matheus Leist 15 11 4 7 5 3 1* 1* 4 1* 13 5 11 10 10 42795 8 7 5 14 2 11 6 10 1* 6 2 3 5 4 6 62746 Aaron Telitz 1* 5 13 5 6 13 2 11 5 9 5 2 8 5 15 1*2717 Nico Jamin 7 14 1* 3 1* 4 10 6 14 7 14 12 3 1* 11 52698 Neil Alberico 3 15 3 4 4 6 4 7 8 11 8 14 6 9 12 112259 Juan Piedrahita 14 10 11 11 DNS 5 8 5 10 10 6 4 10 11 2* 920810 Shelby Blackstock 4 6 7 8 9 14 11 8 6 13 11 13 4 3 9 1220711 Ryan Norman 10 9 12 9 8 7 14 4 7 8 10 6 9 7 8 1020012 Dalton Kellett 12 12 6 10 13 9 3 9 9 3 12 9 7 13 7 1319813 Nicolás Dapero 9 8 9 6 11 8 12 14 12 12 7 7 14 8 5 818714 Garth Rickards 11 13 14 12 10 12 7 13 13 14 9 8 13 14 13 DNS14615 Patricio O'Ward 5 3 8 15 5816 Chad Boat 14 7 Pos Driver STP ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOH GATWGL 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 Belardi Auto Racing393 2 Andretti Autosport389 3 Carlin365 4 Juncos Racing282 5 Team Pelfrey162

References

External links