The 2022 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires was the 36th season of the Indy Lights open wheel motor racing series and the 20th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series. It was held over 14 races, consisting of two ovals and nine road and street courses. It was the last held under the "Indy Lights" branding.
Linus Lundqvist, driving for HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing, won the drivers' championship at the penultimate race of the season. Andretti Autosport won the teams' championship, while their driver Hunter McElrea became rookie of the year.
2022 was also the final season of Indy Lights utilizing Indy Lights moniker. From 2023 onwards the Indy Lights would be rebranded to Indy NXT.
Series news
On September 24, 2021, it was announced that Penske Entertainment, the owner of INDYCAR, would take over promotion of the series from Andersen Promotions, who remained responsible for the rest of the Road to Indy. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company would continue sponsoring the series, as Goodyear acquired Cooper Tire in 2021. Branding would remain as Cooper. On February 22, 2022, it was announced that as part of IndyCar taking over the role of the sanctioning body, Indy Lights would adjust its points structure to follow that of the IndyCar series. On June 22, 2022, it was announced that Firestone will become the sole tire supplier for Indy Lights starting in 2023, replacing Cooper Tires and returning to the series for the first time since 2013.
Team and driver chart The following drivers and teams competed in the series: TeamDriversRound(s)Abel Motorsports11 Antonio Serravalle1–215 Flinn Lazier12–1451 Jacob AbelAll61 Ryan Phinny3–6Andretti Autosport2 Sting Ray RobbAll27 Hunter McElreaAll28 Christian RasmussenAll83 Matthew BrabhamAllForce Indy99 Ernie Francis Jr.AllGlobal Racing Group with HMD Motorsports24 Benjamin PedersenAllHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing7 Christian BogleAll11 Antonio Serravalle3–9 James Roe10–11 Nolan Siegel13–1421 Kyffin Simpson9–1426 Linus LundqvistAll59 Manuel Sulaimán1–268 Danial FrostAllTJ Speed Motorsports12 James Roe1–921 Kyffin Simpson1–8
Schedule The provisional schedule was announced on January 11, 2022. Only three events of the schedule were double-header weekends, a significant change from 2021. Rd.DateRace nameTrackLocation1February 27Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Streets of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, Florida2May 1Indy Lights Grand Prix of Barber Motorsports Park Barber Motorsports ParkBirmingham, Alabama3May 13–14Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Indianapolis Motor Speedway road courseSpeedway, Indiana45June 4–5Indy Lights Detroit Grand Prix The Raceway at Belle Isle ParkDetroit, Michigan67June 12Indy Lights Grand Prix at Road America Road AmericaElkhart Lake, Wisconsin8July 3Indy Lights at Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, Ohio9July 23Indy Lights at Iowa Speedway Iowa SpeedwayNewton, Iowa10August 7Indy Lights Music City Grand Prix Nashville Street CircuitNashville, Tennessee11August 20Indy Lights at World Wide Technology Raceway World Wide Technology RacewayMadison, Illinois12September 4Indy Lights Grand Prix of Portland Portland International RacewayPortland, Oregon13September 10–11Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey WeatherTech Raceway Laguna SecaMonterey, California14References:
Race results RoundCircuitPole positionFastest lapMost laps ledRace WinnerDriverTeam1 Streets of St. Petersburg Hunter McElrea Christian Rasmussen Christian Rasmussen Matthew BrabhamAndretti Autosport2 Barber Motorsports Park Linus Lundqvist Christian Rasmussen Linus Lundqvist Linus LundqvistHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing3R1 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Linus Lundqvist Linus Lundqvist Danial Frost Danial FrostHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing4R2 Linus Lundqvist Matthew Brabham Linus Lundqvist Linus LundqvistHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing5R1 Raceway on Belle Isle Linus Lundqvist Linus Lundqvist Linus Lundqvist Linus LundqvistHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing6R2 Linus Lundqvist Linus Lundqvist Linus Lundqvist Linus LundqvistHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing7 Road America Sting Ray Robb Sting Ray Robb Christian Rasmussen Christian RasmussenAndretti Autosport8 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Hunter McElrea Hunter McElrea Hunter McElrea Hunter McElreaAndretti Autosport9 Iowa Speedway Hunter McElrea Matthew Brabham Hunter McElrea Hunter McElreaAndretti Autosport10 Nashville Street Circuit Linus Lundqvist Sting Ray Robb Linus Lundqvist Linus LundqvistHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing11 World Wide Technology Raceway Linus Lundqvist Benjamin Pedersen Linus Lundqvist Matthew BrabhamAndretti Autosport12 Portland International Raceway Benjamin Pedersen Matthew Brabham Benjamin Pedersen Benjamin PedersenGlobal Racing Group with HMD Motorsports13R1 WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Sting Ray Robb Sting Ray Robb Sting Ray Robb Sting Ray RobbAndretti Autosport14R2 Christian Rasmussen Sting Ray Robb Christian Rasmussen Christian RasmussenAndretti Autosport
Season report
First half The first event of the season was held in February on the Streets of St. Petersburg, and it began with Hunter McElrea scoring pole on his first Indy Lights weekend. He held the lead at the race start ahead of fellow rookie Christian Rasmussen, who rose to second at the first corner. Rasmussen gained the lead on lap 13, when McElrea crashed into the wall at turn 14. From there on, Rasmussen survived the restart as well as another cautin and looked set to win on his debut, before he suddenly stopped on the penultimate lap because he ran out of fuel. This promoted Matthew Brabham into the lead, who then won the race after a six-year absence from the series. Benjamin Pedersen came second, ahead of Linus Lundqvist.
After a one-month break, Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama was next on the schedule, where HMD Motorsports locked out the front row courtesy of Lundqvist and Pedersen. The race was postponed and shortened because of thunderstorms, and began in wet conditions. Lundqvist used the superior visibility coming with his first grid spot to quickly pull out a gap to the field. By mid-race, the track was almost dry, so grip levels were decreasing. Many drivers made mistakes, span or ran off the track, with James Roe, Christian Bogle and McElrea all retiring. In the final stages of the race, Pedersen was increasing his pressure on leader Lundqvist, but did not manage to pass him and eventually finished only a tenth of a second behind in second place, ahead of Sting Ray Robb. The win also meant Lundqvist moved up into the championship lead.
The first double-header weekend came at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Lundqvist continued his form, claiming pole for both races despite suffering a puncture in his first qualifying run. He held the lead at the start of the first race, but was soon overtaken by Rasmussen, who started third and passed McElrea into turn one. When Lundqvist tried to regain first place, the pair collided. Both cars suffered damage, with Lundqvist having to pit. This warranted a caution and promoted McElrea to the lead, but he was passed by Danial Frost at the restart. Frost held his lead until the finish, leading home McElrea and Robb, with Rasmussen and Lundqvist managing to salvage fourth and fifth in the end. His fifth place also kept Lundqvist in the lead of the championship, albeit only six points ahead of Frost.
A day later, the second race was less straightforward. After a relatively quiet first half, where Lundqvist led unchallenged from pole and gapped Brabham, the race was stopped due to lightning in the area. When it resumed five hours later, it was rainy and the track was wet. While leader Lundqvist withstood the conditions, others were less fortunate: Brabham, Bogle, Roe, and Ernie Francis Jr. all made mistakes on the slippery track, prompting multiple caution periods. In the end, Ludqvist won ahead of Rasmussen and Robb, who was locked in a tight battle for third with Pedersen, Frost and McElrea for much of the second half of the race. Lundqvist's win helped him expand his championship lead over Frost, which now stood at 33 points.
Next up, Indy Lights visited the Streets of Belle Isle in Detroit. Qualifying offered the same picture as before, with Lundqvist again claiming double poles. The first race saw problems for multiple cars, with the first caution coming three laps in, when Jacob Abel and Rasmussen collided, the former ending up in the wall. The latter then also hit the wall later in the race, prompting a second full course yellow. Lundqvist was the class of the field, comfortably pulling away on the start as well as on both restarts. He led home Pedersen and Brabham, while Frost, Robb and McElrea all were multiple laps down on the field due to different technical issues or small crashes. Lundqvist now had a margin of 58 points over Pedersen, his nearest championship challenger.
On day two of the Detroit double-header, Lundqvist continued his domination. He once again led from the start and no one managed to put him under pressure for the duration of the race. Fighting broke out behind, where McElrea rose to second at the start and fought with Robb and Rasmussen before Bogle hit the wall and brought out a caution. On the restart, Lundqvist and McElrea broke away, so the fight continued for third place until Rasmussen crashed for the second time in two races. This promoted Robb to third, who pressured McElrea at the restart, but was not able to pass him. A second perfect race in as many days lifted Lundqvist up to 283 championship points, with a sizable cushion of 84 points to the rest of the field.
The first half of the season ended at Road America with Robb leading an Andretti 1-2-3-4 in qualifying. Right at the start, Rasmussen overtook the fighting pair of Robb and McElrea to move into the race lead, before two cautions came out in quick succession, for Francis Jr. and Antonio Serravalle. In a tumultuous restart, Bogle was launched over the kerbs approaching turn five and tore down the catchfencing with his car, prompting a red flag. When the race was restarted several hours later, it was a calmer affair: Rasmussen moved into first at the restart to win and lead home his teammates Robb and McElrea on an all-Andretti podium. Lundqvist came fourth, his championship lead now 82 points ahead of new second-placed man Robb.
Second half The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course hosted the start of the second half of the season, and McElrea claimed his second pole position. He started strong and left Lundqvist and Brabham to fight over second place, with Brabham eventually succeeding. Later in the race, the safety car was called when Roe spun and got stuck in the gravel. This brought McElrea back to the rest of the field, but he resisted Brabham's pressure and went on to claim his maiden victory. Lundqvist came third, after he seemed to have problems with his pace in the middle of the race, but he was able to keep Pedersen and the others behind. Because Robb was only fifth, Lundqvist gained further ground in the championship, with his lead now 87 points.