2017 Indy Lights

2017 Indy Lights
Series	Indy Lights
Series name	Indy Lights
Year	2017
Races	16
Start date	March 12
End date	September 3
Season champ	Kyle Kaiser
Champ team	Belardi Auto Racing
Rookie of year	Colton Herta
Previous	2016
Next	2018

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.^[1] 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	No.	Drivers	Rounds
Andretti Autosport	27	Nico Jamin^[2]	All
	28	Dalton Kellett^[3]	All
	48	Ryan Norman^[4]	All
Andretti Steinbrenner Racing	98	Colton Herta^[5]	All
Belardi Auto Racing^[6]	5	Santiago Urrutia^[7]	All
	9	Aaron Telitz^[8]	All
	51	Shelby Blackstock^[9]	All
	84	Chad Boat	15
Carlin^[6]	11	Garth Rickards^[10]	All
	13	Zachary Claman DeMelo^[11]	All
	22	Neil Alberico^[12]	All
	26	Matheus Leist^[13]	All
Juncos Racing^[6]	18	Kyle Kaiser^[14]	All
Juncos Racing^[6]	31	Nicolás Dapero^[15]	All
Team Pelfrey^[6]	2	Juan Piedrahíta^[16]	All
Team Pelfrey^[6]	3	Patricio O'Ward^[17]	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	St. Petersburg 100	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida
3	April 22	Legacy Indy Lights 100	Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, Alabama
4	April 23	Legacy Indy Lights 100	Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, Alabama
5	May 12	Grand Prix of Indianapolis	Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course	Speedway, Indiana
6	May 13	Grand Prix of Indianapolis	Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course	Speedway, Indiana
7	May 26	Freedom 100	Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval	Speedway, Indiana
8	June 24	Grand Prix of Road America	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
9	June 25	Grand Prix of Road America	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
10	July 9	Mazda Iowa 100	Iowa Speedway	Newton, Iowa
11	July 15	Grand Prix of Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
12	July 16	Grand Prix of Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
13	July 29	Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
14	July 30	Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
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 Winner
Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Driver	Team
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		GAT	WGL	Pts
1	Kyle Kaiser	6	4	2	2	3	1*	9	3	2	5	1*	1	12	12	4	7	330
2	Santiago Urrutia	13	2	15	13	7	2	5	2	11	2	3	11	1*	2	1	2	310
3	Colton Herta	2	1*	10	1*	12	10	13	12	3	4	4	10*	2	6	3	3	300
4	Matheus Leist	15	11	4	7	5	3	1*	1*	4	1*	13	5	11	10	10	4	279
5	Zachary Claman DeMelo	8	7	5	14	2	11	6	10	1*	6	2	3	5	4	6	6	274
6	Aaron Telitz	1*	5	13	5	6	13	2	11	5	9	5	2	8	5	15	1*	271
7	Nico Jamin	7	14	1*	3	1*	4	10	6	14	7	14	12	3	1*	11	5	269
8	Neil Alberico	3	15	3	4	4	6	4	7	8	11	8	14	6	9	12	11	225
9	Juan Piedrahita	14	10	11	11	DNS	5	8	5	10	10	6	4	10	11	2*	9	208
10	Shelby Blackstock	4	6	7	8	9	14	11	8	6	13	11	13	4	3	9	12	207
11	Ryan Norman	10	9	12	9	8	7	14	4	7	8	10	6	9	7	8	10	200
12	Dalton Kellett	12	12	6	10	13	9	3	9	9	3	12	9	7	13	7	13	198
13	Nicolás Dapero	9	8	9	6	11	8	12	14	12	12	7	7	14	8	5	8	187
14	Garth Rickards	11	13	14	12	10	12	7	13	13	14	9	8	13	14	13	DNS	146
15	Patricio O'Ward	5	3	8	15													58
16	Chad Boat															14		7
Pos	Driver	STP		ALA		IND		INDY	RDA		IOW	TOR		MOH		GAT	WGL	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 not participate (DNP)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position (1 point)
Italics	Ran fastest race lap (1 point)
*	Led most race laps (1 point)
¹	Qualifying cancelled no bonus point awarded
Rookie

Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

Teams' championship

Pos	Team	Points
1	Belardi Auto Racing	393
2	Andretti Autosport	389
3	Carlin	365
4	Juncos Racing	282
5	Team Pelfrey	162

References

^ "2017 Mazda Road to Indy schedules revealed". 14 September 2016.
^ "Andretti Autosport | JAMIN TO JOIN ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT 2017 INDY LIGHTS LINE UP". 29 November 2016.
^ "Kellett Returns to Andretti Autosport for 2017". Archived from the original on 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
^ "Andretti Autosport | RYAN NORMAN NAMED THIRD DRIVER TO ANDRETTI INDY LIGHTS ROSTER". 5 December 2016.
^ "Colton Herta quits Europe to race Indy Lights in 2017"
^ "Mazda Road to Indy Teams, Drivers to Gain Head Start on 2017 Season". Archived from the original on 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
^ "The Official Site of the Road to Indy, Drivers, Schedule & Shop". Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
^ "Belardi signs Pro Mazda champ Telitz for 2017". Archived from the original on 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
^ "The Official Site of the Road to Indy, Drivers, Schedule & Shop". Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
^ "Rickards moves up to Indy Lights with Carlin - Carlin". Archived from the original on 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
^ "Claman DeMelo ready for Indy Lights assault". February 6, 2017. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
^ "Alberico returns with Carlin for 2017 season". February 14, 2017. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
^ "Leist joins Carlin for Indy Lights". February 3, 2017. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
^ "American Kyle Kaiser Looks to Lead Juncos Racing in 2017 Indy Lights Championship". 10 December 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
^ "Dapero graduates with Juncos to Indy Lights". www.motorsport.com
^ "Piedrahita to Rejoin Team Pelfrey IL in 2017". Archived from the original on 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
^ "The Official Site of the Road to Indy, Drivers, Schedule & Shop". Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2017.

External links

Indy Lights Series website