The 2017 Indy Lights season was the 32nd season of the

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progra ...

open wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

series and the 16th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

. A 16-race schedule was announced on September 14, 2016. The schedule included a stop at

Gateway Motorsports Park World Wide Technology Raceway (formerly Gateway International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park) is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a ...

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 Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...

round to end the season was omitted, as it was for the other

Road to Indy A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

series. American

Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser (born March 5, 1996) is an American racing driver from Santa Clara, California, and won the 2017 Indy Lights Championship with Juncos Racing. He is also currently enrolled in classes part-time at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, ...

driving for

Juncos Racing Juncos Hollinger Racing, formerly Juncos Racing, is an Argentine-American racing team competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, Indy Lights and Indy Pro 2000 Championship series in the Road to Indy ladder for IndyCar. Owned by Ricardo Juncos, who for ...

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 Santiago Urrutia Lausarot (born 30 August 1996) is an Uruguayan racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup, driving for Cyan Performance Lynk & Co. He formerly competed in Indy Lights, and was the 2015 Pro Mazda series c ...

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 Colton Thomas Herta (born March 30, 2000) is an American open-wheel racing driver currently competing in the NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian. He is the youngest person to ever win an IndyCar Series race. He is the ...

won six poles, but was only able to convert that to two wins and he finished third in the championship. Brazilian rookie

Matheus Leist Matheus Tobias Leist (born September 8, 1998) is a Brazilian racing driver for JDC-Miller MotorSports in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Karting Leist began karting in 2009 at the age of eleven. In 2013, he finished as runner-u ...

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 Zachary Claman DeMelo (born April 20, 1998) is a Canadian professional race car driver from Montreal, Quebec. He has competed in Formula Renault 2.0, the IndyCar Series and other open-wheel series, most recently competing for Belardi Auto Racing ...

won a single race and finished fifth in points while

2016 Pro Mazda Championship The 2016 Pro Mazda Championship was the 18th season in series history. The season will begin on March 12 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and end on September 11 at Monterey Grand Prix. Patricio O'Ward dominated the first half of the season, w ...

winner

Aaron Telitz Aaron Telitz (born December 13, 1991) is an American race car driver. He currently competes full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving for AIM Vasser Sullivan. Career Born in Birchwood, Wisconsin, Telitz began his racing caree ...

bookended the season with his only two wins and finished sixth.

Nico Jamin Nicolas Jamin (born December 5, 1995) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with United Autosports. Open Wheel Racing F2000 Jamin made his professional debut in the 2014 U.S. F2000 National Championsh ...

won three races but also suffered four DNFs and fell to seventh in points.

Juan Piedrahita Juan Diego Piedrahita Cortes (Bogotá, July 27, 1992) is a Colombian racing driver. Piedrahita began his driving career aged seven, karting in Mexico. Piedrahita transitioned to auto racing in 2009 competing in the LATAM Challenge Series where h ...

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 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and has subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle, and racing tires. W ...

–shod

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created ...

chassis with

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

AER engines.

Schedule

Race results

:¹Qualifying canceled due to weather and grid was set on points

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

;Scoring system * 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. * Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

Teams' championship

References

External links

* {{Road to Indy Indy Lights seasons