2018 Indy Lights

2018 Indy Lights season
Indy Lights
Season
Races17
Start dateMarch 10
End dateSeptember 2
Awards
Drivers' championMexico Patricio O'Ward
Teams' championAndretti Autosport
Rookie of the YearMexico Patricio O'Ward
← 2017
2019 →

The 2018 Indy Lights season was the 33rd season of the Indy Lights open wheel motor racing series and the 17th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series. A 17-race schedule was announced on October 17, 2017.[1]

Patricio O'Ward dueled the entire season with his Andretti Autosport teammate Colton Herta, ultimately clinching the title by winning the penultimate race of the season. O'Ward had nine wins with four other podium finishes while Herta captured four consecutive wins in the first half of the season, including the Freedom 100, but also finished second seven times. Belardi Auto Racing's Santiago Urrutia captured two race wins and finished third in the championship. Andretti's Ryan Norman and Juncos Racing's Victor Franzoni each had a single win and finished fourth and fifth in the championship respectively. There were only seven full-time entries. Andretti Autosport soundly won the team championship.

Team and driver chart

Team No. Drivers Rounds
Andretti Autosport 27 Mexico Patricio O'Ward[2] All
28 Canada Dalton Kellett[2] All
48 United States Ryan Norman[3] All
Andretti Steinbrenner Racing 98 United States Colton Herta[4] All
Belardi Auto Racing 5 Uruguay Santiago Urrutia All
9 United States Aaron Telitz[5] All
Juncos Racing[6] 7 Mexico Alfonso Celis Jr.[7][8] 3–4
South Korea Heamin Choi[9] 16–17
23 Brazil Victor Franzoni[6] All
Team Pelfrey 2 United States Neil Alberico 1–2
United States Davey Hamilton Jr. 7
3 United States Shelby Blackstock 1–2

Schedule

Rd. Date Race name Track Location
1 March 10 United States St. Petersburg 100 Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida
2 March 11
3 April 21 United States Legacy Indy Lights 100 Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama
4 April 22
5 May 11 United States Grand Prix of Indianapolis Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Speedway, Indiana
6 May 12
7 May 25 United States Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval Speedway, Indiana
8 June 23 United States Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
9 June 24
10 July 8 United States Mazda Iowa 100 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa
11 July 14 Canada Grand Prix of Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario, Canada
12 July 15
13 July 28 United States Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio
14 July 29
15 August 25 United States Illinois 100 Gateway Motorsports Park Madison, Illinois
16 September 1 United States Grand Prix of Portland Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
17 September 2

Race results

Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race Winner
Driver Team
1 St. Petersburg 1 United States Aaron Telitz United States Colton Herta Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
2 St. Petersburg 2 Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Uruguay Santiago Urrutia Belardi Auto Racing
3 Birmingham 1 United States Colton Herta United States Colton Herta Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
4 Birmingham 2 Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
5 Indianapolis GP 1 Mexico Patricio O'Ward United States Colton Herta United States Colton Herta
Uruguay Santiago Urrutia
United States Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing
6 Indianapolis GP 2 Mexico Patricio O'Ward Brazil Victor Franzoni Uruguay Santiago Urrutia United States Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing
7 Indianapolis Canada Dalton Kellett United States Davey Hamilton Jr. Canada Dalton Kellett United States Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing
8 Road America 1 Brazil Victor Franzoni United States Colton Herta United States Colton Herta United States Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing
9 Road America 2 Mexico Patricio O'Ward Brazil Victor Franzoni Brazil Victor Franzoni Brazil Victor Franzoni Juncos Racing
10 Iowa Mexico Patricio O'Ward Brazil Victor Franzoni Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
11 Toronto 1 United States Colton Herta United States Colton Herta Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
12 Toronto 2 Uruguay Santiago Urrutia United States Aaron Telitz Uruguay Santiago Urrutia Uruguay Santiago Urrutia Belardi Auto Racing
13 Mid-Ohio 1 Mexico Patricio O'Ward United States Colton Herta Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
14 Mid-Ohio 2 Mexico Patricio O'Ward United States Colton Herta Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
15 Gateway United States Colton Herta United States Ryan Norman United States Colton Herta United States Ryan Norman Andretti Autosport
16 Portland 1 Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
17 Portland 2 United States Ryan Norman Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Mexico Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport

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 (R) 30 25 22 19 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Points (O) 45 38 33 29 26 23 21 20 18 17 15 14 12 11 9 8 6 5 4 2
  • 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.
Pos Driver STP BAR IMS INDY ROA IOW TOR MOH GMP POR Points
1 Mexico Patricio O'Ward  RY  1* 7* 1* 1* 4 7 2 2 4 1* 1* 2 1* 1* 3 1* 1* 491
2 United States Colton Herta 3 8 2 3 1* 1 1 1* 2 2 7 6 2 2 2* 2 4 447
3 Uruguay Santiago Urrutia 2 1 3 5 2* 4* 4 4 7 3 2 1* 6 4 4 4 3 395
4 United States Ryan Norman 6 3 5 7 5 5 5 6 5 4 3 4 5 3 1 5 8 345
5 Brazil Victor Franzoni  R  4 4 4 2 6 3 8 3 1* 6 6 7 4 6 6 3 5 341
6 United States Aaron Telitz DNS 9 8 4 3 2 6 5 3 7 4 3 7 7 5 6 2 316
7 Canada Dalton Kellett 8 6 6 6 7 6 3* 7 6 5 5 5 3 5 7 7 7 299
8 United States Shelby Blackstock 5 2 42
9 United States Neil Alberico 7 5 31
10 South Korea Heamin Choi 8 6 28
11 Mexico Alfonso Celis Jr.  R  7 8 27
12 United States Davey Hamilton Jr.  R  7 21
Pos Driver STP BAR IMS INDY ROA IOW TOR MOH GMP POR Points
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)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
(1 point)
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
(1 point)
1 Qualifying cancelled
no bonus point awarded
 R  Rookie
 RY  Rookie of the Year
  • Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

Teams' championship

Scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th+ 
Points 22 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
  • Single car teams receive 3 bonus points as an equivalency to multi-car teams
  • Only the best two results count for teams fielding more than two entries
Pos Team Points
1 United States Andretti Autosport 614
2 United States Belardi Auto Racing 455
3 United States Juncos Racing 291
4 United States Team Pelfrey 59

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mazda Road To Indy reveals all three 2018 schedules, altered points". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Andretti Autosport to Field Pato O'Ward for 2018 Indy Lights Campaign". Indylights.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Norman feels confidence growing for second Indy Lights season". Indycar.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Herta driven to smooth out rough edges in 2018 Indy Lights season". Indycar.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Telitz Returns to Belardi Auto Racing in 2018". Indylights.com. Archived from the original on 24 June 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  6. ^ a b Racing, By RACER staff / Image courtesy of Juncos. "Juncos planning for 3-car Indy Lights team". Racer.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  7. ^ "Alfonso Celis Jr. joins Juncos Racing for 2018 Indy Lights championship". juncosracing.com. 2018-02-23. Archived from the original on 2018-02-24. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  8. ^ "Stars of the Races – St. Petersburg". roadtoindyinsider.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  9. ^ "Juncos adds Korea's Choi for Portland Indy Lights". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. August 21, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.

External links

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