2016 Indy Lights

The 2016 Indy Lights season was a season of open wheel motor racing. It was the 31st season of the Indy Lights series and the 15th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series.

2016 Indy Lights season
Indy Lights
Season
Races18
Start dateMarch 12
End dateSeptember 11
Awards
Drivers' champion Ed Jones
Teams' champion Carlin
Rookie of the Year Santiago Urrutia

Dubai born British sophomore driver Ed Jones won the championship by a narrow two point margin over rookie Uruguayan Santiago Urrutia. Jones won two races compared to Urrutia's four wins but Jones more consistently finished on the podium. American Kyle Kaiser won twice and made few mistakes and finished third in points. Kaiser finished just ahead of American Zach Veach whose season began poorly but won three of the last ten races. Dean Stoneman and Félix Serrallés also captured two wins, but were much less consistent and finished fifth and sixth in the championship respectively. Swede Felix Rosenqvist won three races but missed much of the season due to his role as a Mercedes factory driver in Europe.

Jones' Carlin team won the teams' championship and in the final race of the season, Jones' Carlin teammate Serrallés ceded fourth place to Jones on the final lap, allowing him to win the championship.

Team and driver chart
Team No. Drivers Rounds
Andretti Autosport 27 Dean Stoneman[1] All
28 Dalton Kellett[2] All
51 Shelby Blackstock[3] All
Belardi Auto Racing 5 Zach Veach[4] All
14 Felix Rosenqvist[5] 1–8, 12–13
45 James French 9–10
Carlin[6] 4 Félix Serrallés[7] All
11 Ed Jones[8] All
22 Neil Alberico[9] All
Juncos Racing 13 Zachary Claman DeMelo[10] All
18 Kyle Kaiser[11] All
McCormack Racing 34 Davey Hamilton Jr. 17–18
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 7 RC Enerson[12] 1–8
17 André Negrão[13] All
55 Santiago Urrutia[14] All
77 Scott Anderson[13] 1–2, 4–7
Heamin Choi 3, 8, 11, 17–18
Team Pelfrey[15] 2 Juan Piedrahita[16] 1–13
Sean Rayhall[17] 17–18
3 Scott Hargrove[18] 1–8
Garett Grist[19] 9–10, 12–18
  • Team Pelfrey purchased the assets of 8Star Motorsports

Schedule

The 2016 schedule was released on October 27, 2015.[20] Phoenix and Road America returned to the calendar. Long Beach was removed from the schedule, and with the IndyCar Series not returning to the Milwaukee Mile, Indy Lights will not return either.

The Grand Prix of Boston was announced in late May 2015. The race was scheduled to be run on Labor Day Weekend on September 4, 2016. The proposed street circuit was based in the Boston Seaport District. On April 29, 2016, Boston newspapers reported that the race weekend, which was to include an Indy Lights support race, had been canceled.[21] The race was replaced by a race at Watkins Glen International, on the same weekend.[22]

The season will expand to 18 races, two more than the previous season. All races on road courses and street circuits will be double headers with the exception of Watkins Glen, which, like the oval tracks, will have only one race.

All races will be run in support of IndyCar races except the final weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which will be a Mazda Road to Indy headliner weekend.

Rd. Date Race name Track Location TV
1 March 12 Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Lucas School of Racing Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida NBCSN
2 March 13
3 April 2 Indy Lights Grand Prix of Phoenix Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona NBCSN
4 April 23 Legacy Indy Lights 100 Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama NBCSN
5 April 24
6 May 13 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Speedway, Indiana NBCSN
7 May 14
8 May 27 Mazda Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval Speedway, Indiana NBCSN
9 June 25 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Road America Road America Elkhart Lake, WI NBCSN
10 June 26
11 July 10 Indy Lights Iowa Challenge Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa NBCSN
12 July 16 Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto NBCSN
13 July 17
14 July 30 Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio NBCSN
15 July 31
16 September 3 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Watkins Glen Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York NBCSN
17 September 10 Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California NBCSN
18 September 11
  Oval/Speedway
  Road Course
  Temporary Street Circuit

Race results
Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Race Winner
Driver Team
1 St. Petersburg 1 Kyle Kaiser Zach Veach Zach Veach Félix Serrallés Carlin
2 St. Petersburg 2 Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Belardi Auto Racing
3 Phoenix Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing
4 Birmingham 1 Ed Jones Santiago Urrutia Ed Jones Ed Jones Carlin
5 Birmingham 2 Ed Jones Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
6 Indianapolis GP 1 Ed Jones Zachary Claman DeMelo Ed Jones Ed Jones Carlin
7 Indianapolis GP 2 Ed Jones Felix Rosenqvist Dean Stoneman Dean Stoneman Andretti Autosport
8 Indianapolis Ed Jones Neil Alberico Dean Stoneman Dean Stoneman Andretti Autosport
9 Road America 1 Zach Veach Zachary Claman DeMelo Zach Veach Zach Veach Belardi Auto Racing
10 Road America 2 Ed Jones Dean Stoneman Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
11 Iowa Ed Jones Zach Veach Ed Jones Félix Serrallés Carlin
12 Toronto 1 Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Belardi Auto Racing
13 Toronto 2 Felix Rosenqvist Félix Serrallés Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Belardi Auto Racing
14 Mid-Ohio 1 Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
15 Mid-Ohio 2 Santiago Urrutia Félix Serrallés Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
16 Watkins Glen Santiago Urrutia Dean Stoneman Zach Veach Zach Veach Belardi Auto Racing
17 Laguna Seca 1 Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing
18 Laguna Seca 2 Ed Jones Zach Veach Zach Veach Zach Veach Belardi Auto Racing

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 PHX ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOH WGL LAG Pts
1 Ed Jones 10 7 2 1* 2 1* 4 21 4 13 31 6 5 6 11 2 2 4 363
2 Santiago Urrutia 4 13 4 11 1* 2 2 14 9 1* 5 4 4 1* 1* 12 5 2 361
3 Kyle Kaiser 3 2 1* 15 6 6 3 16 6 6 6 3 3 9 6 4 1* 3 334
4 Zach Veach 16* 3 8 3 10 5 10 10 1* 3 2* 9 6 5 4 1* 3 1* 332
5 Dean Stoneman 8 6 5 16 3 3 1* 1* 2 9 4 5 14 3 2 10 13 9 316
6 Félix Serrallés 1 4 7 2 15 7 5 6 3 14 1 2 10 4 10 7 8 5 311
7 André Negrão 6 5 6 8 11 9 16 15 10 2 13 11 2 2 3 3 9 6 268
8 Shelby Blackstock 14 11 14 4 5 10 7 4 13 5 12 10 9 8 5 6 10 11 227
9 Zachary Claman DeMelo   11 16 11 5 7 13 14 13 5 4 8 13 13 7 7 9 12 7 199
10 Dalton Kellett 15 10 10 9 9 16 12 3 14 12 9 8 11 11 9 11 7 13 193
11 Neil Alberico 12 15 9 12 14 11 13 7 11 11 11 12 8 12 8 5 6 10 193
12 Felix Rosenqvist 7 1* 15 14 8 4 6 9 1* 1* 185
13 Juan Piedrahita 9 8 12 7 16 15 11 8 12 7 7 14 12 135
14 RC Enerson 5 12 3 6 4 8 15 11 111
15 Garett Grist 7 10 7 7 10 12 8 11 15 102
16 Scott Hargrove 2 14 13 13 12 14 9 5 93
17 Scott Anderson 13 9 10 13 12 8 61
18 Heamin Choi 16 12 10 15 12 40
19 Sean Rayhall 4 8 32
20 James French 8 8 26
21 Davey Hamilton Jr. 14 14 14
Pos Driver STP PHX ALA IND INDY RDA IOW TOR MOH WGL LAG 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)
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 Carlin 413
2 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports w/ Curb-Agajanian 384
3 Belardi Auto Racing 322
4 Andretti Autosport 281
5 Juncos Racing 275
6 Team Pelfrey 135

See also

References
  1. Malsher, David. Andretti signs Stoneman for Indy Lights, Motorsport.com, February 24, 2016, Retrieved 2016-02-24
  2. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (September 22, 2015). "Andretti promotes Kellett to Indy Lights". Motorsport.com. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  3. Malsher, David. Blackstock staying at Andretti Autosport, leads opening Lights test, Motorsport.com, November 21, 2015, Retrieved 2015-11-25
  4. Khorounzhiy, Valentin. Veach returns to Indy Lights with Belardi, Motorsport.com, November 25, 2015, Retrieved 2015-11-25
  5. "Belardi Auto Racing confirms Felix Rosenqvist for Indy Lights". Indy Lights. February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  6. Roberts, James (December 1, 2014). "Carlin aims for IndyCar after launching 2015 Indy Lights programme". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  7. Allen, Peter (January 7, 2016). "Felix Serralles teams up with Carlin for second Indy Lights year". Paddock Scout. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  8. Allen, Peter (October 19, 2015). "Ed Jones commits to a second season of Indy Lights with Carlin". Paddock Scout. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  9. "Carlin sign Alberico for 2016 Indy Lights Series". Carlin. January 25, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  10. "Canadian Zachary Claman DeMelo joins Juncos Racing for 2016 Indy Lights campaign". Juncos Racing. December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  11. Allen, Peter (October 29, 2015). "Kyle Kaiser sticks with Juncos for 2016 Indy Lights season". Paddock Scout. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  12. "RC Enerson to compete with SPM in 2016". SPM IndyCar. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. October 30, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  13. "Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Lucas School of Racing Entry List" (PDF). Indy Lights. Andersen Promotions. March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  14. "Santiago Urrutia a la IndyLights" [Santiago Urrutia goes up to IndyLights]. Velocidad Total (in Spanish). Velocidad Total. January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  15. "Team Pelfrey expands to Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires". Indy Lights. Andersen Promotions. October 26, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  16. "Piedrahita signs with Team Pelfrey for 2016 IndyLights season". Team Pelfrey Indy Lights. Team Pelfrey. February 18, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  17. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (September 6, 2016). "Pelfrey calls up Rayhall for Lights finale". motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  18. http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2016/03/24/hargrove-pelfrey-plan-phoenix-barber-in-working-towards-full-season/
  19. "Garett Grist to make Indy Lights debut with Team Pelfrey". Indy Lights. Andersen Promotions. June 14, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  20. "2016 Mazda Road to Indy schedules announced". IndyLights. October 27, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  21. Golen, Jimmy (April 29, 2016). "Scheduled IndyCar race on streets of Boston cancelled". Associated Press. Boston: AP Sports. Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 1, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  22. "IndyCar returning to Waktins Glen International for Labor Day weekend". IndyCar.com. May 13, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
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