1996 Indy Lights season


The 1996 PPG/Firestone Indy Lights Championship Powered By Buick consisted of 12 races. Canadian David Empringham captured three wins on his way to the championship.
This was the last season where all teams used the Lola T93/20-Buick spec car, which was replaced in the 1997 season by the Lola T97/20-Buick spec car.
The scoring system was 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points awarded to the first 12 finishers, with 1 extra point given to the driver who took pole-position, and another extra point given to the driver who led most laps in the race.

Team and driver chart

The following drivers and teams competed in the series:
TeamDriversRound
Brian Stewart Racing2

Race summaries

Homestead race

Held March 3 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. David Empringham won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. David Empringham
  2. Chris Simmons
  3. Mark Hotchkis
  4. David DeSilva
  5. Jeff Ward

Long Beach race

Held April 14 at Long Beach, California Street Course. Gualter Salles won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. David Empringham
  2. Tony Kanaan
  3. Gualter Salles
  4. Hélio Castro-Neves
  5. Alex Padilla

Nazareth race

Held April 28 at Nazareth Speedway. Claude Bourbonnais won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. David DeSilva
  2. David Empringham
  3. Mark Hotchkis
  4. Chris Simmons
  5. Jeff Ward

Michigan race

Held May 25 at Michigan International Speedway. David Empringham won the pole. This was the Indy Lights series' first race on a high-banked speedway.
Top Five Results
  1. David Empringham
  2. Mark Hotchkis
  3. Jeff Ward
  4. Robby Unser
  5. Hélio Castro-Neves

Milwaukee race

Held June 2 at The Milwaukee Mile. Mark Hotchkis won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Mark Hotchkis
  2. Greg Ray
  3. David Empringham
  4. Gualter Salles
  5. Chris Simmons

Detroit race

Held June 9 at Belle Isle Raceway. David Empringham won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Tony Kanaan
  2. Alex Padilla
  3. Claude Bourbonnais
  4. José Luis Di Palma
  5. Jaki Scheckter

Portland race

Held June 23 at Portland International Raceway. Tony Kanaan won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Gualter Salles
  2. Alex Padilla
  3. David Empringham
  4. Claude Bourbonnais
  5. Tony Kanaan

Cleveland race

Held June 30 at Burke Lakefront Airport. Mark Hotchkis won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Gualter Salles
  2. Claude Bourbonnais
  3. Hélio Castro-Neves
  4. Nick Firestone
  5. Hideki Noda

Toronto race

Held July 14 at Exhibition Place. Jeff Ward won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Gualter Salles
  2. Claude Bourbonnais
  3. Hideki Noda
  4. Shigeaki Hattori
  5. Alex Padilla

Trois-Rivières race

Held August 4 at the Trois-Rivières, Quebec Street Circuit. Hélio Castro-Neves won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Hélio Castro-Neves
  2. Tony Kanaan
  3. Alex Padilla
  4. David Empringham
  5. Bertrand Godin

Vancouver race

Held September 1 at Pacific Place. Jeff Ward won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Claude Bourbonnais
  2. Tony Kanaan
  3. Jeff Hotchkis
  4. Alex Padilla
  5. David Empringham

Laguna Seca race

Held September 8 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Tony Kanaan won the pole.
Top Five Results
  1. Tony Kanaan
  2. Hélio Castro-Neves
  3. Claude Bourbonnais
  4. Alex Padilla
  5. Jeff Ward

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

; Scoring system
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
Points20161412108654321

  • The driver who qualifies on pole is awarded one additional point.
  • An additional point is awarded to the driver who leads the most laps in a race.