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.
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.
WWW indylights.com

Team and driver chart

TeamDriversRounds
Andretti Autosport27

Schedule

The 2016 schedule was released on October 27, 2015. 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. The race was replaced by a race at Watkins Glen International, on the same weekend.
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.DateRace nameTrackLocationTV
1March 12Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Lucas School of RacingStreets of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, FloridaNBCSN
2March 13Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Lucas School of RacingStreets of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, FloridaNBCSN
3April 2Indy Lights Grand Prix of PhoenixPhoenix International RacewayPhoenix, ArizonaNBCSN
4April 23Legacy Indy Lights 100Barber Motorsports ParkBirmingham, AlabamaNBCSN
5April 24Legacy Indy Lights 100Barber Motorsports ParkBirmingham, AlabamaNBCSN
6May 13Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of IndianapolisIndianapolis Motor Speedway road courseSpeedway, IndianaNBCSN
7May 14Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of IndianapolisIndianapolis Motor Speedway road courseSpeedway, IndianaNBCSN
8May 27Mazda Freedom 100Indianapolis Motor Speedway ovalSpeedway, IndianaNBCSN
9June 25Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Road AmericaRoad AmericaElkhart Lake, WINBCSN
10June 26Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Road AmericaRoad AmericaElkhart Lake, WINBCSN
11July 10Indy Lights Iowa ChallengeIowa SpeedwayNewton, IowaNBCSN
12July 16Cooper Tires Grand Prix of TorontoExhibition PlaceTorontoNBCSN
13July 17Cooper Tires Grand Prix of TorontoExhibition PlaceTorontoNBCSN
14July 30Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-OhioMid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, OhioNBCSN
15July 31Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-OhioMid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, OhioNBCSN
16September 3Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Watkins GlenWatkins Glen InternationalWatkins Glen, New YorkNBCSN
17September 10Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of MontereyMazda Raceway Laguna SecaMonterey, CaliforniaNBCSN
18September 11Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of MontereyMazda Raceway Laguna SecaMonterey, CaliforniaNBCSN

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
Points3025221917151413121110987654321

  • 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.