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]

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

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

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

Schedule

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

Race results

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

Championship standings

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Drivers' Championship

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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   Patricio O'Ward  RY  1* 7* 1* 1* 4 7 2 2 4 1* 1* 2 1* 1* 3 1* 1* 491
2   Colton Herta 3 8 2 3 1* 1 1 1* 2 2 7 6 2 2 2* 2 4 447
3   Santiago Urrutia 2 1 3 5 2* 4* 4 4 7 3 2 1* 6 4 4 4 3 395
4   Ryan Norman 6 3 5 7 5 5 5 6 5 4 3 4 5 3 1 5 8 345
5   Victor Franzoni  R  4 4 4 2 6 3 8 3 1* 6 6 7 4 6 6 3 5 341
6   Aaron Telitz DNS 9 8 4 3 2 6 5 3 7 4 3 7 7 5 6 2 316
7   Dalton Kellett 8 6 6 6 7 6 3* 7 6 5 5 5 3 5 7 7 7 299
8   Shelby Blackstock 5 2 42
9   Neil Alberico 7 5 31
10   Heamin Choi 8 6 28
11   Alfonso Celis Jr.  R  7 8 27
12   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

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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   Andretti Autosport 614
2   Belardi Auto Racing 455
3   Juncos Racing 291
4   Team Pelfrey 59

See also

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References

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  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.
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