The 2012 Indy Lights season was the 27th season of the series and the eleventh sanctioned by IndyCar , acting as the primary support series for the IZOD IndyCar Series . It began March 24, 2012 in St. Petersburg .[ 1]
The championship was dominated by the Sam Schmidt Motorsports team with French driver Tristan Vautier winning the championship by eight points ahead of experienced Argentine team mate Esteban Guerrieri . SSM drivers won seven out of the twelve races over the course of the season and Vautier also claimed the rookie of the year title. Colombian driver Gustavo Yacamán from Team Moore Racing finished a tight battle for third with countryman Sebastián Saavedra .[ 2]
Team and driver chart [ edit ]
IndyCar announced that all Firestone Indy Lights Series races would be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network in 2012.[ 21]
Rnd
Date
Race Name
Track
Location
1
March 24
St. Petersburg 100
Streets of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Florida
2
April 1
Grand Prix of Alabama
Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, Alabama
3
April 15
Grand Prix of Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach
Long Beach, California
4
May 25
Firestone Freedom 100
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Speedway, Indiana
5
June 2
Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix
Belle Isle
Detroit, Michigan
6
June 15
Firestone Indy Lights 100
Milwaukee Mile
West Allis, Wisconsin
7
June 22
Sukup 100
Iowa Speedway
Newton, Iowa
8
July 7
Toronto 100
Exhibition Place
Toronto , Ontario
9
July 21
Edmonton 100
Edmonton City Centre Airport
Edmonton, Alberta
10
August 5
Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières
Circuit Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
11
September 1
Grand Prix of Baltimore
Streets of Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland
12
September 15
Auto Club Speedway Foundation 100
Auto Club Speedway
Fontana, California
Oval/Speedway
Road Course/Street Circuit
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Withdrawn (Wth)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 (2 points)
1
Qualifying cancelled no bonus point awarded
Rookie of the Year
Rookie
Position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
Points
50
40
35
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.
^ "12 races on 2012 calendar" . Firestone Indy Lights . IndyCar . December 27, 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2011 .[permanent dead link ]
^ "Vautier claims championship by 8 points over Guerrieri" . indycar.com . IndyCar. 16 September 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-09-18. Retrieved 16 September 2012 .
^ "Victor Carbone continues with Schmidt in Indy Lights" . Racer . Haymarket Publications . December 29, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011 .
^ "Sam Schmidt Motorsports signs Webb" . Firestone Indy Lights . IndyCar . December 1, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-01-03. Retrieved December 29, 2011 .
^ "Esteban Guerrieri ci riprova con Sam Schmidt Motorsports" [Esteban Guerrieri is back with Sam Schmidt Motorsports]. stopandgo.tv (in Italian). Stop&Go. March 15, 2012. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2012 .
^ "Vautier joins Schmidt for 2012 Indy Lights season" . Racer . Haymarket Publications . November 18, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011 .
^ El Tigrillo Yacamán se queda en la Indy Lights , el Colombiano , March 6, 2012, Retrieved March 6, 2012 (in Spanish)
^ Ostella Joins Team Moore in Firestone Indy Lights Series , David Ostella PR , January 2, 2012, Retrieved January 2, 2012
^ a b Muñoz, Castenada Join Indy Lights for St. Pete Archived March 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , "RACER.com", March 19, 2012, Retrieved March 19, 2012
^ "Andries to debut at Long Beach" . Racer . Haymarket Publications . April 10, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2012 .
^ "Juncos Racing acquires Davey Hamilton's Indy Lights team" . Racer . Haymarket Publications . November 29, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011 .
^ " "Goncalvez Returns to Belardi for 2012" " . Archived from the original on 2012-01-25. Retrieved 2012-01-20 .
^ driver makes history” [permanent dead link ] (indycar.com; January 20, 2012)
^ "Dempsey joins Belardi Auto Racing for remainder of season" . Firestone Indy Lights . IndyCar . June 29, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-07-02. Retrieved June 29, 2012 .
^ Knowlton, Veronica. Mike Larrison Joins Belardi Auto Racing Belardi Auto Racing , May 4, 2012, Retrieved 2012-05-04
^ "Fan Force United signs Ebrahim" . Firestone Indy Lights . IndyCar . January 3, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-01-09. Retrieved January 3, 2012 .
^ "Fan Force United hires Clauson for two races" . Firestone Indy Lights . IndyCar . June 9, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012 .
^ Guerra, Kate. Newton-John enters the Freedom 100 with Fan Force United Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine , IndyCar , April 30, 2012, Retrieved 2012-05-01
^ Dempsey returns to Firestone Indy Lights with Younessi , May 7, 2012, Retrieved 2012-05-07
^ Younessi Racing enters Indy Lights , Racer , February 28, 2012, Retrieved March 6, 2012
^ "NBC Sports Network to air 2012 races" . Firestone Indy Lights . IndyCar . February 17, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-02-19. Retrieved February 17, 2012 .
USAC Mini-Indy SeriesCART American Racing SeriesCART Firestone/Dayton Indy LightsIRL Infiniti/Indy Pro SeriesFirestone Indy Lights Series Indy Lights Series presented by Cooper Tire Firestone Indy NXT Series