2012 Indy Lights Explained

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

All drivers will compete in Firestone Firehawk–shod Dallara chassis.

Team		Drivers	Rounds
Sam Schmidt Motorsports	3	nowrap	Victor Carbone^[3]	All
	7	nowrap	Oliver Webb^[4]	All
	11	nowrap	Esteban Guerrieri^[5]	All
	77	nowrap	Tristan Vautier^[6]	All
Team Moore Racing	2	nowrap	Gustavo Yacamán^[7]	All
Team Moore Racing	22	nowrap	David Ostella^[8]	All
Andretti Autosport AFS Racing	26	nowrap	Carlos Muñoz^[9]	All
Andretti Autosport AFS Racing	27	nowrap	Sebastián Saavedra	All
Bryan Herta Autosport	28	nowrap	Troy Castaneda	1–2
		nowrap	Nick Andries^[10]	3
		nowrap	Anders Krohn	4, 7
Juncos Racing^[11]	86	nowrap	João Victor Horto	1–2, 4
		nowrap	Bruno Palli	12
		Chase Austin	7
	87	Chase Austin	4
Team E	17	nowrap	Brandon Wagner	4
Belardi Auto Racing	4	nowrap	Jorge Goncalvez^[12]	All
	9	nowrap	Alon Day^[13]	1–7
	9	nowrap	Peter Dempsey^[14]	8–12
	19	nowrap	Mike Larrison^[15]	4, 6–7, 12
Brooks Associates Racing	8	nowrap	Alex Jones	3
Brooks Associates Racing	8	nowrap	Adderly Fong	11
Fan Force United	24	nowrap	Armaan Ebrahim^[16]	1–5
		nowrap	Bryan Clauson^[17]	6–7
		nowrap	Stefan Wilson	12
	42	nowrap	Emerson Newton-John^[18]	4, 11
Younessi Racing	15	nowrap	Peter Dempsey^[19]	4–5
Younessi Racing	16	nowrap	Rodin Younessi^[20]	1, 5
Jeffrey Mark Motorsport	76	nowrap	Juan Pablo Garcia	All
Hillenburg Motorsports	20	nowrap	Darryl Wills	1–3

Schedule

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

Race results

Rd.	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Winning driver	Winning team
1	St. Petersburg	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2	Barber	Sebastián Saavedra	Sebastián Saavedra	Sebastián Saavedra	Sebastián Saavedra	Andretti Autosport
3	Long Beach	Sebastián Saavedra	Victor Carbone	Esteban Guerrieri	Esteban Guerrieri	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
4	Indianapolis	Gustavo Yacamán	João Victor Horto	Victor Carbone	Esteban Guerrieri	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
5	Belle Isle	Oliver Webb	Gustavo Yacamán	Oliver Webb	Gustavo Yacamán	Team Moore Racing
6	Milwaukee	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
7	Iowa	Tristan Vautier	Esteban Guerrieri	Tristan Vautier	Esteban Guerrieri	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
8	Toronto		Gustavo Yacamán	Gustavo Yacamán	Gustavo Yacamán	Team Moore Racing
9	Edmonton	Carlos Muñoz	Esteban Guerrieri	Carlos Muñoz	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti Autosport
10	Trois-Rivières	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
11	Baltimore	Tristan Vautier	Sebastián Saavedra	Tristan Vautier	Tristan Vautier	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
12	Fontana	Sebastián Saavedra	David Ostella	Carlos Muñoz	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti Autosport

Driver standings

Pos	Driver	STP	BAR	LBH	INDY	DET	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	TRO	BAL	FON	Pts
1		1*	2	3	3	5	1*	4*	11	6	1*	1*	4
2	Esteban Guerrieri	2	3	1*	1	7	3	1	6	3	4	3	3	453
3	Gustavo Yacamán	6	4	10	4	1	8	2	1*	7	2	2	11
4	Sebastián Saavedra	3	1*	2	5	6	2	13	2	2	9	10	14	383
5		14	14	5	2	2	5	7	10	1*	3	11	1*	377
6	Victor Carbone	5	5	4	6*	4	6	3	3	8	8	DNS	5	340
7		4	13	6	15	3*	12	12	5	4	5	6	8	310
8	David Ostella	15	9	8	18	13	4	5	7	10	6	4	2	298
9	Juan Pablo Garcia	7	8	7	11	9	11	14	8	9	10	9	10	260
10	Jorge Goncalvez	11	10	9	12	DNS	9	6	9	11	7	7	13	247
11	Peter Dempsey				14	11			4	5	11	5	12	164
12		12	6	11	8	8	7	DNS						147
13		8	12	12	13	10								97
14					9		13	11					9	80
15		13	7		7									69
16		10	11	15										54
17					10			8						44
18	Bryan Clauson						10	10						40
19		9	15											37
20	Anders Krohn				19			9						34
21		16				12								32
22					17							12		31
23	Stefan Wilson												6	28
24	Bruno Palli												7	26
25												8		24
26				13										17
27				14										16
28	Brandon Wagner				16									14
Pos	Driver	STP	BAR	LBH	INDY	DET	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	TRO	BAL	FON	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)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position (1 point)
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*\|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center\|Led most race laps (2 points)\|-\|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center\|¹\|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center\|Qualifying cancelled no bonus point awarded\|-\|style="background:#FDE910;" align=center colspan=2\|Rookie of the Year\|-\|style="background:Orange;" align=center colspan=2\|Rookie\|}\|}\|} Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes. References ]

Notes and References

News: 12 races on 2012 calendar. December 27, 2011. Firestone Indy Lights. IndyCar. December 28, 2011.
News: Vautier claims championship by 8 points over Guerrieri. 16 September 2012. indycar.com. IndyCar. 16 September 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120918061413/http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/09-September/9-15-Vautier-claims-title. 2012-09-18. dead.
News: Victor Carbone continues with Schmidt in Indy Lights. Racer. Haymarket Publications. December 29, 2011. December 29, 2011.
News: Sam Schmidt Motorsports signs Webb. December 1, 2011. Firestone Indy Lights. IndyCar. December 29, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120103082853/http://www.indycar.com/news/show/56-firestone-indy-lights/51006-sam-schmidt-motorsports-signs-webb/. 2012-01-03. dead.
News: Esteban Guerrieri ci riprova con Sam Schmidt Motorsports. March 15, 2012. stopandgo.tv. Stop&Go. it. March 15, 2012. Esteban Guerrieri is back with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. January 3, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170103224939/http://www.stopandgo.tv/news/campionati/racing-usa/it/indy-lights-esteban-guerrieri-ci-riprova-con-sam-schmidt-motorsports.html. dead.
News: Vautier joins Schmidt for 2012 Indy Lights season. November 18, 2011. Racer. Haymarket Publications. December 29, 2011.
http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/E/el_tigrillo_yacaman_se_queda_en_la_indy_lights/el_tigrillo_yacaman_se_queda_en_la_indy_lights.asp El Tigrillo Yacamán se queda en la Indy Lights
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Ostella-Joins-Team-Moore-in-Firestone-Indy-Lights-Series-in-2012.html?soid=1104362209911&aid=6tMX79xkXZc Ostella Joins Team Moore in Firestone Indy Lights Series
http://www.racer.com/mu%C3%B1oz-castenada-join-indy-lights-for-st-pete/article/232706/ Muñoz, Castenada Join Indy Lights for St. Pete
News: Andries to debut at Long Beach. April 10, 2012. Racer. Haymarket Publications. April 10, 2012.
News: Juncos Racing acquires Davey Hamilton's Indy Lights team. November 29, 2011. Racer. Haymarket Publications. December 29, 2011.
Web site: "Goncalvez Returns to Belardi for 2012" . 2012-01-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120125191404/http://www.indycar.com/news/show/56-firestone-indy-lights/51102-israeli-driver-makes-history/ . 2012-01-25 . dead .
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Belardi-Reveals-Second-Seat-for-2012-FIL.html?soid=1108719110539&aid=wEGjetuZq_k“Israeli driver makes history”
News: Dempsey joins Belardi Auto Racing for remainder of season. Firestone Indy Lights. IndyCar. June 29, 2012. June 29, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120702053209/http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/06-June/6-29-Dempsey-joins-Belardi-Auto-Racing-for-remainder-of-season. 2012-07-02. dead.
Knowlton, Veronica. Mike Larrison Joins Belardi Auto Racing Belardi Auto Racing, May 4, 2012, Retrieved 2012-05-04
News: Fan Force United signs Ebrahim. January 3, 2012. Firestone Indy Lights. IndyCar. January 3, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120109121706/http://www.indycar.com/news/show/56-firestone-indy-lights/51060-ebrahim-to-make-u-s-debut/. 2012-01-09. dead.
News: Fan Force United hires Clauson for two races. June 9, 2012. Firestone Indy Lights. IndyCar. June 9, 2012.
Guerra, Kate. Newton-John enters the Freedom 100 with Fan Force United, IndyCar, April 30, 2012, Retrieved 2012-05-01
http://www.indycar.com/News/2012/05-May/5-07-Dempsey-returns-to-series-with-Younessi Dempsey returns to Firestone Indy Lights with Younessi
http://www.racer.com/younessi-racing-enters-indy-lights/article/229763/ Younessi Racing enters Indy Lights
News: NBC Sports Network to air 2012 races. February 17, 2012. Firestone Indy Lights. IndyCar. February 17, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120219195545/http://www.indycar.com/news/show/56-firestone-indy-lights/51180-nbc-sports-network-to-air-2012-races/#. 2012-02-19. dead.