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]
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 [ edit ] 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
Championship standings [ edit ] Drivers' Championship[ edit ] Scoring system Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th Points ( ) 30 25 22 19 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Points ( ) 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. 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[ edit ] 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 ^ "Mazda Road To Indy reveals all three 2018 schedules, altered points" . Motorsport.com . Retrieved July 21, 2018 . ^ a b "Andretti Autosport to Field Pato O'Ward for 2018 Indy Lights Campaign" . Indylights.com . Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018 . ^ "Norman feels confidence growing for second Indy Lights season" . Indycar.com . Retrieved July 21, 2018 . ^ "Herta driven to smooth out rough edges in 2018 Indy Lights season" . Indycar.com . Retrieved July 21, 2018 . ^ "Telitz Returns to Belardi Auto Racing in 2018" . Indylights.com . Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2018 . ^ 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 April 30, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2017 . ^ "Alfonso Celis Jr. joins Juncos Racing for 2018 Indy Lights championship" . juncosracing.com . February 23, 2018. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018 . ^ "Stars of the Races – St. Petersburg" . roadtoindyinsider.com . Retrieved March 19, 2018 . ^ "Juncos adds Korea's Choi for Portland Indy Lights" . Racer.com . Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. August 21, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018 .
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