The 2018 Indy Lights season was the 33rd season of the

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progr ...

open wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have th ...

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

series and the 17th sanctioned by

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapo ...

, acting as the primary support series for the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

. A 17-race schedule was announced on October 17, 2017.

Patricio O'Ward Patricio "Pato" O'Ward Junco (born 6 May 1999) is a Mexican professional auto racing driver who competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. He is the 2018 Indy Lights champion. Early life and car ...

dueled the entire season with his

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andrett ...

teammate

Colton Herta Colton Thomas Herta (born March 30, 2000) is an American open-wheel racing driver currently competing in the NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian. He is the youngest person to ever win an IndyCar Series race. He is th ...

, 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 The Freedom 100 was an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, as part of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. The event was a support race for the IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500, and since 2 ...

, but also finished second seven times.

Belardi Auto Racing Belardi Auto Racing was an American racing team in the Indy Lights series. The team was owned by Brian Belardi, who competed in SCCA. Belardi was previously located in Illinois before moving to Brownsburg, Indiana. Indy Lights 2011-2013 Jorge G ...

Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Lausarot (born 30 August 1996) is an Uruguayan racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup, driving for Cyan Performance Lynk & Co. He formerly competed in Indy Lights, and was the 2015 Pro Mazda series ch ...

captured two race wins and finished third in the championship. Andretti's Ryan Norman and

Juncos Racing Juncos Hollinger Racing, formerly Juncos Racing, is an Argentine-American racing team competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, Indy Lights and Indy Pro 2000 Championship series in the Road to Indy ladder for IndyCar. Owned by Ricardo Juncos, who f ...

Victor Franzoni Victor Franzoni (Born October 5, 1995 in Sao Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian racing driver. Franzoni raced various European racing series before competing the American USF2000 series. Career After karting Franzoni made his auto racing debut i ...

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

Schedule

Race results

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

;Scoring system * 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.

Teams' championship

;Scoring system *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

References

External links

* {{Road to Indy Indy Lights seasons