Grand Prix of Indianapolis (Indy Lights)

Grand Prix of Indianapolis
Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire

Venue	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
First race	2005
Distance	Varied (see results table)
Previous names	Liberty Challenge (2005–2007)

The Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Royal Purple Synthetic Oil Supporting the Lupus Foundation of America^[1] is a pair of twin races in the Cooper Tire Indy Lights Series, held on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is held as a support race to the IndyCar Grand Prix of the Verizon IndyCar Series.

The race was previously known as the Liberty Challenge from 2005–2007. It originally was held as a support race to the United States Grand Prix.

Race history

For the first three years of its existence, the Indy Pro Series was contested on oval tracks only. This was also true of the parent IndyCar Series, at the time. All Indy Pro Series races were run as support to IndyCar Series events. Road course and street course events were added to both series in 2005, and the series became known as Indy Lights in 2008.

In 2005, the series added the Liberty Challenge, as a support race to the Formula One United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. This move allowed the Indy Pro Series drivers valuable exposure in front of the Formula One teams and fans. Some drivers, such as Graham Rahal, ran this race as a one-off, while running other series (such as the Champ Car Atlantics).

The Liberty Challenge was the only Indy Pro Series race at the time which was not run as support to an IndyCar Series weekend. Also, the Indy Pro Series became the only racing series to hold races on both the oval and road course tracks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Freedom 100 has been held on the oval since 2003. In 2007, a twin race format was introduced. After 2007, the U.S Grand Prix left Indianapolis, and the Liberty Challenge race was put on hiatus.

In 2014, the race was revived as part of the new IndyCar Grand Prix weekend, where all four IndyCar-sanctioned divisions participate in races on the road course during the first weekend of the Indianapolis 500 race meeting. In addition, the Indy Lights began utilizing the newer road course layout used by the IndyCar Series.

Race results

Year	Date	Day	Winning Driver	Race Distance		Time of Race	Winning Speed	Starting Cars	Lead Changes
Year	Date	Day	Winning Driver	Miles	Laps	Time of Race	Winning Speed	Starting Cars	Lead Changes
2005	June 18	Saturday	Marco Andretti	65.1	25	00:35:57.3780	108.465 mph	14	0
2006	July 1	Saturday	Alex Lloyd	59.9	23	00:35:53.516	100.159 mph	18	1
2007	June 16	Saturday	Hideki Mutoh	46.9	18	00:26:09.8910	107.320 mph	25	0
2007	June 17	Sunday	Bobby Wilson	46.9	18	00:28:40.9170	97.901 mph	25	0
2014	May 9	Friday	Matthew Brabham	63.4	26	00:40:12.7538	94.618 mph	11	0
2014	May 10	Saturday	Luiz Razia	97.56	40	00:56:23.3259	103.808 mph	11	0
2015	May 8	Friday	Jack Harvey	73.2	30	00:39:13	111.924 mph	12	0
2015	May 9	Saturday	Sean Rayhall	85.4	35	00:48:08	106.401 mph	12	0
2016	May 13	Friday	Ed Jones
2016	May 14	Saturday	Dean Stoneman
2017	May 12	Saturday	Nico Jamin
2017	May 13	Sunday	Kyle Kaiser

Qualification Results

Year	Date	Day	Pole Sitter / Fast Qualifier	Pole 1-Lap Qualifying Time	Pole Speed	Number of Qualifiers	Slow Qualifier Speed	Mean Qualifying Speed
2005	June 17	Friday	Marco Andretti	01:26.2360	108.539 mph	14	98.033 mph	105.234 mph
2006	June 30	Friday	Graham Rahal	01:25.5810	109.580 mph	18	105.203 mph	107.959 mph
2007	June 15	Friday	Hideki Mutoh	01:25.2810	109.966 mph	25	102.883 mph	107.541 mph
2014	May 9	Friday	Matthew Brabham	01:18.4256	111.958 mph	11	108.655 mph	110.811 mph

Event Records

	Year	Driver
Fastest Race	2005	Marco Andretti	Time: 35:57.3780	Speed: 108.465 mph	65.1 Miles	25 Laps
Fastest Qualification Run	2007	Hideki Mutoh	Time: 01:25.2810	Speed: 109.966 mph	2.605 Miles	1 Lap
Fastest Race Lap	2005	Marco Andretti	Time 01:25.9110	Speed: 108.950 mph	2.605 Miles	1 Lap
Most Starts by a Driver	2005–2007	Jaime Camara; Wade Cunningham; Chris Festa			4 Starts each
Most Participants	2007	25 Starting Drivers

Drivers

In the three years that this race was contested, 43 drivers participated:

Driver	Starts		Best finish		Laps led
Driver	Number	Years	Position	Year	Laps led
Mishael Abbott	1	2005	12	2005	0
Marco Andretti	1	2005	1	2005	25
Richard Antinucci	2	2007	6	2007 (Race 1)	0
Doug Boyer	2	2007	14	2007 (Race 1)	0
Jon Brownson	2	2007	17	2007 (Race 2)	0
Nick Bussell	2	2005; 2006	4	2005	0
Jaime Camara	4	2005; 2006; 2007	3	2007 (Race 1)	0
Ed Carpenter	1	2005	11	2005	0
Larry Connor	1	2005	14	2005	0
C.R. Crews	1	2006	6	2006	0
Wade Cunningham	4	2005; 2006; 2007	2	2005	0
Jay Drake	1	2005	10	2005	0
Chris Festa	4	2005; 2006; 2007	3	2005	0
Phil Giebler	3	2006; 2007	7	2006	0
Micky Gilbert	2	2007	15	2007 (Race 1)	0
Logan Gomez	3	2006; 2007	6	2007 (Race 2)	0
Travis Gregg	1	2005	7	2005	0
Sean Guthrie	2	2007	12	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jon Herb	2	2005; 2006	8	2006	0
Daniel Herrington	2	2007	10	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jay Howard	1	2006	18	2006	0
Brad Jaeger	2	2007	16	2007 (Race 1)	0
Ryan Justice	2	2007	4	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jonathan Klein	3	2006; 2007	3	2006	0
Alex Lloyd	3	2006; 2007	1	2006	2
Ken Losch	2	2007	16	2007 (Race 2)	0
Arie Luyendyk Jr.	1	2005	6	2005	0
Scott Mansell	1	2006	14	2006	0
Raphael Matos	1	2006	4	2006	0
Hideki Mutoh	2	2007	1	2007 (Race 1)	18
Eric Paradis	1	2006	12	2006	0
Robbie Pecorari	2	2007	19	2007 (Race 2)	0
Mike Potekhen	3	2006; 2007	8	2007 (Race 2)	0
Andrew Prendeville	2	2007	20	2007 (Race 2)	0
Graham Rahal	1	2006	2	2006	21
Marty Roth	1	2005	8	2005	0
Joey Scarallo	2	2007	13	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jeff Simmons	1	2005	13	2005	0
Stephen Simpson	2	2007	5	2007 (Race 1)	0
Brett Van Blankers	1	2006	17	2006	0
Tom Wieringa	2	2007	18	2007 (Race 2)	0
Marc Williams	2	2007	20	2007 (Race 1)	0
Bobby Wilson	3	2006; 2007	1	2007 (Race 2)	18

Previous course layouts

Course layout from 2005-2007

References

↑ Royal Purple Synthetic Oil to Headline Mazda Road to Indy Rounds at Indianapolis

Sources

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