The 1997 PPG/Firestone Indy Lights Championship Powered By Buick consisted of 13 races. Tony Kanaan edged out good friend and teammate Hélio Castro-Neves to the title by only four points.[1]
This was the first season where all teams used the Lola T97/20-Buick spec car.
The scoring system was 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points awarded to the first 12 (twelve) finishers, with 1 (one) extra point given to the driver who took pole-position, and another extra point given to the driver who led most laps in the race.
Team and driver chart
The following drivers and teams competed in the series:
Schedule
| Rd.
|
Date
|
Track
|
Location
|
| 1
|
March 2
|
O Homestead-Miami Speedway
|
Homestead, Florida
|
| 2
|
April 13
|
R Long Beach Street Circuit
|
Long Beach, California
|
| 3
|
April 27
|
O Nazareth Speedway
|
Nazareth, Pennsylvania
|
| 4
|
May 18
|
R Grand Prize of America Road Course
|
Savannah, Georgia
|
| 5
|
May 24
|
O Gateway International Raceway
|
Madison, Illinois
|
| 6
|
June 1
|
O Milwaukee Mile
|
West Allis, Wisconsin
|
| 7
|
June 8
|
R The Raceway at Belle Isle Park
|
Detroit, Michigan
|
| 8
|
June 22
|
R Portland International Raceway
|
Portland, Oregon
|
| 9
|
July 20
|
R Exhibition Place
|
Toronto, Ontario
|
| 10
|
August 3
|
R Circuit Trois-Rivières
|
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
|
| 11
|
August 31
|
R Streets of Vancouver
|
Vancouver, British Columbia
|
| 12
|
September 7
|
R Laguna Seca Raceway
|
Monterey, California
|
| 13
|
September 27
|
O California Speedway
|
Fontana, California
|
Race results
Championship standings
Drivers' championship
- Scoring system
| Position
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
|
6th
|
7th
|
8th
|
9th
|
10th
|
11th
|
12th
|
| Points
|
20
|
16
|
14
|
12
|
10
|
8
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
- The driver who qualifies on pole is awarded one additional point.
- An additional point is awarded to the driver who leads 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Withdrawn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
(2 points)
|
| 1
|
Qualifying cancelled
no bonus point awarded
|
|
|
- Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.
References
|
|---|
| USAC Mini-Indy Series | |
|---|
| CART American Racing Series | |
|---|
| CART Firestone/Dayton Indy Lights | |
|---|
| IRL Infiniti/Indy Pro Series | |
|---|
| Firestone Indy Lights Series | |
|---|
| Indy Lights Series presented by Cooper Tire | |
|---|
| Firestone Indy NXT Series | |
|---|
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Eric Jensen
Didier André
Jaques Lazier
Hideki Noda
Rodolfo Lavín
Fredrik Larsson
Philipp Sager