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 |
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Withdrawn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