The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series is the 22nd season of the Verizon IndyCar Series and the 96th official championship season of American open wheel racing. The premier event will be the 101st Indianapolis 500. Simon Pagenaud enters the season as the defending IndyCar champion, while Alexander Rossi entered the season as defending Indianapolis 500 winner. The 2017 season is the last season for the Honda/Chevy aerokits introduced in 2015, as 2018 will see the introduction of a new spec-aerokit.
All events from 2016 return to the schedule. In addition, the series will return to Gateway Motorsports Park for the first time since 2003.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Series news
- On September 2, 2016, it was announced that Performance Friction Brakes has been selected as a brake supplier package for IndyCar Series starting from 2017 season onwards.
Honda In Long Beach Video
Teams and drivers
This chart represents announced teams, cars and their respective driver combinations for the 2017 season.
Team changes
- Chip Ganassi Racing announced their discount retail giants sponsor Target, effective from the 2017 IndyCar season, has discontinued sponsorship after 27 straight years of direct participation. The team also announced on October 7 that they would be returning to Honda in a multi year deal and thus discontinuing Chevrolet partnership. Ganassi had previously worked with Honda in 1996-1999 (CART) and 2006-2013 (IndyCar Series), when Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti won the CART and IndyCar title.
- Larry Foyt, president of A. J. Foyt Enterprises, confirmed on October 13 that the team is switching manufacturers from Honda to Chevrolet, with the formal announcement on January 17.
- KV Racing Technology will not race in 2017 due to Kevin Kalkhoven and James Sullivan withdrawing funding from the team. The team had been in negotiations with Carlin to sell their remaining equipment, but attempts to secure Indy Lights champion Ed Jones and Mikhail Aleshin fell through.
- On February 21, Juncos Racing confirmed it would field an entry for the 101st Indy 500 with support from Kevin Kalkhoven, following purchase of three cars and equipment from KV Racing Technology. The team entered two cars into the 101st Indy 500, opting to postpone the announcement of their drivers and engine partner until later. On May 9, the team announced that the first of their two entries would be driven by Spencer Pigot. Pigot had previously driven for the team in Indy Lights. On May 10, the team announced that Sebastián Saavedra would drive in the second car.
- On April 10, Harding Racing confirmed it would field an entry for the 101st Indy 500, driven by Gabby Chaves. On May 20th, the team announced that it would also race at Texas Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway in preparation for a possible full-season entry for 2018.
Driver changes
- On October 5, Team Penske announced that it had signed Josef Newgarden to drive the No. 2 car for 2017, demoting Juan Pablo Montoya to part-time driver status.
- On October 12, Dale Coyne Racing announced that it had signed Sébastien Bourdais to drive the No. 18 car for two seasons, replacing Conor Daly. Bourdais had driven for Coyne in 2011 after two seasons in Formula One.
- On October 31, Takuma Sato's manager confirmed that the Japanese driver would join Andretti Autosport as the driver of the No. 26 car for 2017, replacing Carlos Muñoz. The deal was officially announced by the team on December 2.
- Also on October 31, Team Penske announced Juan Pablo Montoya would return to the team to compete in the Indianapolis 500. The team later announced that Montoya would also be entered in the IndyCar Grand Prix.
- On November 4, it was confirmed that J. R. Hildebrand will take over the Ed Carpenter Racing No. 21 car for the 2017 season, replacing Josef Newgarden.
- On November 14, it was confirmed that 2016 Indy Lights champion Ed Jones signed with Dale Coyne Racing for the 2017 season to drive the No. 19 car, replacing Luca Filippi, Gabby Chaves, Pippa Mann, and R.C. Enerson .
- On November 15, A.J. Foyt Enterprises announced that Carlos Muñoz and Conor Daly would drive the teams No. 14 and No. 4 cars, respectively for the 2017 season, replacing Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth. Conor Daly debuted for Foyt in the 2013 Indianapolis 500.
- On January 16, news broke that Mikhail Aleshin had run into problems with his sponsor, placing his return for 2017 in doubt. Auto GP champion Luis Michael Dörrbecker and former Chip Ganassi Racing driver Sage Karam were in the picture for this seat as a replacement. However, on February 1, it was confirmed that Aleshin's sponsorship issues had been resolved and that he would return to the team for 2017.
- On February 2, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced that Sage Karam would return to the team to compete in the Indianapolis 500.
- On March 6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced that Jay Howard would drive the No. 77 Honda in the Indianapolis 500. The entry will be supported by 1997 IndyCar Champion Tony Stewart.
- On March 28, Dale Coyne Racing announced that Pippa Mann would drive the No. 63 Honda in the Indianapolis 500. It will be the fifth consecutive year that Mann has driven for the team.
- On April 7, A.J. Foyt Enterprises announced that Firestone Indy Lights driver Zach Veach would drive the No. 40 Chevrolet at the Indianapolis 500.
- On April 9, Michael Shank Racing announced that Jack Harvey would drive the No. 50 Honda at the Indianapolis 500. The team will run with support from Andretti Autosport.
- On April 12, McLaren Honda announced a partnership with Andretti Autosport to enter a single car in the Indianapolis 500, to be driven by two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard will not compete in the Monaco Grand Prix in order to compete in this event.
- On April 18, Ed Carpenter Racing announced that Zach Veach would fill in for J. R. Hildebrand for the race at Barber Motorsports Park. Hildebrand had suffered a broken bone in his left hand following an incident at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Hildebrand was cleared to return for the following race at Phoenix International Raceway.
- On April 22, Buddy Lazier announced that he would be competing in the Indianapolis 500 for Lazier Partners Racing. It will be Lazier's 20th start in the race.
- On May 20, Sébastien Bourdais suffered multiple pelvic fractures and a fractured hip after a severe incident during qualifying for the Indy 500, forcing him to sit out the remainder of the season. The following day, Dale Coyne Racing announced that Indy 500 veteran James Davison would fill in for the 500.
- On June 1, Dale Coyne Racing announced that former Formula One driver Esteban Gutiérrez would pilot the No. 18 car at the Detroit Grand Prix.
Schedule
All 16 races from 2016 will return. Gateway Motorsports Park returns to the schedule for the first time since 2003. The only other schedule change is the move of the race at Phoenix from the first weekend in April to the last weekend in April to avoid a conflict with the Final Four being held in nearby Glendale, Arizona. The Long Beach race will be the second race of the season as opposed to being the third race of the season in 2016.
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis will be rebranded as the IndyCar Grand Prix for the 2017 running of the event following an announcement that Angie's List would no longer sponsor the event.
Race summaries
Round 1: St. Petersburg
A full-course caution came out on lap 26, but occurred while the field was circulating through routine green-flag pit stops. Sébastien Bourdais, who started last due to a qualifying crash, had pitted early, and shuffled up to second place. Bourdais took the lead on lap 37, and manged to hold a mostly comfortable lead for the remainder of the race.
Round 2: Long Beach
James Hinchcliffe won for the first time since his serious crash during practice at the 2015 Indianapolis 500. In the late stages of the race, Andretti Autosport teammates Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato, and Ryan Hunter-Reay all dropped out with mechanical problems, leaving Hinchcliffe to battle Sébastien Bourdais and Josef Newgarden to the finish. On a restart with three laps to go, Hinchcliffe got the jump and held on for the victory.
Season summary
Race results
Driver standings
- One (1) championship point is awarded to each driver who leads at least one race lap. Two (2) additional championship points are awarded to the driver who leads most laps during a race.
- At all races except the Indy 500, the number 1 qualifier earns one (1) point.
- Entrant-initiated engine change-outs before the engines reach their required distance run will result in the loss of ten (-10) points.
- NOTE: The distance run will be based on the total distance raced by that entrant with the engine in question, regardless of driver.
- Ties are broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.
Manufacturer standings
- All manufacturer points (including qualifying points, race finish points, and race win bonus points) can only be earned by full-season entrants.
- The top two finishing entrants from each manufacturer in each race score championship points for their respective manufacturer. The manufacturer that wins each race will be awarded five (5) additional points.
- At all races except the Indy 500, the manufacturer who qualifies on pole earns one (1) point. At the Indy 500, the fastest Saturday qualifier earns one (1) point, while the pole position winner on Sunday earns two (2) points.
- For every full-season engine used during the Indy 500 that reaches 2,000 total miles run, the manufacturer earns bonus points equal to that engine's finishing position in the race.
- Ties are broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc.
Footnotes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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