The 2008 Indy Racing League Firestone Indy Lights Series season, formerly the Indy Pro Series, will begin on March 29, 2008 and consist of 16 races. Due to the discontinuation of the United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the series lost its Liberty Challenge double header held that weekend. These races were replaced by the addition of a second race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and a return to the Kansas Speedway, where the series has not raced since 2004. All races will be shown delayed in ESPN2. Live stream video will be available in IndyCar Series website. It was announced on March 22nd, 2008 that Firestone signed on to be the title sponsor of the Indy Pro Series and that the series would be called the Firestone Indy Lights, in reference to the old Indy Lights development series which ran under CART from 1986 to 2001, which Firestone and its subsidiary Dayton Tires group were series sponsors.
Race schedule
- Not all race names and sponsors officially announced and are subject to change
Drivers and teams
- The following teams and driver combinations have been confirmed. This list is considered tentative, and is subject to change prior to and during the season.
Race summaries
Miami 100
- Saturday March 29, 2008
- Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida
- Race weather: 82° F, fair skies
- Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 57.2075 sec (2 laps) 186.899 mph (300.785 km/h)
- Race Summary: As opposed to the previous year's race which was repeatedly slowed by major incidents, the 2008 season opener ran free of any major incidents. Polesitter Raphael Matos was passed in the opening laps by a hard-charging Richard Antinucci who started fifth. Antinucci dominated the middle portion of the race, but when he started to reach lapped traffic, rookie Dillon Battistini was able to catch him and the two battled for the remainder of the race. Following a caution flag with less than 10 laps to go, Battistini was able to find his way around Antinucci to take his first series win in his first race, which was also his first race on an oval track. The 23 cars running at the finish is a series record.[2]
St. Pete 100 Race 1
- Saturday April 5, 2008
- Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida
- Race weather: 84° F, fair skies
- Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 1:06.4669 sec, 97.492 mph (156.898 km/h)
- Race Summary: Raphael Matos dominated the race and captured his third win at St. Pete in 3 races. The race was slowed 3 times early in the race by caution flags caused by two spins by Bobby Wilson and Mitchell Cunningham going off course, but the final 26 laps were run without a full-course caution. Matos drew the number four following the race, meaning that the top four positions would be inverted and Jeff Simmons would start race 2 from the pole.
St. Pete 100 Race 2
- Sunday April 6, 2008
- Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida
- Race weather: 79° F, overcast
- Pole position winner: #2 Jeff Simmons (4th place in race 1)
- Race Summary: Jeff Simmons led the first half of the race from the pole, which was slowed many times by caution flags. On a restart on lap 25, the fastest car on the track Raphael Matos tried to pass Simmons, but the two banged wheels and Ana Beatriz passed both of them and took the lead. Simmons would eventually retire from the race due to the damage incurred and Matos had to pit to replace a flattened tire. Beatriz would lead until a restart on lap 30 when she and her teammate came together in the middle of turn 1. Beatriz spun and attempted to rejoin the race right in front of the car of Pablo Donoso. The two made heavy contact and were out of the race. Antinucci continued on to the victory. He was later penalized 10 points for making avoidable contact with Beatriz.[3]
- Antinucci was passed shortly after the start by a gaggle of cars including Dillon Battistini, Arie Luyendyk, Jr., Raphael Matos, and J. R. Hildebrand. Hildebrand took the lead from Battistini on lap 20. On lap 56 Raphael Matos who was running in 6th made contact with Jeff Simmons and shot into the wall, knocking him out of the race and dropping him from second to fourth in points. Hildebrand was able to hold off a hard-charging Robbie Pecorari who started 23rd due to the fact that he competed for a part-time team to capture his first Indy Lights victory in just his second race on an oval. Hildebrand also took the points lead by two points over Antinucci.
- Friday May 23, 2008
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana
- Race weather:
- Pole position winner: #15 Dillon Battistini 188.397 mph (303.196 km/h)
- Race Summary: Dillon Battistini led at the start and was consistently hounded by the cars of James Davison and Wade Cunningham throughout the race. The most spectacular moment of the race came when Davison and J. R. Hildebrand's cars came together on the backstretch, forcing nearby cars to go four-wide and Jeff Simmons to drop two tires into the grass to avoid the slowing pair of cars that sustained slight damage. During the final ten laps of the race, Richard Antinucci was able to catch a draft behind Battistini, but reported that when he pulled out of the draft to pass, he was unable to maintain enough speed to complete the maneuver and Battistini was able to cruise to his second win of the season.
Milwaukee 100
- Sunday June 1, 2008
- Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wisconsin
- Race weather: 65° F, sunny
- Pole position winner: #22 Pablo Donoso 145.699 mph (234.480 km/h)
- Race Summary: Pablo Donoso captured the first pole of his Indy Lights career. The race was slowed three times early on by incidents resulting in light contact with the wall by Ana Beatriz and Marc Williams and heavy contact by Mark Olson. After the third caution ended on lap 29 the race went green for the final 71 laps. Bobby Wilson, who took the lead from Donoso on lap 13 drove away from the field and, although challenged late by Jeff Simmons, held on for his third series victory. The win was the first for his team (Team E) and Wilson's first of the season and first on an oval.
Jeld-Wen 100
- Saturday June 21, 2008
- Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa
- Race weather: 80 °F, Mostly Cloudy
- Pole position winner: #26 Arie Luyendyk, Jr. 160.397 mph (258.134 km/h)
- Race Summary: The cars of Arie Luyendyk, Jr. and Dillon Battistini dominated the race, with Luyendyk leading the first 101 laps from the pole and building an approximate 0.5 second lead on Battistini who built a several second lead on the rest of the field. On lap 102 Luyendyk came up on the nearly lap-down cars of Robbie Pecorari and James Davison running side-by-side and had to lift off the throttle to avoid, running over them. This allowed Battistini to squeeze by the slowed car of Luyendyk. Shortly thereafter on lap 106 Jonny Reid spun coming out of turn four and made moderate contact with the outside wall in what was the largest incident of the day. After cleanup, the green flag waved with one lap to go but Battistini was able to hold off Luyendyk, capturing his third win of the season and denying Luyendyk his first series win in 53 starts. Battistini also captured the points lead over prior leader Richard Antinucci who struggled to a 9th place finish.
Corning Duels Race 1
Corning Duels Race 2
- Saturday July 5, 2008
- Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York
- Race weather: 76°, Sunny
- Pole position winner: #23 Logan Gomez (6th place in race 1)
- Race summary: The number six was drawn meaning that the top 6 positions from the first race would be inverted for race two and Logan Gomez would start from the pole. Ana Beatriz who started third took the lead from Gomez on lap 1 as Jonny Reid crashed, bringing out an early caution. After the restart Richard Antinucci climbed through the field to pass his teammate Beatriz for the lead on lap 10. Raphael Matos eventually found his way around Beatriz and began closing on Antinucci in the lead. Cyndie Allemann made heavy contact bringing out a full course caution and eliminating Antinucci's lead. However, Antinucci had a tremendous restart and was able to build his lead back to over 1 second and capture his second win of the season and regain the points lead.
Sunbelt Rentals 100
- Saturday July 12, 2008
- Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tennessee
- Race weather: 88 °F, Mostly Cloudy
- Pole position winner: #11 James Davison 51.8844 sec 180.401 mph (290.327 km/h) 2 lap average
- Race summary: The race was delayed approximately 90 minutes by rain. At the start, Raphael Matos spun, but his car was not damaged and he was able to continue the race from the back of the field. On lap 32 Ana Beatriz passed teammate polesitter James Davison to take the lead. On lap 45 Jonny Reid and Davison made contact with Reid's car nearly getting airborne, however both drivers were uninjured. On the restart Beatriz was able to pull away from second place Bobby Wilson to capture her first Indy Lights series win, the first by a female driver.
Mid-Ohio 100 Race 1
- Saturday July 19, 2008
- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
- Race weather:
- Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 1:13.1434 sec, 111.135 mph (178.854 km/h)
- Race summary: Raphael Matos drove away from the field as he assumed the points lead and Dillon Battistini's bad luck continued. Matos led every lap of the race that was not slowed by any caution flags. The most significant incident occurred during the first lap when Wade Cunningham and Daniel Herrington made contact but were able to continue after dropping back, although Herrington's car required serious repair. Cunningham would recover to finish 12th while Herrington finished 21st after repairs. Another incident involved Battistini spinning off after light contact with Logan Gomez. He would finish 18th. Matos continued to stretch his lead over Perera late into the race and was essentially unchallenged for his third win of the year while Perera scored his first series podium finish.
Mid-Ohio 100 Race 2
- Sunday July 20, 2008
- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
- Race weather: Rain
- Pole position winner: #9 Jonny Reid (4th place in Race 1)
- Race summary: The race was delayed because of heavy downpours causing standing water on the track. As a result of the delay, the race's time limit was shortened to 40 minutes from the usual 60. Virtually every driver in the field spun at least once and 10 of the 20 laps run were run under caution. Polesitter Jonny Reid led the first 16 laps until he was passed by Mitch Cunningham as the track finally started to dry. However, two laps later, Cunningham spun, handing the lead back to Reid. On the final lap of the race, Richard Antinucci, Robbie Pecorari, and Logan Gomez tangled, bringing out yet another full course caution and the race was to end under yellow with Reid all but assured his first series victory. However, Reid pulled into the pits, following the pace car as he thought the race was over, handing the win to James Davison, which was his first in the series. Points leader Raphael Matos had crashed early in the race and finished 18th. Reid was credited with 9th place.
Driver standings
| Pos |
No. |
Name |
Team |
Starts |
Points |
Gap |
| 1 |
7 |
| |
