Josef Newgarden (left) won his first Drivers' Championship whileSimon Pagenaud (right) finished second in the championship.
The2017 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 22nd season of the VerizonIndyCar Series and the 106th official championship season ofAmerican open wheel racing. The premier event was the101st Indianapolis 500 won byTakuma Sato.Josef Newgarden, the2011 Indy Lights champion, in his sixth full-time season in the IndyCar Series, won the championship. It was Newgarden's first season as part ofTeam Penske, and he collected four wins, one pole position, and ten top-five finishes. It was Team Penske's 15th Indy car season championship, and third in four years.
Simon Pagenaud entered the season as the defending IndyCar champion, and finished second in points behind his teammate Newgarden. The 2017 season was the final season for the Honda/Chevy aerokits introduced in 2015, as 2018 saw the introduction of a new spec-aerokit.[1]
All events from2016 returned to the schedule. In addition, the series returned toGateway Motorsports Park for the first time since 2003.
On September 2, 2016, it was announced that Performance Friction Brakes has been selected as a brake rotor and pad supplier package forIndyCar Series starting from 2017 season onwards butBrembo remained as brake caliper until the end of 2017 season.[2]
The following teams, entries, and drivers have been announced to compete in the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. All teams will use aspecDallara DW12 chassis withmanufacturer aero kits andFirestone tires.
Chip Ganassi Racing announced their discount retail giants sponsorTarget, effective from the 2017 IndyCar season, has discontinued sponsorship after 27 straight years of direct participation.[46][47] The team also announced on October 7, 2016 that they would be returning to Honda in a multi-year deal and thus discontinuingChevrolet partnership. Ganassi had previously worked with Honda in 1996–99 (CART) and 2006–13 (IndyCar Series), whenJimmy Vasser,Alessandro Zanardi,Juan Pablo Montoya,Scott Dixon andDario Franchitti won the CART and IndyCar title.
Larry Foyt, president ofA. J. Foyt Enterprises, confirmed on October 13 that the team was switching manufacturers from Honda to Chevrolet, with the formal announcement on January 17.[3]
KV Racing Technology will not race in 2017 due toKevin Kalkhoven and James Sullivan withdrawing funding from the team.[48] The team had been in negotiations withCarlin to sell their remaining equipment, but attempts to secure Indy Lights championEd Jones andMikhail Aleshin fell through.
On February 21, Juncos Racing confirmed[29] it would field an entry for the 101st Indy 500 with support from Kevin Kalkhoven, following purchase of three cars and equipment fromKV Racing Technology.[49] The team entered two cars into the 101st Indy 500,[50] opting to postpone the announcement of their drivers and engine partner until later.[51] On May 9, the team announced that the first of their two entries would be driven bySpencer Pigot.[30] Pigot had previously driven for the team inIndy Lights. On May 10, the team announced thatSebastián Saavedra would drive in the second car.[31]
On April 10, Harding Racing confirmed it would field an entry for the 101st Indy 500, driven byGabby Chaves.[28] On May 20, the team announced that it would also race atTexas Motor Speedway andPocono Raceway in preparation for a possible full-season entry for 2018.[52]
On October 31,Takuma Sato's manager confirmed that the Japanese driver would joinAndretti Autosport as the driver of the No. 26 car for 2017, replacingCarlos Muñoz.[53] The deal was officially announced by the team on December 2.[7]
Also on October 31,Team Penske announcedJuan Pablo Montoya would return to the team to compete in the Indianapolis 500.[45] The team later announced that Montoya would also be entered in the IndyCar Grand Prix.
On January 16, news broke thatMikhail Aleshin had run into problems with his sponsor, placing his return for 2017 in doubt.Auto GP championLuis Michael Dörrbecker and formerChip Ganassi Racing driverSage Karam were in the picture for this seat as a replacement.[54] 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.[37]
On March 28,Dale Coyne Racing announced thatPippa Mann would drive the No. 63 Honda in the Indianapolis 500. It would be the fifth consecutive year that Mann has driven for the team.[23]
On April 9,Michael Shank Racing announced thatJack Harvey would drive the No. 50 Honda at the Indianapolis 500.[34] The team would run with support from Andretti Autosport.
On April 22,Buddy Lazier announced that he would be competing in the Indianapolis 500 forLazier Partners Racing.[32] It would 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 theIndy 500, forcing him to sit out the remainder of the season.[57] The following day,Dale Coyne Racing announced that Indy 500 veteranJames Davison would fill in for the 500.[18]
On June 6,Dale Coyne Racing announced thatTristan Vautier would drive the No. 18 car atTexas Motor Speedway. Vautier was chosen after Gutiérrez was not able to complete an oval rookie test due to an IndyCar testing blackout period.
On June 22,Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced thatRobert Wickens would drive the No. 7 car in place ofMikhail Aleshin for theKohler Grand Prix due to issues with Aleshin's visa. Wickens partook in the first practice session, but Aleshin's visa issues were solved by Saturday, so Aleshin returned to the car for the rest of the weekend.
On August 23,Dale Coyne Racing announced thatSébastien Bourdais had recovered from his injuries sustained earlier in the season and would return to drive the final three races of the season.[60]
All 16 races from 2016 returned.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 theFinal Four being held in nearby Glendale, Arizona. The Long Beach race was the second race of the season as opposed to being the third race of the season in 2016.
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis was rebranded as the IndyCar Grand Prix for the 2017 running of the event following an announcement thatAngie's List would no longer sponsor the event.[61]
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.
One championship point is awarded to each driver who leads at least one race lap. Two 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 point. At double header races, the fastest qualifier of each qualifying group earns one championship point.[62]
Entrant-initiated engine change-outs before the engines reach their required distance run will result in the loss of ten points.
NOTE: The distance run will be based on the total distance raced by that entrant with the engine in question, regardless of driver.
All manufacturer points (including qualifying points, race finish points, and race win bonus points) can only be earned by full-season entrants.[63]
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 additional points.
At all races except the Indy 500, the manufacturer who qualifies on pole earns one point. At the Indy 500, the fastest Saturday qualifier earns one point, while the pole position winner on Sunday earns two 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.
^James Davison is considered a rookie in theIndyCar Series; however, he was not a rookie in the2017 Indianapolis 500 as he participated in the Indy 500 in 2014 and 2015.
^The qualification format for this race featured two separate qualification groups, with the fastest qualifier in each group earning a championship point; the faster of the two group fastest qualifiers would then start on pole, while the other would start from the outside of the front row. Rahal set the fastest overall lap, and was awarded the pole position.Hélio Castroneves set the fastest lap in the other qualifying group, and was also awarded a championship point.
^The qualification format for this race featured two separate qualification groups, with the fastest qualifier in each group earning a championship point; the faster of the two group fastest qualifiers would then start on pole, while the other would start from the outside of the front row. Sato set the fastest overall lap, and was awarded the pole position.Ryan Hunter-Reay set the fastest lap in the other qualifying group, and was also awarded a championship point.
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Josef Newgarden
Ed Jones
Takuma Sato_(cropped).jpg)
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