The 2009 Indy Racing League Firestone Indy Lights season began on April 4 in St. Petersburg, Florida, where it ran a doubleheader weekend in support to the season-opening IndyCar Series event, and concluded on October 9 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The schedule consisted of 14 race weekends in support of the IndyCars, with 15 total races. Unlike in the 2008 season, the St. Petersburg weekend was the only doubleheader event held by the series. J. R. Hildebrand ended the season as champion for Andretti Green-AFS Racing, winning the championship by nearly 100 points ahead of Vision Racing's James Davison and his AGR-AFS Racing teammate Sebastián Saavedra.
Drivers and teams All drivers competed in Firestone-shod Dallaras. TeamNoDriversRounds Team Moore Racing2 Andrew Prendeville All Brian Stewart Racing3 Sergey Mokshantsev 1–4, 6–933 Pablo Donoso 1–4 Guthrie Meyer Racing4 Sean Guthrie 1–449 Jesse Mason 1–559 Alistair Jackson 1–4 RLR/Andersen Racing5 Mario Romancini All6 Pablo Donoso 11 Alistair Jackson 5, 89 9–13 Jonathan Summerton 1–6 Pablo Donoso 7–8 Sean Guthrie 15 Sam Schmidt Motorsports7 James Hinchcliffe All11 Wade Cunningham All20 Ana Beatriz 1-5, 7–14 Logan Gomez 1544 Gustavo Yacamán 1–13, 15 HVM Racing8 Juan Pablo Garcia 13 Panther Racing15 Martin Plowman All16 Pippa Mann All Winners Circle Group18 Junior Strous 1–5 FIRST Motorsports Walker Racing 19 Stefan Wilson 1–3, 8–9, 12 Vision Racing21 James Davison All Alliance Motorsports24 Logan Gomez 1–2 Mike Potekhen5, 7–8, 11–15 Andretti Green-AFS Racing26 J. R. Hildebrand All27 Sebastián Saavedra All Bryan Herta Autosport28 Daniel Herrington All29 Felipe Guimarães 8, 12–13 Davey Hamilton Racing32 Brandon Wagner 1–2, 5, 7, 11, 14–15 Team PBIR35 Charlie Kimball All 37 Jay Howard 1–5 Pablo Donoso 6 Richard Philippe 8–14 Genoa Racing 36 1–4 Pablo Donoso 563 Duncan Tappy 1–2 Jonathan Bomarito 3 Dillon Battistini 4 ELFF Racing55 Rodrigo Barbosa All
Schedule The season consisted of fifteen races, which were held on a mix of ovals, temporary street circuits and road courses. Round Date Race Name Track Location 1 April 4 St. Pete 100 Race 1 Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg 2 April 5 St. Pete 100 Race 2 3 April 19 Long Beach 100 Streets of Long Beach Long Beach 4 April 26 Kansas Lottery 100 Kansas Speedway Kansas City 5 May 22 Firestone Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway 6 May 31 Husar's House of Fine Diamonds 100 The Milwaukee Mile West Allis 7 June 20 Miller Lite 100 Iowa Speedway Newton 8 July 4 Corning 100 Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen 9 July 11 Toronto 100 Streets of Toronto Toronto 10 July 25 Grand Prix of Edmonton Edmonton City Centre Airport Edmonton 11 August 1 Kentucky 100 Kentucky Speedway Sparta 12 August 9 Mid-Ohio 100 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington 13 August 23 Carneros 100 Infineon Raceway Sonoma 14 August 29 Chicagoland 100 Chicagoland Speedway Joliet 15 October 9 Homestead-Miami 100 Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead
Race summaries
St. Pete 100 Race 1 Saturday April 4, 2009 Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida Race weather: , partly cloudy Pole position winner: #26 J. R. Hildebrand 1:07.7704 sec, Race Summary: The league instituted new qualifying rules for the road courses in 2009. First, the cars were broken into two groups due to the increase in the size of the field, the fastest driver in either session would start from the pole and the other drivers in his session would line up in the odd-numbered positions for the race in order of speed while the drivers from the slower session would line up in the even-numbered positions. In addition, the league abandoned its practice of using partially inverted finishing order from race 1 of a doubleheader to determine the grid for race 2. Instead a separate qualifying session was held for the second race (which actually occurred before the first race had been held).
J. R. Hildebrand opened up a lead as big as 6 seconds during the first half of the race, with his pursuers being led by teammate Sebastián Saavedra and Junior Strous. On lap 18, a caution came out caused by Duncan Tappy spinning off-track and dragging debris onto the racing surface. On the restart, Hildebrand was unable to bring his car to full power due to an electrical issue and Strous was able to make the pass in turns 1 and 2 while making slight contact with Hildebrand's car. Jonathan Summerton was able to make his way past in a subsequent corner. However, Summerton was unable to challenge Strous for the victory, with Junior Strous capturing his first victory in his debut and the first major open wheel racing victory for team principal Paul Diatlovich (of PDM Racing).
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 12 18 Junior StrousWinners Circle Group4050:06.57031850 26 9 Jonathan SummertonRLR-Andersen Racing40+0.7205040 31 26 J. R. HildebrandAGR-AFS Racing40+2.15712238 47 20 Ana BeatrizSam Schmidt Motorsports40+2.7368032 58 37 Jay HowardTeam PBIR40+10.1525030Race average speed: Lead changes: 1 between 2 driversCautions: 2 for 6 laps
St. Pete 100 Race 2 Sunday April 5, 2009 Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida Race weather: , mostly cloudy Pole position winner: #27 Sebastián Saavedra 1:07.2171 sec, Race Summary: J. R. Hildebrand led the field through lap 1 but it was ordered that he had jumped the start and was sent back to third position and his teammate polesitter Sebastián Saavedra assumed the lead. On lap 13 the most spectacular incident occurred when Ali Jackson and Pippa Mann tangled in turn 8 resulting in Jackson's car being wedged under Mann's and Mann's rear wheels sitting several feet in the air as she gunned the throttle attempting to get going. Both cars were ultimately able to continue but Mann soon suffered suspension failure and fell out of the race. On a lap 27 restart, J. R. Hildebrand who was running second suffered the same electrical issues he had the day before. He swung wide to let Junior Strous through on the inside into turn 1, but Ana Beatriz who was running behind Strous also dove for the open real estate and made contact with Hildebrand, taking both cars out. On the ensuing restart on lap 33, Strous was able to pass Hildebrand's teammate Saavedra going into turn 1 for the lead as Ali Jackson and teammate Jesse Mason crashed behind them bringing out another caution. Strous held off Saavedra on the restart on lap 37 and drove to his second victory of the weekend, becoming the third Indy Lights driver to sweep the St. Petersburg doubleheader weekend after Raphael Matos (2006) and Alex Lloyd (2007).
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 12 18 Junior StrousWinners Circle Group4058:51.1100850 21 27 Sebastián SaavedraAGR-AFS Racing40+0.44283243 37 7 James HinchcliffeSam Schmidt Motorsports40+1.8116035 416 9 Jonathan SummertonRLR-Andersen Racing40+2.5569032 511 28 Daniel HerringtonBryan Herta Autosport40+3.1994030Race average speed: Lead changes: 1 between 2 driversCautions: 6 for 18 laps
Long Beach 100 Sunday April 19, 2009 Streets of Long Beach, Long Beach, California Race weather: , sunny Pole position winner: #26 J. R. Hildebrand 1:15.2695 sec, Race Summary:
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 11 26 J. R. HildebrandAGR-AFS Racing451:03:01.57344553 24 36 Richard PhilippeGenoa Racing45+1.8315040 32 7 James HinchcliffeSam Schmidt Motorsports45+2.6707035 45 9 Jonathan SummertonRLR-Andersen Racing45+18.3432032 57 20 Ana BeatrizSam Schmidt Motorsports45+24.4684030Race average speed: Lead changes: NoneCautions: 2 for 6 laps
Kansas Lottery 100 Sunday April 26, 2009 Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas Race weather: , Cloudy and Windy Pole position winner: #11 Wade Cunningham, 58.3812 sec, (2-lap) Race Summary: Due to the prospect of bad weather in the area, the race was moved up 2 hours to 10 AM local time. Heavy storms had moved through the area the previous night, leaving a "green" racetrack and gusty winds. The challenging conditions led to a number of major incidents in the race. The first occurred on lap 3 when Jesse Mason spun and was hit by Richard Philippe, both were uninjured. On the lap 9 restart Sebastián Saavedra was able to pass polesitter Wade Cunningham for the lead. The scariest incident of the day occurred on lap 15 when Ali Jackson hit the outside wall and Sergey Mokshantsev was unable to slow down due to a mechanical problem and ran into the back of Rodrigo Barbosa, flipping Mokshantsev's car upside down and into the wall. Despite the hard and unusual impact, Mokshantsev and the other two drivers were all uninjured. Saavedra was able to hold off the challenges of Cunningham until on lap 59 Dillon Battistini spun and collected Pippa Mann, who pierced Battistini's radiator, leaving a large amount of fluid on the track and resulting in the race ending under caution. Saavedra captured his first Indy Lights victory in his third start and his first on an oval.
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 1 2 27 Sebastián SaavedraAGR-AFS Racing671:02:53.52965852 2111 Wade CunninghamSam Schmidt Motorsports67+0.2557941 365 Mario RomanciniRLR-Andersen Racing67+0.8524035 43 20 Ana BeatrizSam Schmidt Motorsports67+1.1454032 5915 Martin PlowmanPanther Racing67+2.0955030Race average speed: Lead changes: 1 between 2 driversCautions: 5 for 33 laps
Firestone Freedom 100 Friday May 22, 2009 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana Race weather: , Sunny Pole position winner: #11 Wade Cunningham, 1:34.6485 sec, (2-lap) Race Summary:
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 1 1 11 Wade CunninghamSam Schmidt Motorsports 40 50:42.2548 14 51 2 3 26 J. R. HildebrandAGR-AFS Racing40+0.1046 23 42 3 185 Mario RomanciniRLR-Andersen Racing40+0.2821 0 35 4 6 37 Jay HowardTeam PBIR 40+1.9084 0 32 5 2 27 Sebastián SaavedraAGR-AFS Racing 40+3.4193 3 30Race average speed: Lead changes: 9 between 3 driversCautions: 4 for 17 laps
Husar's House of Fine Diamonds 100 Sunday May 31, 2009 Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wisconsin Race weather: , Partially cloudy Pole position winner: #5 Mario Romancini, 49.4453 sec, (2-lap) Race Summary: Mario Romancini led from the pole and was closely pursued by the AGR-AFS Racing cars of J. R. Hildebrand and Sebastián Saavedra. However, Saavedra got caught up in an incident where Jonathan Summerton spun and dropped to the back. He elected to save his tires during what ultimately became a long green-flag run. In the last few laps Saavedra was able to use his better handling car to work through the field and back up to third place. However, he was unable to pass his teammate or Romancini and Romancini captured his first Indy Lights victory after leading every lap.
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed Points 1 15 Mario RomanciniRLR-Andersen Racing10053:26.8054 100 53 2 2 26 J. R. HildebrandAGR-AFS Racing100+1.0907 0 40 3 4 27 Sebastián SaavedraAGR-AFS Racing 100+4.0048 0 35 4 6 44 Gustavo YacamánSam Schmidt Motorsports 100+5.1809032 5 7 21 James DavisonVision Racing 100+6.4283030Race average speed: Lead changes: NoneCautions: 4 for 17 laps
Miller Lite 100 Saturday June 20, 2009 Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa Race weather: Pole position winner: #26 J. R. Hildebrand, 39.9348 sec, (2-lap)