The 2010 Indy Racing League Firestone Indy Lights season was the 25th Indy Lights season. It was contested over thirteen races beginning on March 28 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, and ended on October 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Jean-Karl Vernay became the first European to win the championship title since Alex Lloyd in 2007, after taking five victories and ten top-five placings at the wheel of his Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. His championship title, guaranteed by just starting the final race at Homestead, also garnered him with the Rookie of the Year award, having moved into the series from Europe and the Formula 3 Euro Series. Another driver with ten top-fives, James Hinchcliffe finished second in the title race for Team Moore Racing, a race winner at Long Beach, Edmonton and Chicagoland Speedway.
Third place was fought between AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport team-mates Martin Plowman and Charlie Kimball, with Plowman coming out on top by six points; Plowman won a race at Mid-Ohio, while Kimball finished four races in second place including three in succession early in the season. Other drivers to take wins were Wade Cunningham – winning the Firestone Freedom 100 for the third time – and Sebastián Saavedra at Iowa Speedway, while two drivers visited victory lane for the first time; Pippa Mann at Kentucky Speedway and Brandon Wagner at Homestead in their second seasons in the formula.
Team and driver chart All drivers competed in Firestone Firehawk–shod, Dallara chassis.
Team Drivers Rounds AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 26 Charlie Kimball All 27 Martin Plowman All Sam Schmidt Motorsports 7 Jean-Karl Vernay All 11 Pippa Mann 1-8, 10-13 49 Philip Major All 77 James Winslow 1-3, 6-9 Wade Cunningham 4, 13 Alex Ellis 10 Andersen Racing 4 Carmen Jordá 1-3, 7-8 Arie Luyendyk Jr. 4 Anders Krohn 6 Giancarlo VilarinhoMid-Ohio 100 entry list, IndyCar, Retrieved 2010-08-05 9-10 Sean Guthrie 13 5 Joel MillerAndersen Racing's news on Joel Miller, Andersen PR via Motorsport.com, April 8, 2010, Retrieved 2010-04-09 3 Tõnis Kasemets 7 Bryan Herta Autosport 28 Stefan Wilson 1-9, 11-12 Joel Miller 10 29 Sebastián SaavedraLincoln Lopes, Jackson. Piloto colombiano confirmado na Indy Lights , Amigos Da Velocidade, February 23, 2010, Retrieved 2010-02-23 1-11 Daniel Herrington 12 Dillon Battistini 13 Team PBIR 35 Nic LeDuc 2 Tõnis Kasemets 3 Dillon Battistini 11 37 Niall Quinn 2-3 Team Moore Racing 2 James Hinchcliffe All 22 Adrián Campos Jr. All Alliance Motorsports 24 Arie Luyendyk Jr. 11-13 PDM Racing 18 Rodrigo BarbosaPDM Racing Returns in 2010 with Barbosa , eFormulaCarNews, February 22, 2010, Retrieved 2010-02-22 All Walker Racing 40 Jonathan Summerton 1 Dan Clarke 2-13 Davey Hamilton Racing 32 Brandon Wagner 4-5, 11-13 34 Henry Clarke 13 Genoa Racing O2 Racing Technology 36 David Martínez 9-10 Daniel Herrington 13 HVM Racing 6 Junior Strous 1-3 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing 10 Gustavo Yacamán All Team E 17 Jan Heylen 1 Jeff Simmons 4 Michael Crawford Motorsports 8 Juan Pablo Garcia 9-10
Schedule Rnd Date Race Name Track Location 1 March 28 Firestone Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, FL 2 April 11 Firestone Indy Lights Grand Prix of Alabama Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, AL 3 April 18 Firestone Indy Lights Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, CA 4 May 28 Firestone Freedom 100 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, IN 5 June 19 AvoidTheStork.com 100 Iowa Speedway Newton, IA 6 July 4 Corning 100 Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, NY 7 July 18 Toronto 100 Streets of Toronto Toronto, ON 8 July 25 Edmonton 100 Edmonton City Centre Airport Edmonton, AB 9 August 8 Mid-Ohio 100 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, OH 10 August 22 Carneros 100 Infineon Raceway Sonoma, CA 11 August 28 Chicagoland 100 Chicagoland Speedway Joliet, IL 12 September 4 Drive Smart Buckle-Up Kentucky 100 Kentucky Speedway Sparta, KY 13 October 2 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka 100 Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, FL
Open Testing
Firestone Indy Lights Barber Open Test Friday February 26, 2010 Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL Testing weather: , Sunny Testing Summary:
Top Three Drivers Pos CarNo. Driver Team TotalLaps Best Time Best Speed InLap Practice Session 1 2 James Hinchcliffe Team Moore Racing73 1:14.9604 110.458291 2 27 Martin Plowman AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 93 1:15.0832110.278391 3 26 Charlie Kimball AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 73 1:15.1716110.148302Average speed:
Indianapolis Open Test – Indy Lights Friday May 14, 2010 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN Testing weather: Testing Summary:
Top Three Drivers Pos CarNo. Driver Team TotalLaps Best Time Best Speed InLap Practice Session 1 10 Gustavo Yacamán Cape Motorsportswith Wayne Taylor Racing105 47.2413190.511482 2 11 Pippa Mann Sam Schmidt Motorsports103 47.3125190.225352 3 26 Charlie Kimball AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 36 47.3486190.080101Average speed:
Race results Rd. Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Winning driver Winning team 1 St. Pete James Hinchcliffe Sebastián Saavedra Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 2 Barber Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 3 Long Beach James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe Team Moore Racing 4 Indianapolis Pippa Mann Jeff Simmons Wade Cunningham Wade Cunningham Sam Schmidt Motorsports 5 Iowa Sebastián Saavedra Philip Major Sebastián Saavedra Sebastián Saavedra Bryan Herta Autosport 6 Watkins Glen James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 7 Toronto Jean-Karl Vernay Stefan Wilson Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 8 Edmonton James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe Team Moore Racing 9 Mid-Ohio Martin Plowman James Hinchcliffe Martin Plowman Martin Plowman AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 10 Sonoma Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 11 Chicagoland Martin Plowman James Hinchcliffe Pippa Mann James Hinchcliffe Team Moore Racing 12 Kentucky Pippa Mann Adrián Campos Jr. Pippa Mann Pippa Mann Sam Schmidt Motorsports 13 Homestead Pippa Mann James Hinchcliffe Brandon Wagner Brandon Wagner Davey Hamilton Racing
Race summaries
Round 1: Streets of St. Petersburg Sunday March 28, 2010 – 12:58 p.m. EDT Streets of St. Petersburg – St. Petersburg, Florida; Temporary street circuit, Distance: 45 laps / ; reduced to 35 laps / due to rain. Race weather: , overcast at start with rain falling later. Pole position winner: #2 James Hinchcliffe, 1:06.3496 sec, Most laps led: #7 Jean-Karl Vernay, 31 Race report: On turn one of the first lap, Philip Major divebombed the field, making contact with polesitter James Hinchcliffe, taking both out of the race. Later that lap, Adrián Campos Jr. who had made contact with Pippa Mann during the start nosed into the wall in turn 8. Mann retired from the race, after spinning under caution. On the lap four restart Jean-Karl Vernay passed Sebastián Saavedra for the lead and was later spun by Charlie Kimball in turn four, bringing out another caution. The race was red flagged on lap six during that caution period due to moisture, allowing the teams to pit and change to full wet tires. The race went back to green on lap nine. On the restart, leader Vernay pulled out to a 9-second lead over Junior Strous who had climbed to second. However, on lap 17 Strous spun in turn 1, handing Vernay a 17-second lead over new second-place Jan Heylen. On lap 25 Saavedra hit the wall bringing out the caution and erasing Vernay's 20 second lead over Heylen. However, on the resultant restart with 8 minutes remaining (the race had become a timed race due to the rain), Vernay was able to pull away and win by 11 seconds over Heylen. Jonathan Summerton spun in the final corner of the last lap and fell from fourth to eighth.
Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed 1 2 7 Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 35 1:02:02.6848 31 2 4 17 Jan Heylen Team E 35 +11.2338 0 3 14 28 Stefan Wilson Bryan Herta Autosport 35 +11.5785 0 4 7 26 Charlie Kimball AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 35 +20.4041 0 5 10 10 Gustavo Yacamán Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing 35 +21.8013 0Race average speed: Lead changes: 1 between 2 driversCautions: 4 for 10 laps
Round 2: Barber Motorsports Park Sunday April 11, 2010 – 1:13 p.m. EDT / 12:13 p.m. CDT Barber Motorsports Park – Birmingham, Alabama; Permanent road course, Distance: 40 laps / Race weather: , clear skies Pole position winner: #7 Jean-Karl Vernay, 1:14.8726 sec, Most laps led: #7 Jean-Karl Vernay, 39 Race report: At the start, Charlie Kimball moved into the lead ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay but was deemed to have jumped the start. On lap two, Kimball conceded the lead to Vernay and the Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver would not relinquish the lead en route to his second consecutive victory. Kimball finished second ahead of Sebastián Saavedra, Martin Plowman and James Hinchcliffe. Two drivers did not finish the race: Rodrigo Barbosa suffered a mechanical failure, while Carmen Jordá retired after a spin. Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed 1 1 7 Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 40 57:07.6033 39 2 2 26 Charlie Kimball AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 40 +1.1542 1 3 4 29 Sebastián Saavedra Bryan Herta Autosport 40 +5.7970 0 4 3 27 Martin Plowman AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 40 +9.0794 0 5 5 2 James Hinchcliffe Team Moore Racing 40 +10.2997 0Race average speed: Lead changes: 1 between 2 driversCautions: 2 for 4 laps
Round 3: Streets of Long Beach Sunday April 18, 2010 – 1:40 p.m. EDT / 10:40 a.m. PDT Streets of Long Beach – Long Beach, California; Temporary street circuit, Distance: 45 laps / Race weather: , clear skies Pole position winner: #2 James Hinchcliffe, 1:14.6261 sec, Most laps led: #2 James Hinchcliffe, 45 Race report: Starting from his second pole of the season, James Hinchcliffe led the field through Turn 1 on the opening lap as Charlie Kimball overhauled Jean-Karl Vernay for second place. The three drivers then held their respective positions for the duration of the race, as the other drivers battled behind. Sebastián Saavedra and Martin Plowman rounded out the top five placings. Dan Clarke and Junior Strous both ran into early trouble, with Clarke suffering a mechanical problem and Strous running into the barriers on Lap 9. Clarke returned to the race six laps down, and wound up thirteenth at the end of the race. Stefan Wilson suffered an electrical problem, Rodrigo Barbosa was parked after causing two of the race's four full course cautions with spins and Adrián Campos Jr. crashed heavily at Turn 1 on Lap 34, causing the third caution. Almost immediately after the race returned to green after the Campos crash, the yellow flags flew again after Gustavo Yacamán and Niall Quinn were both involved in incidents at the track's Fountain section; Yacamán having been punted from behind by Quinn's team-mate Tõnis Kasemets, while Quinn spun by himself. On the penultimate lap, Sam Schmidt Motorsports' Philip Major ran into his team-mate James Winslow, forcing the British driver into the barrier and was eventually scored in twelfth position. Top Five Finishers Fin.Pos St.Pos CarNo. Driver Team Laps Time LapsLed 1 1 2 James Hinchcliffe Team Moore Racing 45 1:03:41.4082 45 2 3 26 Charlie Kimball AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 45 +0.8370 0 3 2 7 Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports 45 +1.2291 0 4 4 29 Sebastián Saavedra Bryan Herta Autosport 45 +2.9126 0 5 5 27 Martin Plowman AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport 45 +4.4735 0Race average speed: Lead changes: NoneCautions: 4 for 8 laps
Round 4: Firestone Freedom 100 Friday May 28, 2010 – 12:30 p.m. EDT / 11:30 a.m. CDT