The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 22nd season of the Verizon IndyCar Series and the 106th official championship season of American open-wheel racing. The premier event was the 101st Indianapolis 500 won by Takuma Sato. Josef Newgarden, the 2011 Indy Lights champion, in his sixth full-time season in the IndyCar Series, won the championship. It was Newgarden's first season as part of Team 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.
All events from 2016 returned to the schedule. In addition, the series returned to Gateway Motorsports Park for the first time since 2003.
Series news On September 2, 2016, it was announced that Performance Friction Brakes has been selected as a brake rotor and pad supplier package for IndyCar Series starting from 2017 season onwards but Brembo remained as brake caliper until the end of 2017 season.
Confirmed entries
The following teams, entries, and drivers have been announced to compete in the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. All teams will use a spec Dallara DW12 chassis with manufacturer aero kits and Firestone tires.
Team EngineDriver(s)Round(s)A. J. Foyt EnterprisesChevrolet4 Conor DalyAll14 Carlos MuñozAll40 Zach Veach 6Andretti AutosportHonda26 Takuma Sato All27 Marco AndrettiAll28 Ryan Hunter-ReayAllMcLaren-Honda-Andretti29 Fernando Alonso 6Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian98 Alexander RossiAllChip Ganassi RacingHonda8 Max ChiltonAll9 Scott DixonAll10 Tony KanaanAll83 Charlie KimballAllDale Coyne RacingHonda18 Sébastien Bourdais1–6, 15–17 James Davison 6 Esteban Gutiérrez 7–8, 10–14 Tristan Vautier919 Ed Jones All63 Pippa Mann6Dreyer & Reinbold RacingChevrolet24 Sage Karam6Ed Carpenter RacingChevrolet20 Spencer Pigot1–3, 5, 7–8, 10, 12–13, 16–17 Ed Carpenter4, 6, 9, 11, 14–1521 J. R. Hildebrand1–2, 4–17 Zach Veach 3Harding RacingChevrolet88 Gabby ChavesNew Team Harding Racing Enters Chaves for 101st Indianapolis 500, IndyCar, April 10, 2017, Retrieved April 10, 20176, 9, 14Juncos RacingChevrolet11 Spencer Pigot617 Sebastián Saavedra6Lazier Partners RacingChevrolet44 Buddy Lazier6Michael Shank Racing with Andretti AutosportHonda50 Jack Harvey 6Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingHonda13 Zachary Claman DeMelo 1715 Graham RahalAll16 Oriol Servià6–8Schmidt Peterson MotorsportsHonda5 James HinchcliffeAll7 Mikhail Aleshin1–11, 13 Robert Wickens 10 Sebastián Saavedra12, 14–15 Jack Harvey 16–1777 Jay Howard6Team PenskeChevrolet1 Simon PagenaudAll2 Josef NewgardenAll3 Hélio CastronevesAll12 Will PowerAll22 Juan Pablo Montoya5–6
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, 2016, that they would be returning to Honda in a multi-year deal and thus discontinuing Chevrolet partnership. Ganassi had previously worked with Honda in 1996–99 (CART) and 2006–13 (IndyCar Series), when Jimmy Vasser, Alessandro 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 was 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 20, 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 would 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 would 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 would 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 would 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 skipped the Monaco Grand Prix in order to participate in the 500. 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 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 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. Following the race at Texas, Gutierrez was confirmed in the No. 18 car until Sébastien Bourdais' return at Gateway. On June 6, Dale Coyne Racing announced that Tristan Vautier would drive the No. 18 car at Texas 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 that Robert Wickens would drive the No. 7 car in place of Mikhail Aleshin for the Kohler 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 July 13, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced that Sebastián Saavedra would drive the No. 7 car in place of Mikhail Aleshin for the Honda Indy Toronto. On August 12, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced that Mikhail Aleshin would no longer race for the team. On August 16, the team announced that Sebastián Saavedra would return to the No. 7 car for the races at Pocono Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park. On August 20, the team announced that Jack Harvey would drive the car for the final two races of the season at Watkins Glen and Sonoma. On August 23, Dale Coyne Racing announced that Sébastien Bourdais had recovered from his injuries sustained earlier in the season and would return to drive the final three races of the season. On September 6, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced that it would enter a second car for Zachary Claman DeMelo for the final race of the season at Sonoma.
Schedule All races were held in the United States, except the Toronto round.
Icon Legend Oval/Speedway Road course Street circuit
Rd.DateRace nameTrackCity1March 12Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida2April 9Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California3April 23Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama4April 29Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona5May 13IndyCar Grand Prix Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Speedway, Indiana6May 28101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Indianapolis Motor Speedway 7June 3Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation The Raceway at Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan8June 49June 10Rainguard Water Sealers 600 Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas10June 25Kohler Grand Prix Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin11July 9Iowa Corn 300 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa12July 16Honda Indy Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario13July 30Honda Indy 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio14August 20ABC Supply 500 Pocono Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania15August 26Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Valvoline Gateway Motorsports Park Madison, Illinois16September 3Grand Prix at The Glen Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York17September 17GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma Sonoma Raceway Sonoma, California