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1997 Indy Lights season
PPG/Firestone Indy Lights Championship
Season
Races	14
Start date	March 2
End date	September 27
Awards
Drivers' champion	Tony Kanaan
← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 PPG/Firestone Indy Lights Championship Powered By Buick consisted of 13 races. Tony Kanaan edged out good friend and teammate Hélio Castro-Neves to the title by only four points.^[1]

Team and driver chart

The following drivers and teams competed in the series:

Team	No.	Drivers	Round(s)
Autosport Racing	5	Eric Jensen	9
	57	Didier André	1–12
	75	Jean-Philippe Belloc	12
Bordin Racing	56	Andrew Bordin	1–2, 6–12
Brian Stewart Racing	2	Airton Daré	All
	3	Cristiano da Matta	All
	34	Jaques Lazier	2–7
	34	Frédéric Gosparini	9–13
	63	Brian Cunningham	1
Conquest Racing	21	Christophe Tinseau	All
Dorricott Racing	31	Luiz Garcia Jr.	All
Dorricott Racing	32	Bob Dorricott Jr.	All
Eclipse Racing	20	John Jones	1–4, 7–8
Eclipse Racing	20	Claude Bourbonnais	9–12
FRE Racing	4	Sérgio Paese	1–2, 4–12
Forsythe Racing	33	David Empringham	All
Forsythe Racing	99	Lee Bentham	All
Genoa Racing	97	Oswaldo Negri Jr.	2, 4, 8–12
Indy Regency Racing	28	Hideki Noda	1–12
Indy Regency Racing	77	Rodolfo Lavín	All
Johansson Motorsports	36	Fredrik Larsson	1–9
Johansson Motorsports	70	Jeff Ward	11–13
Leading Edge Motorsports	5	Chris Bingham	1–3, 8
Lucas Place Motorsports	5	Brian Cunningham	11–13
	16	Shigeaki Hattori	2–13
	24	David DeSilva	All
PacWest Lights	18	Robby Unser	All
Project Indy	15	Philipp Sager	1
Project Indy	15	Frédéric Gosparini	2
Tasman Motorsports	7	Tony Kanaan	All
Tasman Motorsports	8	Hélio Castroneves	All
Team Green	25	Naoki Hattori	All
	26	Chris Simmons	All
	27	Mark Hotchkis	All
Team Mears	10	Casey Mears	All
Team Mears	11	Clint Mears	All
Team Medlin	12	Geoff Boss	1–12

Schedule

Rd.	Date	Track	Location
1	March 2	O Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida
2	April 13	R Long Beach Street Circuit	Long Beach, California
3	April 27	O Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
4	May 18	R Grand Prize of America Road Course	Savannah, Georgia
5	May 24	O Gateway International Raceway	Madison, Illinois
6	June 1	O Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
7	June 8	R The Raceway at Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
8	June 22	R Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
9	July 20	R Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
10	August 3	R Circuit Trois-Rivières	Trois-Rivières, Quebec
11	August 31	R Streets of Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia
12	September 7	R Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California
13	September 27	O California Speedway	Fontana, California

Round	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Race Winner
Round	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Driver	Team
1	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Hélio Castroneves	Mark Hotchkis	Mark Hotchkis	David Empringham	Forsythe Racing
2	Long Beach Street Circuit	Hélio Castroneves	Cristiano da Matta	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Tasman Motorsports
3	Nazareth Speedway	Chris Simmons	David DeSilva	Chris Simmons	Cristiano da Matta	Brian Stewart Racing
4	Grand Prize of America Road Course	Hélio Castroneves	Not announced	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Tasman Motorsports
5	Gateway International Raceway	Chris Simmons	Cristiano da Matta	Lee Bentham	Lee Bentham	Forsythe Racing
6	Milwaukee Mile	Clint Mears	Clint Mears	Clint Mears	Clint Mears	Team Mears
7	The Raceway at Belle Isle Park	Tony Kanaan	Hélio Castroneves	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports
8	Portland International Raceway	Hélio Castroneves	Oswaldo Negri Jr.	Hélio Castroneves	Hideki Noda	Indy Regency Racing
9	Exhibition Place	Tony Kanaan	Christophe Tinseau	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Tasman Motorsports
10	Circuit Trois-Rivières	Mark Hotchkis	Mark Hotchkis	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports
11	Streets of Vancouver	Cristiano da Matta	Hideki Noda	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Brian Stewart Racing
12	Laguna Seca Raceway	Tony Kanaan	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Brian Stewart Racing
13	California Speedway	Clint Mears	Cristiano da Matta	Hélio Castroneves	Clint Mears	Team Mears

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th
Points	20	16	14	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Pos	Driver	HMS	LBH	NAZ	SAV	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	TOR	TRO	VAN	LAG	FON	Points
1	Tony Kanaan	6	5	5	23	10	3	1*	3	2	1*	2	2	9	156
2	Hélio Castroneves	14	1*	4	1*	3	12	2	2*	1*	20	19	3	5*	152
3	Cristiano da Matta	21	2	1	21	2	4	26	5	18	4	1*	1*	4	141
4	David Empringham	1	10	9	14	4	2	4	7	3	5	5	26	13	107
5	Lee Bentham	5	14	22	3	1*	9	22	8	27	8	8	5	3	88
6	Chris Simmons	3	4	2*	16	5	17	8	13	21	15	4	28	2	88
7	Mark Hotchkis	4*	3	23	17	22	7	6	16	17	2	11	4	11	74
8	Clint Mears	12	18	7	18	11	1*	18	DNS	13	12	14	DNS	1	53
9	Hideki Noda	18	19	16	6	16	14	14	1	15	6	3	12		51
10	Airton Daré	11	6	8	8	6	11	13	20	9	9	7	11	8	51
11	Christophe Tinseau	25	26	14	12	12	21	11	4	5	3	18	6	12	49
12	Fredrik Larsson	2	22	3	10	24	5	25	22	28					43
13	Luiz Garcia Jr.	16	15	24	4	17	19	9	6	25	23	6	10	10	38
14	Didier André	22	8	25	9	20	18	21	25	4	7	10	8		35
15	Robby Unser	8	7	10	22	7	6	12	14	7	19	21	22	16	35
16	Naoki Hattori	13	DNS	15	5	14	13	7	24	6	24	15	20	6	32
17	Geoff Boss	10	24	17	20	21	20	3	10	14	11	9	9		30
18	Sérgio Paese	DNS	20		2	18	24	5	12	23	25	27	13		27
19	David DeSilva	17	12	6	DNQ	8	25	10	26	24	26	17	17		17
20	Oswaldo Negri Jr.		27		7				9	8	21	20	27		15
21	Brian Cunningham	7										25	7	14	12
22	Jaques Lazier		11	12	24	9	8	23							12
23	Casey Mears	9	17	13	13	13	10	25	11	20	17	16	19	15	9
24	Jeff Ward											22	15	7	6
25	Shigeaki Hattori		9	20	15	23	16	24	23	26	14	12	14	18	5
26	Frédéric Gosparini		DNS							12	10	24	23	19	4
27	Bob Dorricott Jr.	24	21	18	11	19	23	16	15	11	16	13	21	20	4
28	Andrew Bordin	23	23				15	17	17	10	13	23	16		3
29	Chris Bingham	15	13	11					21						2
30	Rodolfo Lavín	20	16	21	25	15	22	19	19	22	22	26	25	17	0
31	Eric Jensen									16					0
32	Claude Bourbonnais									19	18	28	18		0
33	John Jones	19	25	19	19			20	18						0
34	Jean-Philippe Belloc												24		0
35	Philipp Sager	DNS													0
Pos	Driver	HMS	LBH	NAZ	SAV	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	TOR	TRO	VAN	LAG	FON	Points

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position(1 point)
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps (2 points)
¹	Qualifying cancelled no bonus point awarded

v t e Indy NXT seasons
USAC Mini-Indy Series	1977 1978 1979 1980
CART American Racing Series	1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
CART Firestone/Dayton Indy Lights	1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
IRL Infiniti/Indy Pro Series	2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Firestone Indy Lights Series	2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Indy Lights Series presented by Cooper Tire	2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022
Firestone Indy NXT Series	2023 2024