2008 Indy Lights season

2008 Indy Lights season
Firestone Indy Lights
Season
Races	16
Start date	March 29
End date	September 7
Awards
Drivers' champion	Raphael Matos
Teams' champion	Andretti Green-AFS Racing
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2007	2009

Brazilian driver Raphael Matos won the series championship.

The 2008 Indy Racing League Firestone Indy Lights Series season, formerly the Indy Pro Series, began on March 29, 2008 and consisted of 16 races. Due to the discontinuation of the United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the series lost its Liberty Challenge double header typically held that weekend. The Liberty double header were replaced by the addition of a second race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and a return to the Kansas Speedway, where the series has not raced since 2004. All races were shown time-delayed on ESPN2. Live stream video was available on the IndyCar Lights Series website. It was announced on March 22, 2008 that Firestone signed on to be the title sponsor of the Indy Pro Series, and thus the series was retitled the Firestone Indy Lights, in reference to the old Indy Lights development series which ran under CART from 1986 to 2001.

Drivers and teams

Team	Chassis	Tire	No	Drivers	Notes
Team Moore Racing	Dallara	Firestone	2	Jeff Simmons
				Jonathan Klein	Infineon and Chicagoland only
			22	Pablo Donoso	Joined team beginning with Freedom 100. Competed for Stewart at Kentucky.
				Jonathan Klein	Kentucky only
				Dillon Battistini	Chicagoland only
Brian Stewart Racing	Dallara	Firestone	3	Juan Manuel Polar	Left team after Kansas
				Marc Williams	Freedom 100 and Milwaukee only
				Pablo Donoso	Kentucky only
			33	Wade Cunningham	part-time
				Mitch Cunningham	Road courses only
Guthrie Racing	Dallara	Firestone	4	Sean Guthrie
			9	Tom Wieringa	Homestead only
			23	Logan Gomez
			44	Robbie Pecorari	Kentucky, Infineon, and Chicagoland only
			54	Micky Gilbert	Previously Mile High Motorsports; joined team at Freedom 100
				Matt Lee	Watkins Glen only
				Robbie Pecorari	Mid-Ohio only
				Juan Manuel Polar	Infineon only
			55	Robbie Pecorari	Kansas only
				Tom Wieringa	Freedom 100 and Chicagoland only
				Franck Perera	Joined team at Iowa, signed for remainder of season
RLR Andersen Racing	Dallara	Firestone	5	Andrew Prendeville	Left team after Mid-Ohio
				Daniel Herrington	Joined team at Kentucky
			25	J. R. Hildebrand
Michael Crawford Motorsports	Dallara	Firestone	6	Jake Slotten	Ovals only, left team after Milwaukee
				Daniel Herrington	Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio only
				Robbie Pecorari	St. Pete only
				Tom Dyer	Infineon and Chicagoland
				C. R. Crews	Kentucky only
			8	Nathan Freke	Left team after St. Pete
				Mark Olson	Part-time
				P. J. Abbott	Kentucky only
Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Dallara	Firestone	7	Richard Antinucci
			11	James Davison
			20	Ana Beatriz
			34	Jon Brownson	Ovals only, left team after testing crash at Iowa
				Travis Gregg	Iowa and Kentucky only
			77	Jonny Reid	Infineon only
Panther Racing	Dallara	Firestone	15	Dillon Battistini
				Bobby Wilson	Chicagoland only
			16	Brent Sherman
Team E	Dallara	Firestone	17	Bobby Wilson
American Spirit Racing	Dallara	Firestone	18	Cyndie Allemann
Playa Del Racing	Dallara	Firestone	21	Al Unser III	Team inactive after Freedom 100
Alliance Motorsports	Dallara	Firestone	24	Chris Festa	Did not race at Iowa, Watkins Glen, or Mid-Ohio
				Marc Williams	Iowa only
				Wade Cunningham	Mid-Ohio only
				Christina Orr	Joined team at Kentucky
Andretti Green-AFS Racing	Dallara	Firestone	26	Arie Luyendyk Jr.
			27	Raphael Matos
SWE Racing	Dallara	Firestone	43	Pablo Donoso	First 4 races
				Robbie Pecorari	Freedom 100, Iowa, and Nashville only
				Mike Potekhen	Joined team at Kentucky
			92	Mike Potekhen	Freedom 100 only; run in conjunction with Chastain Motorsports
Mile High Motorsports	Dallara	Firestone	54	Micky Gilbert	Merged team with Guthrie Racing prior to Freedom 100[1]
Integra Motorsports w/ CGRT	Dallara	Firestone	9	Marc Williams	St. Pete only
				Jonny Reid	Joined team at Freedom 100, team inactive after Mid-Ohio until Chicagoland
				Wade Cunningham	Chicagoland only

Race schedule

Round	Date	Race Name	Location	Winner
1	March 29	Miami 100	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Dillon Battistini
2	April 5	St. Pete 100 Race 1	Streets of St. Petersburg	Raphael Matos
3	April 6	St. Pete 100 Race 2	Streets of St. Petersburg	Richard Antinucci
4	April 27	Hard Rock 100	Kansas Speedway	J.R. Hildebrand
5	May 23	Firestone Freedom 100	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Dillon Battistini
6	June 1	Milwaukee 100	The Milwaukee Mile	Bobby Wilson
7	June 21	Jeld-Wen 100	Iowa Speedway	Dillon Battistini
8	July 5	Corning Duels Race 1	Watkins Glen International	Raphael Matos
9	July 5	Corning Duels Race 2	Watkins Glen International	Richard Antinucci
10	July 12	Sun Belt Rentals 100	Nashville Superspeedway	Ana Beatriz
11	July 19	Mid-Ohio 100 Race 1	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Raphael Matos
12	July 19	Mid-Ohio 100 Race 2	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	James Davison
13	August 9	Kentucky 100	Kentucky Speedway	Dillon Battistini
14	August 23	Carneros 100	Infineon Raceway	Franck Perera
15	August 24	Valley of the Moon 100	Infineon Raceway	Pablo Donoso
16	September 7	SunRichGourmet.com 100	Chicagoland Speedway	Arie Luyendyk Jr.

Race summaries

Miami 100

• Saturday March 29, 2008
• Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida
• Race weather: 82 °F, fair skies
• Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 57.2075 sec (2 laps) 186.899 mph (300.785 km/h)
• Race Summary: As opposed to the previous year's race which was repeatedly slowed by major incidents, the 2008 season opener ran free of any major incidents. Polesitter Raphael Matos was passed in the opening laps by a hard-charging Richard Antinucci who started fifth. Antinucci dominated the middle portion of the race, but when he started to reach lapped traffic, rookie Dillon Battistini was able to catch him and the two battled for the remainder of the race. Following a caution flag with less than 10 laps to go, Battistini was able to find his way around Antinucci to take his first series win in his first race, which was also his first race on an oval track. The 23 cars running at the finish is a series record.^[2]

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	2	15	Dillon Battistini	Panther Racing	67	0:38:07.8215	4	50
2	5	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	67	+1.6848	45	42
3	13	16	Brent Sherman	Panther Racing	67	+4.0942	0	35
4	11	26	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	AGR-AFS Racing	67	+4.1484	0	32
5	15	24	Chris Festa	Alliance Motorsports	67	+4.1992	0	30
Race average speed: 156.560 mph (251.959 km/h)
Lead changes: 4 between 3 drivers
Cautions: 2 for 7 laps

St. Pete 100 Race 1

• Saturday April 5, 2008
• Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida
• Race weather: 84 °F, fair skies
• Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 1:06.4669 sec, 97.492 mph (156.898 km/h)
• Race Summary: Raphael Matos dominated the race and captured his third win at St. Pete in 3 races. The race was slowed 3 times early in the race by caution flags caused by two spins by Bobby Wilson and Mitchell Cunningham going off course, but the final 26 laps were run without a full-course caution. Matos drew the number four following the race, meaning that the top four positions would be inverted and Jeff Simmons would start race 2 from the pole.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	1	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	40	0:49:25.5158	40	51
2	2	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	40	+3.1577	0	40
3	3	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	40	+10.8371	0	35
4	5	2	Jeff Simmons	Team Moore Racing	40	+15.2206	0	32
5	6	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	40	+15.6018	0	30
Race average speed: 87.405 mph (140.665 km/h)
Lead changes: none
Cautions: 3 for 6 laps

St. Pete 100 Race 2

• Sunday April 6, 2008
• Streets of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida
• Race weather: 79 °F, overcast
• Pole position winner: #2 Jeff Simmons (4th place in race 1)
• Race Summary: Jeff Simmons led the first half of the race from the pole, which was slowed many times by caution flags. On a restart on lap 25, the fastest car on the track Raphael Matos tried to pass Simmons, but the two banged wheels and Ana Beatriz passed both of them and took the lead. Simmons would eventually retire from the race due to the damage incurred and Matos had to pit to replace a flattened tire. Beatriz would lead until a restart on lap 30 when she and her teammate came together in the middle of turn 1. Beatriz spun and attempted to rejoin the race right in front of the car of Pablo Donoso. The two made heavy contact and were out of the race. Antinucci continued on to the victory. He was later penalized 10 points for making avoidable contact with Beatriz.^[3]

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	3	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	40	0:56:59.4231	8	40
2	5	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	40	+1.5415	0	40
3	23	23	Logan Gomez	Guthrie Racing	40	+2.4302	0	35
4	21	15	Dillon Battistini	Panther Racing	40	+5.8187	0	32
5	15	4	Sean Guthrie	Guthrie Racing	40	+8.8457	0	30
Race average speed: 75.802 mph (121.991 km/h)
Lead changes: 2 between 3 drivers
Cautions: 5 for 16 laps

Kansas Lottery 100

• Sunday April 27, 2008
• Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas
• Race weather: 56 °F, sunny
• Pole position winner: #7 Richard Antinucci (entrant points)
• Race Summary: Qualifying was scheduled for the morning of the race but low temperatures caused it to be canceled and the field lined up based on entrant points, giving points leader Richard Antinucci the pole.

Antinucci was passed shortly after the start by a gaggle of cars including Dillon Battistini, Arie Luyendyk Jr., Raphael Matos, and J. R. Hildebrand. Hildebrand took the lead from Battistini on lap 20. On lap 56 Raphael Matos who was running in 6th made contact with Jeff Simmons and shot into the wall, knocking him out of the race and dropping him from second to fourth in points. Hildebrand was able to hold off a hard-charging Robbie Pecorari who started 23rd because he competed for a part-time team to capture his first Indy Lights victory in just his second race on an oval. Hildebrand also took the points lead by two points over Antinucci.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	4	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	67	0:49:51.2368	47	52
2	23	55	Robbie Pecorari	Guthrie Racing	67	+0.0553	0	40
3	6	26	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	AGR-AFS Racing	67	+0.2102	1	35
4	3	15	Dillon Battistini	Panther Racing	67	+0.3456	5	32
5	17	33	Wade Cunningham	Brian Stewart Racing	67	+0.6222	0	30
Race average speed: 122.566 mph (197.251 km/h)
Lead changes: 8 between 4 drivers
Cautions: 5 for 30 laps

Firestone Freedom 100

• Friday May 23, 2008
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana
• Race weather:
• Pole position winner: #15 Dillon Battistini 188.397 mph (303.196 km/h)
• Race Summary: Dillon Battistini led at the start and was consistently hounded by the cars of James Davison and Wade Cunningham throughout the race. The most spectacular moment of the race came when Davison and J. R. Hildebrand's cars came together on the backstretch, forcing nearby cars to go four-wide and Jeff Simmons to drop two tires into the grass to avoid the slowing pair of cars that sustained slight damage. During the final ten laps of the race, Richard Antinucci was able to catch a draft behind Battistini, but reported that when he pulled out of the draft to pass, he was unable to maintain enough speed to complete the maneuver and Battistini was able to cruise to his second win of the season.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	1	15	Dillon Battistini	Panther Racing	40	0:39:46.9495	38	53
2	6	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	40	+0.2458	0	40
3	3	33	Wade Cunningham	Brian Stewart Racing	40	+0.5033	1	35
4	13	43	Robbie Pecorari	SWE Racing	40	+0.7977	0	32
5	4	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	40	+1.2230	0	30
Race average speed: 150.820 mph (242.721 km/h)
Lead changes: 4 between 3 drivers
Cautions: 3 for 9 laps

Milwaukee 100

• Sunday June 1, 2008
• Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wisconsin
• Race weather: 65 °F (18 °C), sunny
• Pole position winner: #22 Pablo Donoso 145.699 mph (234.480 km/h)
• Race Summary: Pablo Donoso captured the first pole of his Indy Lights career. The race was slowed three times early on by incidents resulting in light contact with the wall by Ana Beatriz and Marc Williams and heavy contact by Mark Olson. After the third caution ended on lap 29 the race went green for the final 71 laps. Bobby Wilson, who took the lead from Donoso on lap 13 drove away from the field and, although challenged late by Jeff Simmons, held on for his third series victory. The win was the first for his team (Team E) and Wilson's first of the season and first on an oval.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	2	17	Bobby Wilson	Team E	100	0:54:14.9446	88	52
2	3	2	Jeff Simmons	Team Moore Racing	100	+0.0893	0	40
3	7	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	100	+16.3217	0	35
4	6	5	Andrew Prendeville	RLR-Andersen Racing	100	+17.3626	0	32
5	14	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	100	+17.7737	0	30
Race average speed: 112.260 mph (180.665 km/h)
Lead changes: 1 between 2 drivers
Cautions: 3 for 17 laps

Jeld-Wen 100

• Saturday June 21, 2008
• Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa
• Race weather: 80 °F (27 °C), Mostly Cloudy
• Pole position winner: #26 Arie Luyendyk Jr. 160.397 mph (258.134 km/h)
• Race Summary: The cars of Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Dillon Battistini dominated the race, with Luyendyk leading the first 101 laps from the pole and building an approximate 0.5 second lead on Battistini who built a several second lead on the rest of the field. On lap 102 Luyendyk came up on the nearly lap-down cars of Robbie Pecorari and James Davison running side-by-side and had to lift off the throttle to avoid, running over them. This allowed Battistini to squeeze by the slowed car of Luyendyk. Shortly thereafter on lap 106 Jonny Reid spun coming out of turn four and made moderate contact with the outside wall in what was the largest incident of the day. After cleanup, the green flag waved with one lap to go but Battistini was able to hold off Luyendyk, capturing his third win of the season and denying Luyendyk his first series win in 53 starts. Battistini also captured the points lead over prior leader Richard Antinucci who struggled to a 9th place finish.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	2	15	Dillon Battistini	Panther Racing	115	0:47:05.6124	14	50
2	1	26	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	AGR-AFS Racing	115	+0.4948	101	43
3	6	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	115	+2.7089	0	35
4	5	16	Brent Sherman	Panther Racing	115	+2.8920	0	32
5	10	22	Pablo Donoso	Team Moore Racing	115	+2.9664	0	30
Race average speed: 130.986 mph (210.802 km/h)
Lead changes: 1 between 2 drivers
Cautions: 4 for 18 laps

Corning Duels Race 1

• Saturday July 5, 2008
• Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York
• Race weather: 72°, Sunny
• Pole position winner: #55 Franck Perera 1:37.8651 sec, 123.967 mph (199.506 km/h)
• Race summary: The race started under caution as James Davison stalled on track and Matt Lee spun during the pace laps. Once the green flag flew, Raphael Matos and Richard Antinucci passed polesitter Franck Perera in turn 4. Later that lap, Perera spun in the "toe" of the "boot" while J. R. Hildebrand and Bobby Wilson spun in the very next corner. The race was slowed one more time by a solo spin by points leader Dillon Battistini who had struggled all weekend. Matos dominated the remaining laps and won the race by over 2 seconds in front of his closest pursuer Antinucci. The race was ended 1 lap prior to the scheduled length because of the series imposed 1 hour time limit.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	2	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	28	1:01:18.6862	26	53
2	4	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	28	+2.1290	0	40
3	3	2	Jeff Simmons	Team Moore Racing	28	+9.3592	0	35
4	6	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	28	+15.4980	0	32
5	8	22	Pablo Donoso	Team Moore Racing	28	+16.6814	0	30
Race average speed: 92.342 mph (148.610 km/h)
Lead changes: 1 between 2 drivers
Cautions: 3 for 8 laps

Corning Duels Race 2

• Saturday July 5, 2008
• Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York
• Race weather: 76°, Sunny
• Pole position winner: #23 Logan Gomez (6th place in race 1)
• Race summary: The number six was drawn meaning that the top 6 positions from the first race would be inverted for race two and Logan Gomez would start from the pole. Ana Beatriz who started third took the lead from Gomez on lap 1 as Jonny Reid crashed, bringing out an early caution. After the restart Richard Antinucci climbed through the field to pass his teammate Beatriz for the lead on lap 10. Raphael Matos eventually found his way around Beatriz and began closing on Antinucci in the lead. Cyndie Allemann made heavy contact bringing out a full course caution and eliminating Antinucci's lead. However, Antinucci had a tremendous restart and was able to build his lead back to over 1 second and capture his second win of the season and regain the points lead.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	5	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	29	0:59:43.9195	20	53
2	6	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	29	+0.7209	0	40
3	3	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	29	+8.9378	9	35
4	1	23	Logan Gomez	Guthrie Racing	29	+11.4922	0	32
5	2	22	Pablo Donoso	Team Moore Racing	29	+12.0037	0	30
Race average speed: 98.168 mph (157.986 km/h)
Lead changes: 1 between 2 drivers
Cautions: 3 for 8 laps

Sunbelt Rentals 100

• Saturday July 12, 2008
• Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tennessee
• Race weather: 88 °F (31 °C), Mostly Cloudy
• Pole position winner: #11 James Davison 51.8844 sec 180.401 mph (290.327 km/h) 2 lap average
• Race summary: The race was delayed approximately 90 minutes by rain. At the start, Raphael Matos spun, but his car was not damaged and he was able to continue the race from the back of the field. On lap 32 Ana Beatriz passed teammate polesitter James Davison to take the lead. On lap 45 Jonny Reid and Davison made contact with Reid's car nearly getting airborne, however both drivers were uninjured. On the restart Beatriz was able to pull away from second place Bobby Wilson to capture her first Indy Lights series win, the first by a female driver.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	2	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	77	0:40:38.5208	45	53
2	8	17	Bobby Wilson	Team E	77	+1.2392	0	40
3	5	26	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	AGR-AFS Racing	77	+3.5627	0	35
4	10	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	77	+10.2598	0	32
5	4	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	77	+11.9599	0	30
Race average speed: 147.778 mph (237.826 km/h)
Lead changes: 1 between 2 drivers
Cautions: 2 for 11 laps

Mid-Ohio 100 Race 1

• Saturday July 19, 2008
• Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
• Race weather:
• Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 1:13.1434 sec, 111.135 mph (178.854 km/h)
• Race summary: Raphael Matos drove away from the field as he assumed the points lead and Dillon Battistini's bad luck continued. Matos led every lap of the race that was not slowed by any caution flags. The most significant incident occurred during the first lap when Wade Cunningham and Daniel Herrington made contact but were able to continue after dropping back, although Herrington's car required serious repair. Cunningham would recover to finish 12th while Herrington finished 21st after repairs. Another incident involved Battistini spinning off after light contact with Logan Gomez. He would finish 18th. Matos continued to stretch his lead over Perera late into the race and was essentially unchallenged for his third win of the year while Perera scored his first series podium finish.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	1	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	40	0:51:00.9047	40	53
2	2	55	Franck Perera	Guthrie Racing	40	+4.2603	0	40
3	4	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	40	+11.0992	0	35
4	3	9	Jonny Reid	Integra Motorsports w/ CGRT	40	+30.3922	0	32
5	9	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	40	+32.2972	0	30
Race average speed: 106.227 mph (170.956 km/h)
Lead changes: none
Cautions: none

Mid-Ohio 100 Race 2

• Sunday July 20, 2008
• Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
• Race weather: Rain
• Pole position winner: #9 Jonny Reid (4th place in Race 1)
• Race summary: The race was delayed because of heavy downpours causing standing water on the track. As a result of the delay, the race's time limit was shortened to 40 minutes from the usual 60. Virtually every driver in the field spun at least once and 10 of the 20 laps run were run under caution. Polesitter Jonny Reid led the first 16 laps until he was passed by Mitch Cunningham as the track finally started to dry. However, two laps later, Cunningham spun, handing the lead back to Reid. On the final lap of the race, Richard Antinucci, Robbie Pecorari, and Logan Gomez tangled, bringing out yet another full course caution and the race was to end under yellow with Reid all but assured his first series victory. However, Reid pulled into the pits, following the pace car as he thought the race was over, handing the win to James Davison, which was his first in the series. Points leader Raphael Matos had crashed early in the race and finished 18th. Reid was credited with 9th place.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	7	11	James Davison	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	20	0:41:52.5298	1	50
2	12	24	Wade Cunningham	Alliance Motorsports	20	+1.7928	0	40
3	10	22	Pablo Donoso	Team Moore Racing	20	+1.9196	0	35
4	17	18	Cyndie Allemann	American Spirit Racing	20	+2.4603	0	32
5	9	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	20	+3.3957	0	30
Race average speed: 64.706 mph (104.134 km/h)
Lead changes: 3 among 3 drivers
Cautions: 5 for 10 laps

Kentucky 100

• Sunday August 9, 2008
• Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Kentucky
• Race weather: Partly cloudy
• Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos 55.9064 sec 190.604 mph (2 lap average)
• Race summary: Dillon Battistini, who started 4th, took the lead from Ana Beatriz on lap 2 and led the rest of the way for his fourth win of the season. 20 of the race's final 29 laps were run under caution due to three separate incidents that took out Jeff Simmons, Pablo Donoso, Christina Orr and C. R. Crews.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	4	15	Dillon Battistini	Panther Racing	67	0:48:02.5443	66	53
2	5	11	James Davison	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	67	+0.0814	0	40
3	3	26	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	AGR-AFS Racing	67	+0.3057	0	35
4	10	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	67	+0.4001	0	32
5	6	16	Brent Sherman	Panther Racing	67	+0.6670	0	30
Race average speed: 123.841 mph (199.303 km/h)
Lead changes: 1 among 2 drivers
Cautions: 4 for 27 laps

Carneros 100

• Saturday August 23, 2008
• Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California
• Race weather: Sunny
• Pole position winner: #55 Franck Perera 1:23.2851 sec, 99.547 mph (160.205 km/h)
• Race summary: Polesitter Franck Perera led every lap to capture his first Indy Lights victory and Guthrie Racing's first win of the season. Richard Antinucci had passed outside front row starter Raphael Matos, his closest pursuer in the championship, at the start of the race for the second position, but was penalized and put back behind Matos. Matos took the points lead by a single point on points earned from this race.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	1	55	Franck Perera	Guthrie Racing	30	0:47:40.8370	30	53
2	2	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	30	+3.7395	0	40
3	3	7	Richard Antinucci	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	30	+7.4447	0	35
4	6	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	30	+15.3659	0	32
5	4	23	Logan Gomez	Guthrie Racing	30	+15.9528	0	30
Race average speed: 86.940 mph (139.916 km/h)
Lead changes: 0 among 0 drivers
Cautions: 2 for 4 laps

Valley of the Moon 100

• Sunday August 24, 2008
• Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California
• Race weather: Sunny
• Pole position winner: #22 Pablo Donoso (8th place in first race)
• Race summary: Due to a random draw, the first eight finishing positions from the Carneros 100 were used to determine the starting lineup for the Valley of the Moon 100, putting Pablo Donoso on the pole and Richard Antinucci, Raphael Matos, and Franck Perera in 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively. On the first lap, Mitch Cunningham made contact with another car and ran off track with his car coming to rest upside down and Logan Gomez was able to find his way from fourth to second. After the restart, Donoso was able to pull away from Gomez and led every lap as the race was not again slowed by caution. On lap 27, Matos had a run on Antinucci coming into turn 10, however, Antinucci slammed the door and Matos was forced to dive off track to avoid contact. Coming into turn 11, as both were under pressure from Perera who had gained on them after the theatrics in the previous turn, Matos bumped Antinucci from behind, sending him wide while both drivers were passed by Perera. The incident is under review by race officials. Donoso's win is his as well as his team's first in the series and he becomes the record 9th different driver to win in a single season.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	1	22	Pablo Donoso	Team Moore Racing	30	0:46:30.5168	30	51
2	4	23	Logan Gomez	Guthrie Racing	30	+2.0001	0	40
3	3	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	30	+8.3966	0	35
4	5	25	J. R. Hildebrand	RLR-Andersen Racing	30	+9.3983	0	32
5	8	55	Franck Perera	Guthrie Racing	30	+10.5459	0	30
Race average speed: 89.132 mph (143.444 km/h)
Lead changes: 0 among 0 drivers
Cautions: 1 for 3 laps

SunRichGourmet.com 100

• Sunday September 7, 2008
• Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois
• Race weather: Sunny
• Pole position winner: #27 Raphael Matos
• Race summary: The Team AGR-AFS Racing cars of Raphael Matos and Arie Luyendyk Jr. led 1-2 throughout the race, quickly followed by Ana Beatriz and Bobby Wilson who battled for third. A pivotal crash involving Richard Antinucci and Sean Guthrie on lap 26 sealed the 2008 Series Championship for Rafael Matos when Antinucci was unable to continue. Matos led his teammate entering the final lap. Luyendyk challenged and both Luyendyk and Beatriz passed Matos. Beatriz challenged for the lead but was unable to pass Luyendyk at the wire. Luyendyk won his first race after 62 starts in the series.

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	3	26	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	AGR-AFS Racing	67	0:46:46.7364	1	50
2	2	20	Ana Beatriz	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	67	+0.0817	0	40
3	1	27	Raphael Matos	AGR-AFS Racing	67	+0.1700	66	38
4	12	15	Bobby Wilson	Panther Racing	67	+0.2726	0	32
5	6	11	James Davison	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	67	+0.4281	0	30
Race average speed: 130.623
Lead changes:
Cautions:

Driver standings

Pos Driver HMS STP KAN INDY MIL IOW WGL NAS MDO KTY SNM CHI Pts 1 Raphael Matos 8 1 12 19 10 3 7 1 2 5 1 18 6 2 6 3 510 2 Richard Antinucci 2 2 1 13 2 16 9 2 1 12 3 14 4 3 2 21 478 3 Ana Beatriz 7 3 16 14 5 19 3 4 3 1 14 5 16 6 3 2 449 4 Arie Luyendyk Jr. 4 6 22 3 14 8 2 7 7 3 8 11 3 17 16 1 428 5 J. R. Hildebrand 10 5 2 1 24 5 8 19 9 4 5 6 18 4 4 22 409 6 Dillon Battistini 1 21 4 4 1 14 1 17 20 19 18 19 1 18 15 23 385 7 Logan Gomez 12 23 3 15 7 9 14 6 4 6 20 16 12 5 2 8 361 8 Pablo Donoso 21 14 17 12 19 7 5 5 5 10 10 3 22 8 1 13 358 9 James Davison 22 13 14 11 17 6 15 DNS 11 16 7 1 2 14 13 5 333 10 Sean Guthrie 11 15 5 6 12 10 20 13 10 8 13 7 7 13 9 17 322 11 Brent Sherman 3 17 13 8 16 11 4 14 14 11 16 10 5 19 21 19 300 12 Bobby Wilson 17 22 21 9 6 1 16 20 19 2 11 22 9 4 288 13 Jeff Simmons 4 19 7 8 2 6 3 6 15 6 21 23 285 14 Cyndie Allemann 16 8 10 22 26 18 18 9 18 13 17 4 13 22 11 14 250 15 Andrew Prendeville 6 7 20 23 9 4 12 11 13 9 9 8 247 16 Robbie Pecorari 10 23 2 4 17 14 22 13 10 10 14 7 235 17 Franck Perera 11 18 17 7 2 20 14 1 5 220 18 Jonny Reid 20 15 19 10 21 17 4 9 9 19 11 186 19 Wade Cunningham 9 5 3 12 12 2 24 169 20 Daniel Herrington 8 15 21 15 11 7 8 10 152 21 Micky Gilbert 15 16 11 20 21 17 13 20 15 12 140 22 Chris Festa 5 11 15 16 18 13 18 119 23 Mitch Cunningham 19 18 12 12 15 12 11 23 118 24 Mark Olson 18 25 20 22 15 16 19 17 23 20 105 25 Al Unser III 13 12 6 10 11 102 26 Juan Manuel Polar 14 9 7 DNS 15 12 100 27 Jonathan Klein 8 16 10 6 86 28 Marc Williams 18 9 15 21 10 78 29 Mike Potekhen 13 17 12 22 9 78 30 Christina Orr 21 20 18 16 45 31 Nathan Freke 20 20 8 44 32 Matt Lee 16 8 38 33 Tom Dyer 21 17 20 32 34 Tom Wieringa 18 22 18 32 35 Jake Slotten 19 17 23 31 36 Jon Brownson 23 21 27 DNS 23 37 Brandon Wagner 15 15 38 Travis Gregg 21 24 15 39 P. J. Abbott 19 11 40 C. R. Crews 20 10 Pos Driver HMS STP KAN INDY MIL IOW WGL NAS MDO KTY SNM CHI Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th–10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Not competing 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 Rookie of the Year Rookie

• Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

See also

• 2008 IndyCar Series season
• 2008 Champ Car Atlantic Season

References

1. ↑ Power of four, IndyCar.com, May 23, 2008
2. ↑ Lewandowski, Dave. Great Start, IndyCar.com, March 29, 2008
3. ↑ 2008 race results::Streets of St. Petersburg, IndyCar.com, April 6, 2008

External links

• Indy Lights Series website