The Liberty Challenge was a race in the Indy Pro Series (now known as Firestone Indy Lights), held on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....

 in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Race History

For the first three years of its existence, the Indy Pro Series was contested on oval tracks only. This was also true of the parent IRL IndyCar Series

IndyCar Series

The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...

, at the time. All Indy Pro Series races were run as support to IndyCar Series events. Road course and street course events were added to both series in 2005.

In that year, the series added the Liberty Challenge, as a support race to the Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. This move allowed the Indy Pro Series drivers valuable exposure in front of the Formula One teams and fans. Some drivers, such as Graham Rahal

Graham Rahal

Graham Rahal is an American race car driver. He currently participates in the IZOD IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal.-Early racing:...

, ran this race as a one-off, while running other series (such as the Champ Car Atlantics).

The Liberty Challenge was the only Indy Pro race which was not run as support to an IndyCar Series contest. Also, the Indy Pro Series became the only racing series to hold races on both the oval and road course tracks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2007, a twin race format was utilized.

Race results

Year	Date	Day	Winning Driver	Race Distance		Time of Race	Winning Speed	Starting Cars	Lead Changes
				Miles	Laps
2005 2005 in IPS The 2005 Menards IRL Infiniti Pro Series Season was the series' fourth. It consisted of 14 races and the champion was Wade Cunningham. It was the first IPS season to include road course races. All teams used Dallara chassis and Infiniti engines....	June 18	Saturday	Marco Andretti Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti is an Italian American auto racing driver who drives the #26 car for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1991 IndyCar World Series champion Michael Andretti and the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti...	65.1	25	00:35:57.3780	108.465 mph	14	0
2006 2006 in IPS The 2006 Indy Racing League Indy Pro Series started the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 26th and finished September 9th at Chicagoland Speedway.-Miami 100:* Date: March 26* Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway...	July 1	Saturday	Alex Lloyd Alex Lloyd (racing driver) Alex Stewart Lloyd is a British motor racing driver. He currently takes part in the IndyCar Series...	59.9	23	00:35:53.516	100.159 mph	18	1
2007 2007 in IPS The 2007 Indy Racing League Indy Pro Series started on Saturday March 24 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The season's premiere race is the Freedom 100 on May 25 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The season finale was held at Chicagoland Speedway on September 9...	June 16	Saturday	Hideki Mutoh Hideki Mutoh is a Japanese race car driver from Tokyo currently racing in the IndyCar Series for Newman/Haas Racing.- History :He began karting at age 12 in 1996 and quickly moved through the ranks, becoming a part of Honda's Formula Dream Project. He moved to Europe in 1998 to compete in Formula Vauxhall...	46.9	18	00:26:09.8910	107.320 mph	25	0
	June 17	Sunday	Bobby Wilson Bobby Wilson (driver) Bobby Wilson is an American racing driver.An accomplished karter, Wilson won the "Stars of Tomorrow" championship and the Jim Trueman Scholarship in 2003 and was Shifter Kart Illustrated's driver of the year. He moved up to cars the following year and won the Formula Ford 2000 Zetec championship...	46.9	18	00:28:40.9170	97.901 mph	25	0

Qualification Results

Year	Date	Day	Pole Sitter / Fast Qualifier	Pole 1-Lap Qualifying Time	Pole Speed	Number of Qualifiers	Slow Qualifier Speed	Mean Qualifying Speed
2005	June 17	Friday	Marco Andretti Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti is an Italian American auto racing driver who drives the #26 car for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1991 IndyCar World Series champion Michael Andretti and the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti...	01:26.2360	108.539 mph	14	98.033 mph	105.234 mph
2006	June 30	Friday	Graham Rahal Graham Rahal Graham Rahal is an American race car driver. He currently participates in the IZOD IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal.-Early racing:...	01:25.5810	109.580 mph	18	105.203 mph	107.959 mph
2007	June 15	Friday	Hideki Mutoh Hideki Mutoh is a Japanese race car driver from Tokyo currently racing in the IndyCar Series for Newman/Haas Racing.- History :He began karting at age 12 in 1996 and quickly moved through the ranks, becoming a part of Honda's Formula Dream Project. He moved to Europe in 1998 to compete in Formula Vauxhall...	01:25.2810	109.966 mph	25	102.883 mph	107.541 mph

Event Records

	Year	Driver
Fastest Race	2005	Marco Andretti Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti is an Italian American auto racing driver who drives the #26 car for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1991 IndyCar World Series champion Michael Andretti and the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti...	Time: 35:57.3780	Speed: 108.465 mph	65.1 Miles	25 Laps
Fastest Qualification Run	2007	Hideki Mutoh Hideki Mutoh is a Japanese race car driver from Tokyo currently racing in the IndyCar Series for Newman/Haas Racing.- History :He began karting at age 12 in 1996 and quickly moved through the ranks, becoming a part of Honda's Formula Dream Project. He moved to Europe in 1998 to compete in Formula Vauxhall...	Time: 01:25.2810	Speed: 109.966 mph	2.605 Miles	1 Lap
Fastest Race Lap	2005	Marco Andretti Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti is an Italian American auto racing driver who drives the #26 car for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1991 IndyCar World Series champion Michael Andretti and the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti...	Time 01:25.9110	Speed: 108.950 mph	2.605 Miles	1 Lap
Most Starts by a Driver	2005 - 2007	Jaime Camara Jaime Camara Jaime Camara is a Brazilian race car driver, who most recently competed in the IndyCar Series for Conquest Racing.-Indy Racing League:... ;   Wade Cunningham Wade Cunningham Wade Cunningham is a racing driver from Auckland, New Zealand who has most notably competed in the Firestone Indy Lights Series.Cunningham's professional career began when he won the Karting World Championship in 2003.... ;   Chris Festa Chris Festa Chris Festa, born in Atlanta on September 5, 1985, is an American auto racing driver.Chris raced the #9 Dallara for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Indy Pro Series in 2007. As of the end of the 2007 season he has made 39 IPS starts with a best finish of 2nd and won the pole for the first race of the...			4 Starts each
Most Participants	2007	25 Starting Drivers

Drivers

In the three years that this race was contested, 43 drivers participated:

Driver:	Starts:		Best Finish:		Laps Led:
	Number	Years	Position	Year
Mishael Abbott	1	2005	12	2005	0
Marco Andretti	1	2005	1	2005	25
Richard Antinucci	2	2007	6	2007 (Race 1)	0
Doug Boyer	2	2007	14	2007 (Race 1)	0
Jon Brownson	2	2007	17	2007 (Race 2)	0
Nick Bussell	2	2005; 2006	4	2005	0
Jaime Camara	4	2005; 2006; 2007	3	2007 (Race 1)	0
Ed Carpenter	1	2005	11	2005	0
Larry Connor	1	2005	14	2005	0
C.R. Crews	1	2006	6	2006	0
Wade Cunningham	4	2005; 2006; 2007	2	2005	0
Jay Drake	1	2005	10	2005	0
Chris Festa	4	2005; 2006; 2007	3	2005	0
Phil Giebler	3	2006; 2007	7	2006	0
Micky Gilbert	2	2007	15	2007 (Race 1)	0
Logan Gomez	3	2006; 2007	6	2007 (Race 2)	0
Travis Gregg	1	2005	7	2005	0
Sean Guthrie	2	2007	12	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jon Herb	2	2005; 2006	8	2006	0
Daniel Herrington	2	2007	10	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jay Howard	1	2006	18	2006	0
Brad Jaeger	2	2007	16	2007 (Race 1)	0
Ryan Justice	2	2007	4	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jonathan Klein	3	2006; 2007	3	2006	0
Alex Lloyd	3	2006; 2007	1	2006	2
Ken Losch	2	2007	16	2007 (Race 2)	0
Arie Luyendyk Jr.	1	2005	6	2005	0
Scott Mansell	1	2006	14	2006	0
Raphael Matos	1	2006	4	2006	0
Hideki Mutoh	2	2007	1	2007 (Race 1)	18
Eric Paradis	1	2006	12	2006	0
Robbie Pecorari	2	2007	19	2007 (Race 2)	0
Mike Potekhen	3	2006; 2007	8	2007 (Race 2)	0
Andrew Prendeville	2	2007	20	2007 (Race 2)	0
Graham Rahal	1	2006	2	2006	21
Marty Roth	1	2005	8	2005	0
Joey Scarallo	2	2007	13	2007 (Race 2)	0
Jeff Simmons	1	2005	13	2005	0
Stephen Simpson	2	2007	5	2007 (Race 1)	0
Brett Van Blankers	1	2006	17	2006	0
Tom Wieringa	2	2007	18	2007 (Race 2)	0
Marc Williams	2	2007	20	2007 (Race 1)	0
Bobby Wilson	3	2006; 2007	1	2007 (Race 2)	18

Sources

• Indy Lights stats
• Champ Car Stats - Indy Pro Series