2016 Alternate IndyCar Series

2016 IndyCar Series
Verizon IndyCar Series
Season
Races	16
Start date	March 13
End date	September 18
Awards
Drivers' champion	Template:FRA Simon Pagenaud
Manufacturers' Cup	Template:USA Chevrolet
Rookie of the Year	Template:USA Alexander Rossi
Indianapolis 500 winner	Template:USA Alexander Rossi
Seasons
Previous season	Next season
2015	2019

The 2016 IndyCar Series season was the 21st season of the IndyCar Series, and the 105th recognized season of top-level American open wheel racing.

F1RICS rivalry and cancellation

Enduring another year as rivals to the new F1RICS category, IndyCar suffered record losses as attendances were down significantly at the series' events, losing a large portion of its fanbase to F1RICS. Whilst the championship was able to continue to the end of 2016, the pull-out of investors during the formation of its rival series had hindered IndyCar financially.

A new investment firm, the Velocity Group, announced its plans to purchase the IndyCar franchise and to rename it "Velocity Elite" for 2017, but their plans to rebrand the series and introduce a highly-experimental closed-cockpit prototype were incredibly unpopular with teams and series partners. Withdrawing their bid for the series, the IndyCar board elected to put the series on a hiatus until the correct investment was found.

At around the same time that IndyCar decided to close its doors temporarily, F1RICS was dissolved as the series proved to be incredibly expensive for both teams and investors; allowing multiple chassis suppliers and engines the freedom to command high fees, teams were charged increasingly extortionate amounts, and coupled with low returns from ticket and sponsor revenue meant that the series was completely unsustainable. F1RICS closed its doors at the end of 2016, leaving America without a top-level open-wheel series until 2019.

Final Driver Standings

Pos Driver STP PHX LBH ALA IGP INDY DET ROA IOW TOR MDO POC TEX WGL SNM Pts QL 500 1 Template:FRA Simon Pagenaud 2* 2 1 1* 1* 8 19 13* 2* 13 4 9 1 18 4 7 1* 659 2 Template:AUS Will Power DNS 3 7 4 19 6 10 20 1 1* 2 1 2 1 8 20 20 532 3 Hélio Castroneves 4 11 3* 7 2 9 11 5 14 5 13 2 15 19 5 3 7 504 4 Template:USA Josef Newgarden 22 6 10 3 21 2 3 14 4 8 1* 22 10 4 22 2 6 502 5 Template:USA Graham Rahal 16 5 15 2 4 26 14 4 11 3 16 13 4 11 1 21 2 484 6 Scott Dixon 7 1* 2 10 7 13 8 19 5 22 3 8* 22 6 19 1* 17 477 7 Tony Kanaan 9 4 6 8 25 18 4 9 7 2 7 4 12 9 3 19 13 461 8 Juan Pablo Montoya 1 9 4 5 8 17 33 3 20 7 20 20 11 8 9 13 3 433 9 Template:USA Charlie Kimball 10 12 11 9 5 16 5 8 16 6 10 11 8 15 6 6 9 433 10 Carlos Muñoz 8 22 12 14 12 5 2 6 15 10 12 17 3 7 7 11 15 432 11 Template:USA Alexander Rossi 12 14 20 15 10 11 1 10 12 15 6 16 14 20 11 8 5 430 12 Template:USA Ryan Hunter-Reay 3 10 18 11 9 3 24* 7 3 4 22 12 18 3 13 14 4 428 13 James Hinchcliffe 19 18 8 6 3 1 7 18 21 14 9 3 5 10 2* 18 12 416 14 Timo Glock 21 8 9 16 24 19 9 1 8 18 8 7 20 5 10 5 10 404 15 Mikhail Aleshin 5 17 16 17 13 7 27 15 17 16 5 6 17* 2* 16 22 11 347 16 Template:USA Marco Andretti 15 13 19 12 15 14 13 16 9 12 14 10 13 12 12 12 8 339 17 Takuma Sato 6 15 5 13 18 12 26 11 10 17 11 5 9 22 20 17 14 320 18 Template:USA Conor Daly 13 16 13 20 6 24 29 2 6 21 21 15 6 16 21 4 21 313 19 Template:GBR Max Chilton 17 7 14 21 14 22 15 21 22 20 19 18 16 13 15 10 16 267 20 Template:GBR Jack Hawksworth 11 19 21 19 20 31 16 22 19 11 15 21 21 14 17 16 18 229 21 Template:USA Spencer Pigot 14 11 29 25 17 18 9 19 7 15 22 165 22 Gabby Chaves 17 21 20 12 13 19 17 14 121 23 Template:USA J. R. Hildebrand 22 15 6 84 24 Oriol Servià 18 10 12 72 25 Template:USA Ed Carpenter 21 20 31 18 21 18 67 26 Roberto Merhi 20 20 17 18 14 61 27 Template:USA Townsend Bell 4 21 55 28 Template:USA RC Enerson 19 9 19 55 29 Template:GBR Pippa Mann 25 18 17 46 30 Template:AUS Matthew Brabham 16 26 22 37 31 Alex Tagliani 23 33 17 35 32 Template:USA Sage Karam 23 32 22 33 Template:USA Bryan Clauson 28 23 21 34 Template:GBR Stefan Wilson 30 28 14 35 Template:USA Buddy Lazier 32 30 12