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2012 Firestone Indy Lights Race RecapsSt. Petersburg 100 – Saturday, March 24 at Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.Tristan Vautier avoided on-track issues with other competitors, handled three restarts flawlesslyand went on to a 1.0391-second victory over Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate Esteban Guerrieri in theseason-opening St. Petersburg 100.Vautier became the 10th driver to win his debut race in the series and the sixth who has won hisdebut at St. Petersburg (Marco Andretti, Raphael Matos, Junior Strous, J.K. Vernay and JosefNewgarden).Sebastian Saavedra moved up one position to claim third place in the No. 27 Team AFS car andOliver Webb was fourth in his series debut in the No. 7 Lucas Oil Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. VictorCarbone was fifth.Grand Prix of Alabama – Sunday, April 1 at Barber Motorsports ParkSebastian Saavedra outpaced the 15-car field in efficient manner in the 40-lap Grand Prix ofAlabama. It was the fourth victory in the series for Saavedra, driving the No. 27 Team AFS car, and firstthis season.Tristan Vautier, driving the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car and therace winner at St. Pete, retained the series championship points lead by finishing second. Saavedra iseight points behind heading to the street course race at Long Beach on April 15.Esteban Guerrieri, who started fourth in the No. 11 Pistas Argentinas/Sam Schmidt Motorsportscar, advanced to claim a podium finish.Grand Prix of Long Beach – Sunday, April 15 at Streets of Long BeachEsteban Guerrieri overtook Sunoco Pole Award winner Sebastian Saavedra in Turn 1 of Lap 1 onthe 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit and went on to his first Firestone Indy Lights victory of the seasonby 1.5989 seconds.It was the fourth career victory (11th top-five finish in 17 races) for the 27-year-old Argentinian.Picking up two bonus points for leading the most laps, Guerrieri heads to the Freedom 100 atIndianapolis Motor Speedway three points behind Saavedra (130) in the championship standings. TristanVautier, the points leader entering the race, was credited with third place and has 128 points.Vautier joined the duo in Victory Circle because of a 30-second penalty assessed the No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling car driven by Gustavo Yacaman for ignoring the instructions of RaceControl. The car lost one of its mirrors with about 15 laps left in the 45-lap race, and the driver was calledto pit lane to replace it (a rule). However, the team didn't have a replacement mirror and he continued.Firestone Freedom 100 – Friday, May 25 at Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayEsteban Guerrieri overtook race leader Tristan Vautier and Gustavo Yacaman in Turn 1 on Lap38 and went on to win the Firestone Freedom 100.A close final two laps were expected, but the No. 4 Belardi Auto Racing car driven by JorgeGoncalvez made moderate contact with the Turn 2 wall on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway onLap 39, bringing out the yellow flag. He was checked at the infield care center and cleared.Guerrieri, winning for the second time this season, pumped his fist as the No. 11 PistasArgentinas/Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian car crossed under the checkered flag. It wasthe fourth consecutive year that a Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver won the race.Carlos Munoz, who got around Vautier and Yacaman before the caution finished second withVautier settling for third place.