ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – The NTT IndyCar Series season may be getting started this weekend on the streets of St. Pete, but so is the entire Road to Indy ladder system too. On Saturday and again on Sunday, the Indy Lights drivers took part in a doubleheader weekend.

This year, is a season of change as gone are 16 of the 17 race winners from last year. See, Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward combined to win 13 of those races in a dominating 1-2 finish for Andretti Autosport. Also gone is two race winner a year ago Santi Urrutia. So is Victor Franzoni. The only driver left to have won a race is Ryan Norman.

But, as we leave the 1.8-mile street circuit, Zachary Claman DeMelo has to be feeling really good about the chance he took on himself.

The Canadian driver made his first Indy Lights start since 2017 on Saturday and backed that up with leading all 35 laps from the pole. Claman DeMelo, earned his second career victory and his first with Belardi Racing.

See, Claman DeMelo had a deal to run a partial schedule with Dale Coyne Racing a year ago. He made nine starts in 2018 including a 19th place finish in the Indianapolis 500. But, despite a start in the 2017 season finale at Sonoma with Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing and a strong season with DCR last year, he didn’t have the right amount of funding to continue on in the IndyCar Series.

So, he took a step back and it’s paying off in a big way. Claman DeMelo won on Saturday and finished runner-up on Sunday in his No. 13 entry. If he can win this year’s championship, and yes I know we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, then Claman DeMelo will get a scholarship to race in select races in IndyCar again in 2020.

In the first race, he led flag-to-flag in an incident free season opener. Rookie Toby Sowery finished runner-up in his No. 2 BK Racing/Team Pelfrey entry as he crossed the finish line 0.7271-seconds back.

Fellow rookie Oliver Askew finished third in his No. 28 entry for Andretti Autosport after starting there too.

David Malukas and Rinus VeeKay rounded out the top five.

Sunday’s Race

This event was a much wilder race. Askew, started on the pole but by Turn 2, he was in the concrete barriers. See, VeeKay’s right front tire got into Askew’s left rear which sent Askew’s No. 28 entry into the wall ending his day with a 10th place run.

No action was taken from race control which meant VeeKay got to keep the lead. On the ensuing restart on Lap 7, VeeKay took off. He held a 6+ second lead until Askew’s teammate Robert Megennis crashed in Turn 10. That negated his advantage and packed up the field for a five lap shootout.

VeeKay, held everyone off for a win in his No. 21 entry with Juncos. The Dutch driver swept both races at St. Pete a year ago in Pro Mazda competition en route to the championship. He had seven wins and two runner-ups in a banner year last season with Juncos. That led to his promotion to Indy Lights. In 2017, he won three times and scored 12 podiums in 14 tries in USF2000. That wasn’t enough to win the title though as he finished second in the final standings.

Claman DeMelo finished runner-up to VeeKay on Sunday crossing the finish line just 0.6328-seconds behind. Sowery, finished third for his second podium in as many tries while Malukas was fourth again in his No. 79 entry. Julien Falchero rounded out the top five.