Zachary Claman De Melo Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Road to Indy driver announcements have further clarified the grids for the 2019 racing season so let’s take a look at the new car/driver combinations across the championships. For Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, two more drivers have been confirmed to go alongside Ryan Norman, Rinus VeeKay, Zachary Claman De Melo and David Malukas. Robert Megennis signed with Andretti Autosport to pilot the No. 27 Dallara IL-15. Before Indy Lights, Megennis drove in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship for two years with Team Pelfrey, scoringRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After scoring the first top-10 finish of his Verizon IndyCar Series career at the Grand Prix of Portland, Pietro Fittipaldi hopes to make the most of his partial season with Dale Coyne Racing in the No. 19 Paysafe Honda in the season-ending Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Fittipaldi had been splitting the car with former Indy Lights driver Zachary Claman De Melo and Santino Ferrucci before taking over the ride for the last five races of the 2018 season. At Portland, Fittipaldi started 16thRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Canada’s IndyCar racing trio of James Hinchcliffe, Robert Wickens and Zachary Claman De Melo will start ninth, 10th and 23rd ahead of Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Hinchcliffe and Wickens advanced to the second round of qualifying from their respective qualifying groups but each has had an interesting journey during this weekend. Hinchcliffe won last week’s Iowa Corn 300 but in the three practice sessions turned the 18th, 10th and 14th fastest laps in the three practice sessions while WickensRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After a much-needed week off, the Verizon IndyCar Series returns to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the tenth race in the 2018 schedule, the KOHLER Grand Prix. Road America made a welcome return to the IndyCar calendar in 2016 and has quickly become one of the largest race day crowds on the schedule. Will Power and Scott Dixon have won the last two races at Road America and both have twice visited victory lane this year. Power swept the Indianapolis Motor Speedway rounds ofRead More

By David Morgan, IndyCar Contributor FORT WORTH, Texas – Will Power had it all heading into Texas, with an Indianapolis 500 win in his pocket and the IndyCar Series points lead, but both his race and his spot atop the standings went up in sparks after a late race crash on the 1.5-mile oval. Starting the day up front along with his Team Penske teammates, Power parlayed a third-place start into a strong run in the race, consistently finding himself in the top-five for the majority of the event. Running sixthRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Pole Day has come and gone in preparation for the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500. There were surprises and interesting happenings during the day so let’s take a look at them. First of all, Ed Carpenter scored his third Indianapolis 500 pole with a four-lap average of 229.618 mph, almost a full mph higher than Simon Pagenaud starting second. It was interesting to see Helio Castroneves fall so much on his Fast Nine qualifying attempt. The fastest driver in yesterday’s runs, the speedRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS– With Pole Day qualifying beginning soon for the Indianapolis 500, it’s time for some random qualifying predictions. Final Row: Conor Daly, James Davison, Zachary Claman De Melo. This is based on Carlin’s earlier no-tow speeds during the week being higher on the time sheet and that Davison and Daly will not put their equipment at too much risk to make the show. Rahal found .3 mph yesterday and if that goes across all three cars, they might have pulled themselves off the back row. RowRead More

By Road to Indy INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – When qualifying begins tomorrow for the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500, a record 27 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires alumni will be among the field of 35 drivers vying for a coveted spot on the 33-car starting grid. Now more than ever, the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires and its moniker “there’s nothing like it in the world” has underscored its relevance as a clear scholarship-funded path to the Verizon IndyCar Series and the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.Read More

INDIANAPOLIS — Haas F1 reserve driver and current FIA Formula 2 driver Santino Ferrucci will make his Verizon IndyCar Series debut for the Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader weekend. The Connecticut native will race the No. 19 Paysafe Honda in place of Zachary Claman De Melo, who is replacing Pietro Fittipaldi in the Indianapolis 500 after Fittipaldi’s injury from a World Endurance Championship qualifying incident in Belgium two weeks ago. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to be able to race the No. 19 Paysafe car with Dale Coyne Racing at Detroit, especiallyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — In the first day of practice for the 2018 Indianapolis 500, Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud turned the fastest lap of the day. Pagenaud’s No. 22 Menards Chevrolet went around the 2.5 mile superspeedway at an average speed of 225.787 mph in a lap that came during the morning session. “It was a very productive day,” said Pagenaud. “So, yeah, felt pretty happy. We’re obviously still learning a lot about the aerodynamics of the car. It’s quite different to what we had the past fewRead More