Zach Claman DeMelo on his IndyCar Series debut

The young Canadian earned four podium finishes in this year's Indy Lights series, including a win at Road America. He found an agreement to drive the No. 13 Indy car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the season's finale at Sonoma. Sponsorship came from Paysafe, a leading global payments provider.

Claman DeMelo enjoyed a one-day test in the Honda-powered Dallara as he mixed with the big names of the series.

“Since I made the move to cars from karts I always knew that I either wanted to get a chance to race in the IndyCar Series or F1," he declared. "So to get this opportunity is a big deal for me and I can’t thank Paysafe or Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing enough. I think Sonoma in general is a great track! It’s really up and down, which is exciting. You have some fast sections and hard braking and a lot of blind corners so it’s a cool place with a bit of everything.

“The first time I tested the Indy car I was more excited than anything! The night before all I could think about was the test day. Overall after driving the car my feelings were that it’s more physical to drive than the Indy Lights car, but easier also. I say easier because the Lights car has less down force and a harder tire so because of those factors you are a lot busier with the wheel in the Lights car.”

In practice, the young rookie set the 22nd fastest time with a 1:17.9506 at the average speed of 110.147 mph.

“I started to push the Paysafe Honda a bit more," he said. "It was a good morning session. There was probably a bit more time in the car. I struggled a bit in the afternoon with the hotter temperatures and the new tires.”

Opening lap incident

In qualifying, he was part of Group 1, and emerged 21st with a time of 1:17.281.

“I made some good progress throughout the day," he added. "I was pretty far off in the practice before qualifying, but we made some changes to the car and I got better and I made some changes to my driving and I was only two-tenths off of making it through to the second qualifying round so I think it was a good result.”

The race started on the wrong foot for Claman DeMelo. He almost avoided multi-car contact on the opening lap, but had to pit to replace his front wing after Lap 1. This put him one lap down and on a different fuel strategy, but enabled him to run in clean air for parts of the race. He ran between veterans Will Power and Helio Castroneves and maintained their pace to cross the line in 17th position.

“Jack Harvey and Tony Kanaan came together and they got stuck and slowed down a bit more than I anticipated,” he explained. “I just clipped Harvey’s car, which was really close, and unfortunately I broke the front wing which forced us to make an early pit stop. After that the pace was really good, I just tried to do my own thing but unfortunately dropped a lap down. I ran with some quick guys like Will Power and Helio (Castroneves), and drove away from Helio. I made some positions back on lapped traffic and ended up finishing 17th. It was a good day. I learned a lot and want to thank Paysafe for the opportunity. It’s nice to complete my first race and get this many laps in. Overall I’m happy with the day.”