Zachary Claman DeMelo (born April 20, 1998) is a Canadian professional race car driver from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec. He has competed in Formula Renault 2.0, the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

and other open-wheel series, most recently competing for

Belardi Auto Racing Belardi Auto Racing was an American racing team in the Indy Lights series. The team was owned by Brian Belardi, who competed in SCCA. Belardi was previously located in Illinois before moving to Brownsburg, Indiana. Indy Lights 2011-2013 Jorge ...

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progra ...

in 2019.

Racing career

Karting and lower formula

Claman DeMelo began competing in various regional and national karting events in 2008. In 2010, at the age of 12, he clinched his first Canadian National Karting Championship as well as his first Eastern Canadian Karting Championship. By the age of 16, he had won 3 Canadian National Karting Championships, 5 consecutive Eastern Canadian National Championships, and earned a 3rd-place finish at the Rotax Karting World Championships. Claman DeMelo made his car racing debut in the 2014–15 Formula Skip Barber winter series, where he won two of the four races. In 2015, Claman DeMelo moved to Europe and participated in a handful of races in several Formula Renault 2.0 series, including Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, and Formula Renault 2.0 Alps. From there, he moved on to the Invitational class of the

MSV F3 Cup The MotorSport Vision Formula Three Cup is a national motor racing series that takes place primarily in the United Kingdom, with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It is a club racing series aimed towards amateur drivers and aspiring ...

, where he claimed a win in all 8 races he drove in.

Indy Lights

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, he entered

as the youngest driver on the grid (at 17 years old) with defending championship team

Juncos Racing Juncos Hollinger Racing, formerly Juncos Racing, is an Argentine-American racing team competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, Indy Lights and Indy Pro 2000 Championship series in the Road to Indy ladder for IndyCar. Owned by Ricardo Juncos, who for ...

. In his rookie campaign, Claman DeMelo put up 9 finishes in the top 10 and 3 finishes in the top 5. In 2017, Claman DeMelo raced for the 2016 defending championship team,

Carlin Motorsport Carlin, formerly Carlin Motorsport, is a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It currently competes in five championships: FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, F4 British Championship, BRDC British Formula 3 and ...

. He captured his first series win at Road America and captured a pair of podium finishes in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. He finished fifth in points, just four points behind teammate

Matheus Leist Matheus Tobias Leist (born September 8, 1998) is a Brazilian racing driver for JDC-Miller MotorSports in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Karting Leist began karting in 2009 at the age of eleven. In 2013, he finished as runner-u ...

in fourth. Unable to secure a full-time ride in the

NTT IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

, Claman DeMelo chose to return to Indy Lights for the 2019 season, this time with

. After winning the season-opening round at St. Petersburg, the season went south for the team, and budget issues ended Claman DeMelo's season before the

Freedom 100 The Freedom 100 was an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, as part of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. The event was a support race for the IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500, and since 2 ...

IndyCar Series

In July 2016, Claman DeMelo participated in an

test with

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren Racing competes under the banner of Arrow McLaren SP. This entry is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former driver Sam Schmidt as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Fellow ex-driver Davey Hamilton joined a ...

. He made his IndyCar debut in the 2017 season finale at

Sonoma Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southe ...

with

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 ...

. In February 2018, Claman DeMelo was named a part-time driver of the No. 19 Paysafe

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

for

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

in the

2018 IndyCar Series The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 23rd season of the Verizon IndyCar Series and the 107th official championship season of American Championship car racing, American open wheel racing. The premier event was the 2018 Indianapolis 500, 102nd ...

Personal life

One of Claman DeMelo's grandmothers spent time in a Nazi concentration camp. She was freed on a Friday the 13th, and the tattoo numbers added up to 13. He has used number 13 on his racecars during most of his career. In 2016, Claman DeMelo and his sister launched a shoe brand called ZCD Montreal. Currently focused on its women's division, ZCD Montreal shoes have been featured in ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' magazine, ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. Celebrities such as Victoria's Secret model Devon Windsor and actresses

Margot Robbie Margot Elise Robbie (; born 2 July 1990) is an Australian actress and producer. Known for her work in both blockbuster and independent films, she has received several accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, four Golden Glob ...

and Elisha Cuthbert have also been seen wearing ZCD shoes.

Racing record

American open-wheel racing results

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

* Season still in progress.

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Demelo, Zachary 1998 births Living people Canadian people of Portuguese descent Canadian racing drivers Carlin racing drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 Alps drivers Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Racing drivers from Quebec Dale Coyne Racing drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Belardi Auto Racing drivers Juncos Hollinger Racing drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers