Is 19-year-old Zachary Claman DeMelo still the favorite to drive the #19 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing in the 2018 IndyCar season?
Zachary Claman DeMelo, 19, has been widely considered the favorite to land a ride with Dale Coyne Racing in the #19 Honda for the 2018 IndyCar season. But is this still the case as the season approaches and is now under two months away from getting started?
Claman DeMelo was supposed to test at Sebring International Raceway for Dale Coyne Racing last Wednesday in the #19 Honda in an attempt to impress the team so that he could potentially land a full-time ride with them in the 2018 season.
However, that did not end up happening as a result of the fact that Claman DeMelo’s drug test results were never received. Here is what Claman DeMelo said about not testing for Dale Coyne Racing last week but still potentially doing so in the future, according to Racer.com.
"“I don’t know what happened; IndyCar says they never got my results from the lab, but now they should have them tomorrow, I was told. I’m clean – no worries there – but without the results, I wasn’t able to run. It’s a shame.”“Seb [Bourdais] is meant to be back here on the 24th, so we’re talking about me being there to test the 25th. And we’re continuing to talk with Dale in the meantime about racing for the team.”"
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Before people start speculating, the answer is no — no as in there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the drug test results are negative. However, with Claman DeMelo not likely to test for the team for roughly another week, this obstacle has prolonged Dale Coyne Racing’s process in terms of assessing and then eventually picking a driver or drivers to drive the #19 Honda in the 2018 IndyCar season.
With all of that said, is Claman DeMelo still the favorite to land the ride?
Evidently Jack Hawksworth, 26, who last drove in IndyCar in the 2016 season, has a chance to land a ride with Dale Coyne Racing for the 2018 season, as he is a favorite of Honda. However, nothing more than “sharing the seat” has been discussed for Hawksworth at this point.
So yes, Claman DeMelo is still the favorite to land a ride with Dale Coyne Racing in the #19 Honda for the 2018 IndyCar season. However, that ride may end up being a part-time ride as opposed to a full-time ride.
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Will Zachary Claman DeMelo end up driving for Dale Coyne Racing in the 2018 IndyCar season? If so, will he be a full-time driver or a part-time driver for the team? Expect these questions to be answered within the next few weeks, as the season is set to get started on Sunday, March 11th with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.