INDY LIGHTS: Veach goes from first to worst as Serralles wins opener

Good news for Felix Serrates and his Carlin Indy Lights No. 4, bad news for Zack Veach, who said, "I feel a little sick to my stomach right now," seconds after the checkered flag fell.

And with good reason: Veach took the lead just after the green flag for the season-opening Indy Lights race at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, and he was stretching out the margin when, exiting Turn Three, "The engine just shut off," Veach said.

It came back to life enough to limp around for a while, but at the checkered flag, Veach and his Belardi Auto Racing car was last of the 16 starters, completing 27 of the 30 laps.

Which left Serralles relatively unchallenged. "I just pushed like hell, and I finally got a win on a street course," said Serralles, who won last year on the Milwaukee oval. Second was Scott Hargrove of Team Pelfrey, third was Kyle Kaiser of Juncos Racing.

"It was a good result," said Serralles. "I just tried to be careful and take care of the tires." He started a disappointing seventh after his qualifying run was shortened by a red flag. Serralles said he could match Veach's pace, but at the expense of some front tire grip, so he backed off and waited to see what would happen – and what happened to Veach's car gave Serralles the win.

Serralles' margin over Hargrove was 5.53 seconds on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary circuit. Veach had the fastest lap of the race at 1 minute, 7.658 seconds.