Santi Urrutia claimed victory after a chaotic second weekend race to open the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season on the streets of St. Petersburg.

The 21-year-old Uruguayan started sixth today in the No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing Mazda/Dallara IL-15, but an odd sequence of events led to his seventh career win in the Mazda Road to Indy’s top rung.

“When you’re not having a strong weekend, you have to take the points,” Urrutia said, “and yesterday we take second and today the win. I’m really happy. Belardi did an awesome job during the weekend. Finally, to get the win is pretty good. My first win on a street circuit, too.

“So I’ve won on all three types of tracks (that Indy Lights has to offer).”

Pato O’Ward, Saturday’s Race 1 winner, started on pole for the 40-lap event in the No. 27 Andretti Autosport Mazda, but teammate Colton Herta pulled off a brilliant outside pass entering Turn 1 to snatch the lead.

However, there was carnage behind as third-place Aaron Telitz crashed in a hastily prepared backup car after crashing his primary car the day before. The incident also cost Victor Franzoni the nose of his No. 23 Soul Red Juncos Racing entry and brought out the first full-course caution.

Herta, in the No. 98 Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing entry, crashed in Turn 8 on Lap 10, which brought out the second full course caution.

At this point, Urrutia quietly moved to second place. Leader O’Ward gapped the field by more than six seconds by Lap 29 and looked to be putting on an encore performance of his dominant victory in Race 1. Until, that is, he went into the runoff area of Turn 4 and fell to seventh.

In the lead, Urrutia kept it clean and took the win by 11.7406 seconds over Shelby Blackstock, who claimed second to score a career-best finish in his 52nd Indy Lights start.

“I feel bad for Aaron and Pato, but to come home with a podium, I’m so excited. For Neil (Alberico) and I to come home fifth and second is great,” said Blackstock, who teamed with Alberico at Team Pelfrey in late entries for the event.

“We were second and third there for a while, and that would have been beyond a win for the Pelfrey team. The deal came together on Sunday and we were at the track on Wednesday, so it’s been pretty intense. I just kept my head down today, kept it clean and brought it home.

“It’s great to get a podium in the first race, so we’ll see what happens from here.”

For Urrutia, a two-time series runner-up, the weekend’s finishes have him front and center with the points lead leaving St. Petersburg.

“Right now, we have to keep going this way,” said Urrutia, who holds an eight-point advantage over O’Ward. “I have to work a little bit (more) with the car. I think the team has to work a little bit with the car, too, but they’ve been working really, really hard. I think we have a good car. We’re going to be competitive pretty much everywhere we go, especially on the tracks that I’m strong. We’re going to Barber next, which is a track that I like.

“We have to keep working and finishing on the podium and everything is going to be fine.”