ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Gabby Chaves will start from the pole position for the St. Petersburg 100, the first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires race of the season.

The Miami-based driver, who finished second in last year's Indy Lights championship, achieved the feat without turning a lap after a storm warning caused the scheduled half-hour qualifying session to be canceled. Officials instead decided to form the grid for Round 1 using combined times from the previous two practice sessions.

"I'm very happy for myself, with the first pole of the year, but I'm also happy for the team since it's their first pole in the series," Chaves said. "We're starting where we need to; now we need to control the race from the start. I was a rookie here last year, so your expectation is a little different -- you're trying to absorb and learn as much as you can and you really don't know what to expect.

"When you come back for a second year and you have the experience, your mindset is to capitalize on everything you learned the first year and be the fastest every time. That's my mindset going into the weekend and it's worked out so far. Yes, we lost the qualifying session to the weather, but we'll focus on the good stuff - that we were fastest in both sessions, have good pace and are very confident in the race car."

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Zach Veach, who also is contesting his second season of Indy Lights, will line up on the outside of the front row for Andretti Autosport.

Chaves, 20, driving the No. 5 Marca Colombia/Coldeportes entry for Belardi Auto Racing, set the fastest time in both practice sessions. His time of 1 minute, 0.4529 seconds bettered Veach by 0.2538 of a second. Matthew Brabham, the 2013 Pro Mazda champion, and Team Moore Racing's Vittorio Ghirelli will share Row 2.

USF2000 and Pro Mazda graduate Scott Anderson also impressed during the two practice sessions and will start fifth in Fan Force United's No. 24 entry, while Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate Jack Harvey will start sixth.