BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Sebastian Saavedra's return to Firestone Indy Lights is off to a quick start.

The native of Colombia, who turns 22 on June 2, outpaced the 15-car field in efficient manner in the 40-lap Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. It was the fourth victory in the series for Saavedra, driving the No. 27 Team AFS car, and first this season.

Click it: Grand Prix of Alabama box score || Watch: Race highlights

Saavedra opened the season with a third-place finish on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., a week earlier. He competed in the IZOD IndyCar Series last season with Conquest Racing, and is hopeful of claiming the Firestone Indy Lights championship and its prize money to return.

Saavedra, starting from the pole, had a comfortable advantage over Tristan Vautier halfway through the race. But Vautier closed the gap to 0.8079 with 10 laps to go as they caught traffic, and a full-course caution for the No. 28 Forsythe/EMC/Barracuda Networks car of Troy Castaneda for Bryan Herta Autosport making contact with the tires in Turn 6 provided Vautier the opportunity to get a run on the Lap 36 restart.

Saavedra got the jump that time, and another full-course caution on Lap 38 for the No. 26 Team Dialy-Ser car for Andretti Autosport driven by Carlos Munoz (running fourth) making contact with the barrier in Turn 12 sealed the deal as the race finished under caution.

"The car was great in the beginning," Saavedra said. "We were able to manage a very good gap on Tristan and at some point we started saving tires. It didn’t work very well. I think when I needed the tires to help me out when Tristan was getting close to me they were not there. Fortunately, it was only five laps to go."

Vautier, driving the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car and the race winner at St. Pete, retained the series championship points lead. Saavedra is eight points behind heading to the street course race at Long Beach on April 15.

"Second is very good. Of course, you love to win, but the Andretti guys were very strong in the open testing, we knew they were the ones to beat and we got very close at the end of the race," Vautier said. "I tried at the start, when I saw Sebastian pulling away, to save my tires and try to do a move at the end and catch him at the end and it almost worked. Then we got the yellow flag, which cost us a few laps and it was quite close between us three on the restart, but then another yellow flag.

It’s tough competition this year. It’s nice battles always, so really looking forward to the next race and working hard to be strong at Long Beach."

Esteban Guerrieri, who started fourth in the No. 11 Pistas Argentinas/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, advanced to claim a podium finish. Gustavo Yacaman in the No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling car benefitted from Munoz's mishap and finished fourth. Victor Carbone, whose best qualifying lap was voided because of creating a caution, advanced 10 positions to finish fifth.

"My car was really really good towards the end and our focus on saving tires was excellent," said Yacaman, who started seventh. "I just want to thank my team; they did a really really good job and it was a tough weekend for us. We were always down there in the charts, but with a cool head we got a pretty good result."