Consistency displayed in the first half of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season will go a long way in Jack Harvey’s pursuit of the championship that tantalized him until the checkered flag of the 2014 season.

The second-year Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian recorded two victories, including the Freedom 100 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, and seven top-five finishes in the eight races.

Harvey takes a 192-179 lead over Carlin’s Ed Jones, who won the first three races of the 16-race season, into this weekend’s doubleheader on the 1.755-mile, 11-turn street circuit at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Spencer Pigot of Juncos Racing, who has two victories, is third with 168 points.

All three rungs of the Mazda Road to Indy will stage doubleheader races this weekend in Toronto.

“Taking the lead of the championship was really what I wanted to accomplish in the month of May. I knew that meant winning because the field is so competitive this year,” said Harvey, who won the Freedom 100 under caution because of a late-race incident and won the front end of the Mazda GP of Indianapolis doubleheader on the road course.

“For the team and drivers it puts down quite a good marker to say we’re pretty good on all circuits so you’re going to have to be on your ‘A’ game to beat us. We’re always trying to raise the bar ourselves anyway.

"I think what it leads to is an even more competitive field in the second half of the season,” Harvey said. “Their determination gets higher, their hunger gets higher.”

Harvey, 22, of England, can relate. He won four the final five races of the 2014 season in the No. 42 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian car and tied Gabby Chaves on points for first place in the standings. Chaves, the series championship runner-up in 2013, clinched the title with a runner-up finish in the finale at Sonoma Raceway. Both recorded four victories so the tiebreaker turned to second-place finishes, which Chaves held a 5-1 advantage through the 14-race season.

With that title run experience and familiarity with the remaining five racetracks, Harvey’s confidence runs high.

“All the circuits we’re going to now but Iowa we were strong last year,” he said. “Last season we got incredibly close and at one point were leading the championship, and now we have a gap that could double or shrink in one weekend. Keep winning and that will make our life much simpler.”