Gabby Chaves Explained

Gabby Chaves
Nationality: Colombian
Birth Name:Gabriel Chaves
Birth Date:1993 7, df=yes
Birth Place:Bogotá, Colombia
Racing Licence: FIA Gold
Embed:yes
Achievements:2014 Indy Lights Champion
Awards:2015 IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year
Total Irl Races:31
Years In Irl:4
Previous Year:2016
Prev Irl Pos:22nd
Best Irl Pos:15th (2015)
First Irl Race:2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg)
Last Irl Race:2018 Grand Prix of Portland (Portland)
Irl Wins:0
Irl Podiums:0
Irl Poles:0
Updated:April 23, 2018

Gabriel "Gabby" Chaves (born 7 July 1993) is a Colombian-American racing driver, currently competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Pilot Challenge. He raced in the IndyCar Series and is the 2014 Indy Lights Champion.[1]

Racing career

Early career

After winning several karting titles, Chaves began racing cars in 2007 in Skip Barber series in the United States. In 2008 he made his pro debut in Formula BMW Americas and finished 4th in Formula BMW Pacific and finished 14th in the Formula BMW World Finals. In 2009 he competed in a full season of Formula BMW Americas for Eurointernational and won the title, capturing 5 wins and 3 poles.[2]

Chaves brought his career to Europe in 2010, where he raced in the Italian Formula Three Championship with Eurointernational. He finished 10th in points and captured rookie of the year honors.[3] In 2011 he signed to race with the Addax Team in the GP3 Series.[4] Chaves finished 19th in points with a best finish of fourth at the Valencia Street Circuit.

American open-wheel racing

In 2012, Chaves return to the United States and signed with JDC MotorSports to race in the Star Mazda Championship. Chaves finished second in points with wins at the final two races of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta. The driver climbed to the Indy Lights in 2013, having signed for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.[5] He was runner-up with one win and ten podiums, and was part of the closest finish in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (when Peter Dempsey grabbed the Freedom 100 victory as part of a four-wide photo finish. Dempsey finished ahead of Chaves by a mere 0.0026 seconds).

He signed on with Belardi Auto Racing for the 2014 Indy Lights season and won the championship, capturing four wins (including the Freedom 100) and 11 podiums in 14 races.

Chaves signed with Bryan Herta Autosport to race full-time at the IndyCar Series in 2015.[6] Chaves led 31 laps at Pocono Raceway and had assumed the lead after leader and fellow rookie Sage Karam crashed, fatally injuring Justin Wilson in the process. Chaves led when the race was restarted with six laps to go but was passed for the lead. He was still on pace for his first podium finish when his engine let go with three laps remaining, bringing out a caution flag and effectively ending the race. The race was both Chaves' first laps led and only DNF of the season. Chaves captured the Rookie of the Year title by 78 points over Stefano Coletti. However, due to a sponsor default, the team was unable to retain him for the next season.[7] The team would confirm former Caterham and Manor Racing driver Alexander Rossi to drive the No. 98 for the season.[8]

The Colombian drove part-time for Dale Coyne Racing in the 2016 season, with a best result of 12th at Detroit race 1. In 2017, Chaves joined Harding Racing for the Indianapolis 500, Texas and Pocono races.[9] [10]

Chaves was appointed as driver coach for the USF Juniors, an entry-level series for the Road to Indy, ahead of the inaugural season in 2022.[11]

Sports car racing

Chaves joined the DeltaWing entry at the four endurance races of the United SportsCar Championship in 2014. He led 15 laps of the 10-hour finale at Road Atlanta, the Petit Le Mans, helping the team to a season-high fourth-place finish.

In 2020, Chaves joined Bryan Herta Autosport for a full season drive in the Michelin Pilot Challenge as a co-driver with Ryan Norman.[12]

Personal life

Chaves' father is a Colombian JetBlue airline pilot and Chaves has raced under both the American and Colombian flags.[13]

Racing record

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Indy Lights

YearTeam1234567891011121314RankPoints
2013Schmidt Peterson MotorsportsSTP
ALA
LBH
INDY
MIL
IOW
POC
TOR
MDO
BAL
HOU
FON
2nd449
2014Belardi Auto RacingSTP
LBH
ALA
ALA
IND
IND
INDY
POC
TOR
MDO
MDO
MIL
SNM
SNM
1st547

IndyCar Series

(key)

YearTeamChassisNo.Engine1234567891011121314151617RankPointsRef
2015Bryan Herta AutosportDallara DW1298HondaSTP
NLA
LBH
ALA
IMS
INDY
DET
DET
TXS
TOR
FON
MIL
IOW
MDO
POC
SNM
15th281[14]
2016Dale Coyne Racing19STPPHXLBHALAIMS
INDY
DET
DET
RDA
IOW
TORMDOPOCTXS
WGLSNM22nd121[15]
2017Harding Racing88ChevroletSTPLBHALAPHXIMSINDY
DETDETTXS
RDAIOWTORMDOPOC
GTWWGLSNM23rd98[16]
2018STP
14
PHX
15
LBH
19
ALA
17
IMS
17
INDY
14
DET
18
DET
19
TXS
15
ROA
19
IOW
21
TORMDOPOCGTW
18
POR
13
SNM21st187[17]
Season still in progress.

Indianapolis 500

YearChassisEngineStartFinishTeam
2015DallaraHonda2616Bryan Herta Autosport
2016DallaraHonda2120Dale Coyne Racing
2017DallaraChevrolet259Harding Racing
2018DallaraChevrolet2214Harding Racing

IMSA SportsCar Championship

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

YearEntrantClassMakeEngine1234567891011RankPoints
2014DeltaWing Racing CarsPDeltaWing DWC13Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 TurboDAY
SEB
LBHLGADETWGL
MOSIMSELKCOAPET
25th82
2015DeltaWing Racing Cars w/ Claro/TracFonePDeltaWing DWC13Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 TurboDAY
SEBLBHLGADETWGLMOSELKCOAPET34th17
2016Panoz DeltaWing RacingPDeltaWing DWC13Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L I4 TurboDAYSEBLBHLGADETWGL
MOSELKCOAPET30th25
2018PCadillac DPi-V.RCadillac 5.5 L V8DAYSEBLBHMDODETWGL
MOSELKLGA37th48
Whelen Engineering RacingPET
2020Whelen Engineering RacingDPiCadillac DPi-V.RCadillac 5.5 L V8 DAYDAY
SEBELKATLMDOPETLGASEB
21st51
2021Forty7 MotorsportsLMP3Duqueine M30 - D08Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8DAY
SEBMDOWGLWGLELKPETNC†0†
2022Andretti AutosportLMP3Ligier JS P320Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8DAY
SEB
MDO
WGL
MOS
ELK
PET
5th1764
2023Andretti AutosportLMP3Ligier JS P320Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8DAY
SEB
WGL
MOSPET
18th810
GTDAston Martin Vantage AMR GT3Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8LBHLGA
LIM
ELKVIRIMS
41st555
2024Andretti MotorsportsGTDPorsche 911 GT3 R (992)Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6DAY
SEB
LBH
LGA
WGL
MOS
ELK
VIR
IMS
PET
7th*1174*
Source:[18]
Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP3 Championship.

24 Hours of Daytona

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Felipe Nasr tests positive for coronavirus, misses Daytona 240 round. en. autosport.com. July 3, 2020. August 8, 2020.
  2. http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/7270/career/ Gabriel Chaves - career detail
  3. http://eformulacarnews.com/news_info.php?n=8205&sid=37a4c7bdd67df51dcf46d5db0c6e9f1b EFCN One-on-One: Eurointernational's Gabby Chaves
  4. http://www.racer.com/addax-to-run-chaves-in-gp3/article/199376/ Addax to run Chaves in GP3
  5. http://www.indycar.com/News/2013/02/2-14-Chaves-graduates-to-Firestone-Indy-Lights-with-SPM Chaves graduates for '13 to championship team"
  6. News: Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves gets 2015 BHA IndyCar seat. Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Glendenning. Mark. 3 February 2015. 4 February 2015.
  7. Web site: Pruett. Marshall. INDYCAR: Chaves vows to rebound after losing BHA seat. Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc.. February 19, 2016. February 18, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160219103751/http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/126229-indycar-chaves-vows-to-rebound-after-losing-bha-seat. 19 February 2016. dead.
  8. Web site: Reiman. Samuel. IndyCar: Alexander Rossi confirmed at Andretti. Foxsports.com. Fox Sports Digital Media. February 23, 2016. February 23, 2016.
  9. http://www.indycar.com/News/2017/04/04-10-Harding-Racing-Chaves-Indy-500-entry New Team Harding Racing Enters Chaves for 101st Indianapolis 500
  10. Web site: Harding Racing to add Texas, Pocono to schedule. Mark. Glendenning. May 20, 2017. May 20, 2017. Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc.. https://web.archive.org/web/20170520114048/http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/140643-harding-racing-to-add-texas-pocono-to-schedule. 20 May 2017. dead.
  11. Glendenning. Mark. Andersen Promotions unveils USF Juniors series. Racer. 30 September 2021. 28 October 2021.
  12. Web site: Pruett . Marshall . BHA reunites with Chaves in Pilot Challenge; adds Norman . Racer . October 16, 2020 . January 3, 2020.
  13. http://www.broward.org/Take5/Documents/GabbyBio.PDF Gabby Chaves Biography
  14. Web site: Gabby Chaves – 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 1, 2023.
  15. Web site: Gabby Chaves – 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 1, 2023.
  16. Web site: Gabby Chaves – 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 1, 2023.
  17. Web site: Gabby Chaves – 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. August 1, 2023.
  18. Web site: Gabby Chaves Results . October 26, 2023 . motorsportstats.com.