Gabby Chaves

Gabriel 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.

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 fourth in Formula BMW Pacific and finished fourteenth 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 five wins and three poles.

Chaves brought his career to Europe in 2010, where he raced in the Italian Formula Three Championship with Eurointernational. He finished tenth in points and captured rookie of the year honors. In 2011, he signed to race with the Addax Team in the GP3 Series. Chaves finished nineteenth 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. 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).

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

Chaves signed with Bryan Herta Autosport to race full-time at the IndyCar Series in 2015. 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. The team would confirm former Caterham and Manor Racing driver Alexander Rossi to drive the No. 98 for the season.

Chaves drove part-time for Dale Coyne Racing in the 2016 season, with a best result of twelfth at Detroit race 1. In 2017, Chaves joined Harding Racing for the Indianapolis 500, Texas and Pocono races.

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.

Sports car racing Chaves joined the DeltaWing entry at the four endurance races of the United SportsCar Championship in 2014. He led fifteen 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.

Personal life Chaves' father is a Colombian JetBlue airline pilot and Chaves has raced under both the American and Colombian flags.

Racing record

Complete GP3 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points 2011 Addax TeamISTFEAISTSPRCATFEACATSPRVALFEAVALSPRSILFEASILSPRNÜRFEA27†NÜRSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPR 19th 8

Star Mazda Championship Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points 2012 JDC MotorSports STP STP BAR BAR IND IOW TOR TOR EDM EDM TRO TRO BAL BAL LAG LAG ATL 2nd 360

Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points Ref 2013 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports STP ALA LBH INDY MIL IOW POC TOR MOH BAL HOU FON 2nd 449 2014 Belardi Auto Racing STP LBH ALA ALA IND IND INDY POC TOR MOH MOH MIL SNM SNM 1st 547

IndyCar Series (key) Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref 2015 Bryan Herta Autosport 98 Dallara DW12 Honda STP NLA LBH ALA IMS INDY DET DET TXS TOR FON MIL IOW MOH POC SNM 15th 281 2016 Dale Coyne Racing 19 STP PHX LBH ALA IMS INDY DET DET RDA IOW TOR MOH POC TXS WGL SNM 22nd 121 2017 Harding Racing 88 Chevrolet STP LBH ALA PHX IMS INDY DET DET TXS RDA IOW TOR MOH POC GTW WGL SNM 23rd 98 2018 STP14 PHX15 LBH19 ALA17 IMS17 INDY14 DET18 DET19 TXS15 ROA19 IOW21 TOR MOH POC GTW18 POR13 SNM 21st 187 Season still in progress.

Indianapolis 500

IMSA SportsCar Championship (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) † Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP3 Championship.