Gabriel "Gabby" Chaves (born 7 July 1993) is a Colombian-American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

, currently competing in the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

and the

Michelin Pilot Challenge The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cu ...

. He raced in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

and is the 2014

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progra ...

Champion.

Racing career

Early career

After winning several

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ...

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 Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young ...

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 EuroInternational is a racing organization (which includes Italian division EuroInternational Srl and American division EuroInternational Inc.) owned by Antonio Ferrari, grandnephew of Enzo Ferrari, formerly known as Euromotorsport. History Origi ...

and won the title, capturing 5 wins and 3 poles. Chaves brought his career to Europe in 2010, where he raced in the

Italian Formula Three Championship The Italian Formula Three Championship was the Formula Three racing competition in Italy. History Formula Three has traditionally been regarded as the first major stepping stone for F1 hopefuls - it is typically the first point in a driver's care ...

with Eurointernational. He finished 10th in points and captured rookie of the year honors. In

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

he signed to race with the

Addax Team Addax, or Barwa Addax was a Spanish motorsport team owned by the bank Addax Capital, which competed in the GP2, GP3 and GP2 Asia Series. Team history GP2 Series Barwa Addax was formed as a result of Alejandro Agag purchase of the Campos Rac ...

in the GP3 Series. Chaves finished 19th in points with a best finish of fourth at the

Valencia Street Circuit The Valencia Street Circuit ( ca-valencia, Circuit Urbà de València, es, Circuito Urbano de Valencia, links=no) was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years (2008–2012). The firs ...

American open-wheel racing

In 2012, Chaves return to the United States and signed with

JDC MotorSports JDC–Miller MotorSports is a sports car racing team that currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The team currently fields the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R full-time for Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbro ...

to race in the

Star Mazda Championship The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the Road to Indy l ...

. Chaves finished second in points with wins at the final two races of the season at

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...

and

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

. The driver climbed to the

in 2013, having signed for

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren Racing competes under the banner of Arrow McLaren SP. This entry is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former driver Sam Schmidt as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Fellow ex-driver Davey Hamilton joined as ...

. 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 The Freedom 100 was an automobile race held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, as part of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. The event was a support race for the IndyCar Series Indianapolis 500, and since 2 ...

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 Bryan Herta Autosport is an American auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and the Michelin Pilot Challenge. It is owned by former IndyCar driver Bryan Herta. The team won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with driver Dan Wheldon. In 2016 ...

to race full-time at the

in 2015. Chaves led 31 laps at

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly Pocono International Raceway), also known as ''The Tricky Triangle'', is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It is the site of three NASCAR national series races and an AR ...

and had assumed the lead after leader and fellow rookie

Sage Karam Sage Rennie Karam (born March 5, 1995) is an American professional racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 43 and 45 Chevrolet Camaros for Alpha Prime Racing and part-time in the IndyCar Series, drivi ...

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 Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...

and

Manor Racing Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT or Pertamina Manor Racing MRT, was a British Formula One racing team and constructor based in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The team originally started racing in 2010 ...

driver

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional racing driver and podcast host. He currently competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi is best known for winning ...

to drive the No. 98 for the season. The Colombian drove part-time for

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

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 Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and Pocono races.New Team Harding Racing Enters Chaves for 101st Indianapolis 500
''IndyCar'', April 10, 2017, Retrieved 2017-04-10 Chaves was appointed as driver coach for the USF Juniors, an entry-level series for the

Road to Indy A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

, ahead of the inaugural season in 2022.

Sports car racing

Chaves joined the

DeltaWing The DeltaWing is a racing car designed by American race car designer and engineer Ben Bowlby and debuted at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The entry was run under the Project 56 name, composed of Ben Bowlby (design), Dan Gurney's All American R ...

entry at the four endurance races of the United SportsCar Championship in 2014. He led 15 laps of the 10-hour finale at

, the

Petit Le Mans The Petit Le Mans (French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which ...

, helping the team to a season-high fourth-place finish. In 2020, Chaves joined

for a full season drive in the

as a co-driver with

Ryan Norman Ryan Norman (born March 19, 1998 in Aurora, Ohio) is an American racing driver. Norman is a former motocross rider and is currently competing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, driving for Bryan Herta Autosport and won the 2020 IMSA TCR Championsh ...

Personal life

Chaves' father is a Colombian

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...

airline pilot and Chaves has raced under both the American and Colombian flags.Gabby Chaves Biography
''Website of Broward County, Florida'', Retrieved 30 May 2016

Racing record

Complete GP3 Series results

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

Star Mazda Championship

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

( key) 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. ^* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Daytona

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaves, Gabriel 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Bogotá Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople Colombian racing drivers Formula BMW USA drivers Formula BMW Pacific drivers Italian Formula Three Championship drivers GP3 Series drivers from Colombia FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indy Lights champions Indy Lights drivers Colombian IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year Harding Steinbrenner Racing drivers JDC Motorsports drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers Belardi Auto Racing drivers Bryan Herta Autosport drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers Andretti Autosport drivers Action Express Racing drivers EuroInternational drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers