Gabby Chaves


Gabriel "Gabby" Chaves is a Colombian-American racing driver.

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.
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. In 2011 he signed to race with the Addax Team in the GP3 Series. 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. 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.
He signed on with Belardi Auto Racing for the 2014 Indy Lights season and won the championship, capturing four wins and 11 podiums in 14 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.
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.

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.

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

YearEntrant12345678910111213141516DCPoints
2011Addax TeamIST
FEA
10		IST
SPR
12		CAT
FEA
13		CAT
SPR
6		VAL
FEA
4		VAL
SPR
5		SIL
FEA
Ret		SIL
SPR
14		NÜR
FEA
27†		NÜR
SPR
17		HUN
FEA
23		HUN
SPR
Ret		SPA
FEA
16		SPA
SPR
16		MNZ
FEA
17		MNZ
SPR
7		19th8

Star Mazda Championship

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

YearTeamChassisEngine1234567891011121314151617RankPoints
2015Bryan Herta AutosportDallara DW12HondaSTP
17		NLA
15		LBH
16		ALA
16		IMS
15		INDY
16		DET
18		DET
9		TXS
10		TOR
15		FON
20		MIL
11		IOW
16		MDO
12		POC
11		SNM
14		15th281
2016Dale Coyne RacingDallara DW12HondaSTPPHXLBHALAIMS
17		INDY
20		DET
12		DET
13		RDA
19		IOW
17		TORMDOPOCTXS
14		WGLSNM22nd121
2017Harding RacingDallara DW12ChevroletSTPLBHALAPHXIMSINDY
9		DETDETTXS
5		RDAIOWTORMDOPOC
15		GTWWGLSNM23rd98
2018Harding RacingDallara DW12ChevroletSTP
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

Season still in progress.

Indianapolis 500

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

24 Hours of Daytona