Gabby Chaves relinquished the sour recollections of finishing .0026 of a second behind Peter Dempsey in the 2013 Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway while accepting the winner’s trophy 364 days later.
Chaves, driving for Belardi Auto Racing in the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires’ signature event, beat Matthew Brabham to the finish line by .0050 of a second in the third-closest finish in series history.
New memories will be made this month for Chaves, whose Freedom 100 victory contributed mightily to his Indy Lights championship, on the 2.5-mile oval. The Miami resident, driving the No. 98 Bowers & Wilkins/Curb Honda for Bryan Herta Autosport, will participate May 3 in the Indianapolis 500 rookie orientation test and then join others for a full afternoon of practice with the new superspeedway aerodynamic bodywork packages from Honda and Chevrolet.
The team announced today that the No. 98 entry will have primary sponsorship from Angie's List in the May 9 Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Click it: May 3 Promoter Test details
Stefano Coletti, driving the No. 4 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet, also will participate in the 10:45 a.m.-noon (ET) program that examines car control, placements and a consistent driving pattern.
Both drivers have four road/street course races under their six-point cockpit harness, but the May 3 sessions that lead into practice and qualifying for the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 24 mark their initial run on a superspeedway in Verizon IndyCar Series cars.
“I really don’t know what to expect,” said Chaves, 21, of Miami. “I’m really excited to get started with rookie orientation and go through the steps and see how everything feels.”
Added Coletti: “I’ll have to take it slow, honestly. I have no idea what to expect from ovals. I’m sure they’re very difficult, and I’m sure that the setup is very critical, and you need the car to be perfectly suited to your driving style.”
For Chaves, at least he’s familiar with the Speedway oval. He’s driven the Dallara IL-15 during its development last summer and has ferried passengers on high-speed trips in an Indy Racing Experience two-seater in addition to Indy Lights practices and races.
“One of the good things is that it’s probably the track that I already have the most miles on, so that’s good,” said Chaves, who has finished 16th in the past two races. “I feel comfortable there more than any other place, and that’s definitely going to help me. More than that, the actual race day. Last year after winning the Freedom 100 I was able to come out on the grid on Race Day and it just blew my mind.
“Nothing else compares; just hundreds of thousands of people all around you and to know you’re the spotlight. It’s definitely an interesting feeling, but not just that. The history and the legends who have been through there and everything the track carries through almost 100 years now of running. To have the opportunity to be there doesn’t compare to anything else.
“It is a special race, but like any other race you put your helmet on you just have to focus on the job at hand.”
Full practice for the Indianapolis 500 opens May 11, with six-hour sessions continuing through May 15.
“We are a one-car team but Bryan having been a driver for so long it almost makes it like a two-driver team,” Chaves said of the team owner who made five starts in the ‘500.’ “In our debriefs and engineering meetings he’s always there and he’s asking me about what feedback I got from the car and then he can relate to that and we can bounce ideas off each other about what’s the right way to move forward with the car set-up. I’m sure that will help a lot in the ‘500’ as well.”