Denver, NC (25 September 2018) – Gabby Chaves will return to Action Express Racing in the 21st running of Petit Le Mans on October 13th as IMSA stages the season-finale race for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Chaves will share the driving duties in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi. V.R with co-drivers Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr for the ten-hour enduro at Road Atlanta.
The race will mark his second start with the team this season, having contested the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling entry in June. Chaves has a strong record at the fast Georgia circuit going back to his days working up the open wheel ladder, and more recently with his run to fourth on board a Prototype machine in the 2016 edition of Petit Le Mans.
“I’m excited to race the Whelen Engineering Cadillac at Road Atlanta and I hope to help the team close the year out as well as we possibly can,” said Chaves. “I really like Road Atlanta, it is one of my favorite tracks in this country. The first half of the lap is so fast and requires a ton of commitment from the driver so it is really rewarding to drive, especially in a car that has the kind of performance that the IMSA prototypes do.”
Chaves made a positive impression in his first effort with the team earlier this year in his return to IMSA competition at Watkins Glen International.
“Gabby (Chaves) did a good job for us at the Glen and we think he’ll be a great fit with Eric (Curran) and Felipe (Nasr) at Road Atlanta,” said team manager Gary Nelson. “He is quick, a great team player, and has experience with traffic management that is so important in a race like this. We are happy to have him with us and looking forward to getting down to Atlanta to get the race weekend going.”
Chaves recently had the opportunity to test with the team in preparation for the season finale, and was pleased with how seamless the transition was as he moved from the Mustang Sampling entry he raced at Watkins Glen to the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac Prototype machine.
“This is a tight, very focused team, so it was no big deal to go from being in the Mustang Sampling car to being part of the 31 Whelen team,” said Chaves. “Action Express is a very good group, and I felt comfortable right away. This is a race that you have to have good pace, make good decisions for ten hours, and execute perfectly if you want to have a result so that is the focus for everyone and I’m happy to be a part of this effort.”
The Motul Petit Le Mans event weekend will open on Thursday, October 12th for practice with the grid being set in Friday’s qualifying session. The race will go green at 11:05 AM ET on Saturday.
