Pedro António Matos Chaves (; born 27 February 1965) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

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 ...

. Chaves was the second Portuguese

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

Champion, in 1986, starting an international career in 1987 in the

British Formula Ford Championship The British Formula Ford Championship was an entry level single seater motor racing category, designed to give racing drivers their first step into car racing after karting. Drivers from around the world were attracted to the United Kingdom to ...

. In 1990 he won the British F3000 Championship with the Madgwick Motorsport outfit, also racing in a few rounds of the FIA F3000 series. In , he suffered a disastrous season in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, failing to pre-qualify for 13 Grands Prix with an under-financed and uncompetitive Coloni. After failing to pre-qualify for the

Portuguese Grand Prix The Portuguese Grand Prix (''Grande Prémio de Portugal'') is a motorsports event that was first held in 1951 as a sportscar event, and then intermittently disappearing for many years before being revived again. In 1964 event was held as a spo ...

, Chaves left the team, taking the remainder of his sponsorship money with him. At the end of that year Chaves had an agreement with

Leyton House Leyton House Racing was a Formula One constructor that raced in the 1990 and 1991 seasons. It was, in essence, a rebranding of the March team which had returned to F1 in . Leyton House, a Japanese real estate company, had been the team's marque ...

(which would be renamed to March F1) to compete in , however the sponsorship money came too late, and

Karl Wendlinger Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver. Mercedes Juniors Born in Kufstein, Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 Cham ...

took the place. In 1992, Chaves returned to F3000, first with GJ Racing and later in the season moving to the more competitive

Il Barone Rampante Il Barone Rampante (sometimes known as Benetton Junior) was a Formula 3000 team created by Giuseppe Cipriani. The team took its name from the original Italian title of Italo Calvino's 1957 book The Baron in the Trees. The team ran in Internatio ...

, with no results. Chaves then spent three years in the American

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 program ...

series with Brian Stewart Racing, winning one race, in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in 1995. Chaves and

Robbie Buhl Robbie Buhl (born September 2, 1963) is an American former race car driver who competed in the Indy Racing League. He was a color commentator for the IndyCar races on Versus. In 2016, Robbie, along with his brother Tom Buhl, starteBuhl Sport Det ...

were the only drivers to win that season other than Greg Moore, who won the rest of the events. In 1996, he moved to

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

and was second in the Spanish Touring Car Championship in a BMW, before racing a

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

in the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

. Chaves moved to the Portuguese Rally Championship in 1998, winning the title in 1999 and 2000, with his co-driver

Sérgio Paiva Sergius is a male given name of Ancient Roman origin after the name of the Latin ''gens'' Sergia or Sergii of regal and republican ages. It is a common Christian name, in honor of Saint Sergius, or in Russia, of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, and h ...

, in a works-supported

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

WRC. In 2001, he took the

Spanish GT Championship The Spanish GT Championship / Iber GT (''Campeonato de España de GT / Iber GT'') was a Spanish auto racing series founded in 1999 and organised by the GT Sport Organización. The series runs multiple classes of grand tourer cars in events aroun ...

title, in a

Saleen S7 Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...

-R co-driven by

Miguel Ramos Miguel Pedro Caetano Ramos (born 26 September 1971 in Porto) is a Portuguese racing driver. He is a former Spanish and Italian GT champion, and has raced in the FIA GT1 World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2012 he races for V8 Raci ...

. He has also gone back to drive in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

and the FIA GT Championship, for Graham Nash Motorsport. In 2005 and 2006, he returned to the Portuguese Rally Championship to drive a works

Renault Clio The Renault Clio () is a supermini car (B-segment), produced by French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and entered its fifth generation in 2019. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consis ...

S1600. Chaves has since retired from racing and in 2006 became driver coach to

A1 Team Lebanon A1 Team Lebanon was the Lebanese team of A1 Grand Prix, a former international racing series. Management A1 Team Lebanon's owner is Tameem Auchi. History Daniel Morad became the race driver for A1 Team Lebanon for the 2008-09 season. Alt ...

. In 2008 he took over managerial duties in

A1 Team Portugal A1 Team Portugal was the Portuguese team for A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The ''A1 Team Portugal'' team owners were Luís Figo and Carlos Queiroz. The team's operations were run by CEO Luís Vicente, manager of the ...

. He is also managing the career of his son David.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

Complete Formula One results

(

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

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

Profile at F1 RejectsPedro Matos Chaves
at

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaves, Pedro 1965 births Living people Portuguese Formula One drivers Coloni Formula One drivers Indy Lights drivers British Formula 3000 Championship drivers Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers Portuguese racing drivers Portuguese rally drivers International Formula 3000 drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Sportspeople from Porto Formula Ford drivers A1 Grand Prix people 24 Hours of Spa drivers Teo Martín Motorsport drivers Nakajima Racing drivers