Pedro Matos Chaves

Pedro António Matos Chaves (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾu ˈmatuʃ ˈʃavɨʃ]; born in Oporto, 27 February 1965) is a Portuguese racing driver. Info from Wiki

Bio by Stephen Latham
In his first year racing, Pedro Chaves (whose father was a former rally driver and official in Portugal’s national association) won 1985’s Portuguese Toyota Starlet series. Following this he moved into Formula Ford 1600, with sponsorship from the Mateus wine company, and went on to take the title.

In 1987 he entered the British Formula Ford Championship, but broke his collarbone in an accident while testing at Snetterton, though would continue racing in the series for two seasons. Moving up to F3000 he raced a Reynard for Cobra Motorsports and then in 1990 won the British F3000 Championship with Madgwick Motorsport and he also drove in several FIA F3000 races, taking a career best fourth place finish at Brands Hatch.

Then came a move into Formula 1 with Coloni, but the team were under-financed and uncompetitive and he never made it through pre-qualifying during the season. He left the team after the Portuguese GP and returned to F3000 in 1992, racing with GJ Racing though he later moved to the Il Barone Rampante team. There had been an agreement to race for Leyton House in 1992 but there were delays in his sponsorship money coming through and Karl Wendlinger got the drive.

Following this came three years in American Indy Lights with Brian Stewart Racing and he was classified in the top five in the three seasons (1993 to 1995). He took a victory in Vancouver in 1995 and he (and Robbie Buhl) were the only drivers to win that season as Greg Moore won the remaining races.
Moving into touring cars for 1996 he finished second in a BMW in the Spanish Touring Car Championship, before racing a Porsche in the FIA GT Championship.
Switching to the Portuguese Rally Championship in 1998, he was champion in 1999 and 2000 (with co-driver Sérgio Paiva), in a Toyota Corolla WRC. In 2001, he and Miguel Ramos took a Saleen SR-7 to the Spanish GT Championship title.

Following this came drives with Graham Nash Motorsport at Le Mans and in the FIA GT Championship (taking a fifth place at Magny Cours) and he returned to the Portuguese Rally Championship in a works Renault Clio S1600 in 2005 and 2006.

He became a driver coach to A1 Team Lebanon and in 2008 took over managerial duties with A1 Team Portugal.

Before Formula One

Hailing from Oporto in Portugal, Pedro Chaves is also known as Pedro Matos Chaves. He began racing as early as 1980 in local karting competitions, and through to 1985 he continued in Portuguese karting. In 1985, he also took part in the Toyota Starlet trophy, which he won. Paulo Costa tells us that towards the end of the year, he also used his Starlet in two rounds of the Portuguese Rally Championship for Beginners, but after crashing in the second round, he decided to concentrate on track racing. In 1986, Chaves moved up to Formula Ford 1600, and he walked off with both the Portuguese and Iberian championships, as well as victories in the rest of continental Europe, and in England. Those results earned him a berth the next year with David Sears Motorsport in the British Formula Ford 1600 championship.

In 1988, Chaves was 3rd in the British FFord championship in a Van Diemen, before making the unusual decision to jump straight into F3000 in 1989. Driving a Reynard 89D Cosworth in a deal with Cobra Motorsports, it was, not surprisingly, a very difficult year for Pedro, failing to qualify four times in ten rounds, and only managing a best result of 11th at Brands Hatch. Familiar with British tracks, in 1990 he shifted to the British F3000 championship. His skill had been noticed by Nigel Mansell, who arranged for Chaves to drive in his Mansell Madgwick Motorsports team, in the latest Reynard 90D.

Instead of feeling the pressure, Pedro drove brilliantly, winning at Thruxton, the Brands Hatch Indy track, and the last three rounds at Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Donington. Add to that superb consistency, and Chaves won the title 62 points to Alain Menu’s 34. Chaves carried that form into four rounds of the International F3000 championship with his Mansell Madgwick car, finishing 4th at Brands Hatch. Those three points placed him equal 16th in the championship on 3 points with Fabrizio Barbazza and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. That year, Chaves also took part in the Macau F3 race, without success.

Formula One

On the strength of his 1990 results, he got a drive with the Coloni team in 1991, using a Ford engine in a chassis designed by the team engineers in conjunction with the University of Perugia. But with virtually no money, a down-on-power engine, an inexperienced driver, and an outdated chassis, Chaves and Coloni were always going to struggle. Stuck in pre-qualifying, struggle they did. In fact, in 13 attempts Chaves would never manage to pre-qualify. In the season opener at Phoenix, Tom Prankerd tells us that Chaves began his F1 career with a crash at the first corner out of the pits. He recovered to be 6th fastest, although only the top 4 got through. He was faster than Olivier Grouillard’s Fondmetal and Eric van de Poele’s Lambo. It would be the only time that Chaves was faster than more than one driver.

In Brazil, he was still faster than Grouillard, but over a second away from the Lambos. Then at Imola, his engine blew, leaving him 4.5s slower than anyone else, but at Monaco, he once again beat the Fondmetal. In Canada, he was 8.5s behind the second-last driver, and in Mexico he was classified 6th fastest in pre-qualifying again, only because Nicola Larini’s Lambo was disqualified. Slowest in France, Britain, Germany and Hungary, he finally managed to beat someone when he went faster than Fabrizio Barbazza’s ailing AGS in Belgium. He failed to record a lap in Italy when his car failed on the out-lap, but perhaps he had reason to be confident entering his home GP – local knowledge was on his side for sure. But it was not to be. What’s more, he came dead last in pre-qualifying – by more than five seconds!

After that debacle, he left the team and was replaced by Naoki Hattori, who fared no better. At least Hattori brought enough sponsorship to emblazon the Coloni sidepods with miniscule Japanese scripting! Whilst the reasons for Chaves’ departure may have seemed obvious, perhaps there was more than met the eye. We’ll let the man explain himself: “I am leaving the team because I do not have any certainties for the future. The team has been living a very difficult situation for the last three races. I have never tested and did only 13 laps in three races. This is a situation neither me nor my sponsors can accept.”

He continues: “When I signed the contract with Coloni it was very clear that I wasn’t obliged to bring money for the team. Of course, I brought as much as I could because I wanted the best for the team and myself. So, if the team hasn’t enough money to run normally, I am not responsible for it.” But there was perhaps one final important factor: “Above all we are talking about my dignity. I had a contract with Enzo Coloni that has not been respected by him. He was supposed to pay me US$100,000 and he gave me but US$10,000. I am a professional driver so I must be paid to survive like any other worker. Japan and Australia are a long way from home and as I had to pay my air tickets I could not afford it.”

After Formula One

His F1 debacle behind him, Chaves has nonetheless scored some respectable results in his post-F1 career. In 1992, he returned to F3000 driving for both the GJ Motorsport team, in a Lola T92/50 Mugen, and the Il Barone Rampante team, in a Reynard 92D Cosworth. He only failed to qualify once at Spa, but otherwise tended to finish in the midfield, his best being 7th at Enna. He was also invited to test for the Mercedes team in their DTM car, but nothing came of that. And so in 1993, it was off to America, to dabble in the Indy Lights category, the stepping stone to CART. He got this opportunity with the help of his long-time sponsor Salvador Caetano, the importer for Toyota, BMW and MAN in Portugal. In his first year, Chaves did a fine job, scoring 3rds at Toronto and Mid Ohio, and a 2nd at Vancouver, plus other points-scoring results en route to 4th in the championship with 105 points.

In 1994, continuing with sponsorship from MAN and Castrol Portugal, he actually scored more points (132 of them), but only came 5th overall, despite 3rd places at Long Beach, Detroit, Cleveland and Mid Ohio, and 2nd places at Portland and Laguna Seca. But an accident at Toronto hurt his chances. At the end of the year, he returned to his native Portugal to try out rallying once again, competing in the Baja 1000 Rally with a Mitsubishi V6 3000, but Tom Prankerd tells us that his steering column failed at the end of the first stage, leaving Chaves classified 86th out of the 95 starters!

Still, road racing was his thing at this stage, and in 1995 he continued in Indy Lights, and once again came 5th, but this time managed a victory at Vancouver. Unable to land a CART drive, in 1996 he returned to the Iberian Peninsula to race in the Spanish Touring Car Championship, funded by Caetano once again. There he did respectably enough, coming 2nd in the series with 160 points in his BMW, taking victories in the second race at Estoril, the first race at Jerez, and both races at Jarama. 1997 saw Chaves join Roock Racing in various rounds of the FIA GT championship. He raced a Porsche 911 GT1 at Nurburgring, Spa, and the A1-Ring with Ralf Kelleners and Stephane Ortelli, and he also raced a Porsche 911 GT2 at Suzuka, Donington, Mugello and Sebring with the likes of Robert Nearn, H. Wada, Ni Amorim, Patrick Goueslard and Andre Ahrle. In the GT2 class, he ended up equal 11th with 13 points.

In 1998 he took the dirt full time in the Portuguese Rally Championship. It was a major seachange, but there was an explanation, and as Paulo Costa tells us, yet again his sponsorship partnership with Caetano was at the heart of it. Originally Pedro had wanted to continue racing sports cars, and he had tried to get a drive in a GT2 Chrysler Viper in the FIA GT championship. But Caetano wasn’t happy with the companies he represented sponsoring a car of another brand altogether. So he offered Chaves an alternative – to go off-road in a Toyota Corolla WRC prepared by Grifone. However reluctant he was, in the end he didn’t have much choice, and he fronted up in 1998 in the Telecel Castrol team.

In his debut year, Chaves proved capable though. He came 7th in the series with a 2nd in the Rali Oliveira do Hospital, and a 3rd in the Rali F.C. Porto. He also took part in the World Rally Championship round in Portugal, in which he came 13th, where he was the 2nd highest local driver. By 1999 Chaves was no longer a road racer dabbling in rallying, but had developed into a genuine contender. With Sergio Paiva as his navigator, and Paulo Ferreira as boss of the Telecel team, with Abel Fernandes as technical director, Chaves was a force to be reckoned with in his Corolla WRC. In 1999, he won the Rali Oliveira do Hospital, and the Rali F.C. Porto, as well as coming 2nd in the Rali dos Açores. In an amazing transition, Chaves edged out the opposition to become national rally champion. He also took part in the WRC Portugal round once again.

With the same team and crew in 2000, Chaves successfully defended his title, scoring 1715 points to Adruzilo Lopes’ 1676.5, taking victory in five rounds, including the Rali Sport Rota do Dão, and once again taking 2nd in the Rali dos Açores in his Corolla WRC. However, whilst taking part in the World Rally Championship Rally of Portugal, he went off the road and crashed. Nonetheless, in 2000 Chaves took time to reflect on his career: “I have been almost 20 years in the sport, and right from the start, Castrol has always been my partner. I started with karting then Formula Ford here in Portugal, moving on to racing in Britain, Europe and America. My only disappointment was when I was racing in Formula 1. This was that we never managed to qualify for the F1 Coloni!”

Chaves had been so impressive in 2000 that he represented Portugal in the traditional end-of-year Race of Champions event in the Canary Islands, where he was far from disgraced, even if he was knocked out in the sudden-death format before the final stages. In 2001, Pedro is continuing to campaign his Corolla locally, but had once again retired from the World Championship round in Portugal, this time with clutch problems.

On a personal note, Chaves is married to Helena, and he has two children. As the son of the Vice-President of the Automobile Club of Portugal, that fact has no doubt opened some doors for him along the way!

CAREER SUMMARY

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