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Gualter Salles

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Gualter Salles

Gualter Salles (born September 28, 1970, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), is an open wheel race car driver. He raced in the 1997-2000 and 2003 CART seasons, as well as one Indy Racing League event, totalling 49 IndyCar starts overall. He also competed in Stock Car Brasil between 2001 and 2007.

Racing career

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Early career

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Gualter Salles Thruxton British F3 1994

Salles began his racing career in Europe in 1991 at the age of 20, finishing 11th in the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries. He finished second the following year with two wins behind Gareth Rees. He competed in a handful of Formula 3 races across the British, Italian and South American series before getting a seat in British Formula 3 with West Surrey Racing. He finished tenth in 1994 and switched to Fortec Motorsport for a seventh place finish in 1995 and a lone win at Silverstone.[1]

For 1996, Salles ventured into the United States and signed with Brian Stewart Racing to compete in Indy Lights. He scored a pole position for his second race at Long Beach, where he finished third, and had a three-win streak over the summer at Portland, Cleveland and Toronto that put him 10 points adrift championship leader David Empringham. Bad results over the last three races demoted him to third behind fellow Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan.[1]

CART

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While Kanaan stayed one more year in Indy Lights and went on to win the championship, Salles stepped up to Indycars in the CART World Series, driving for the newly found Davis Racing. With the underfunded effort, Salles managed to finish seventh at Laguna Seca and tenth at the Michigan 500, enough for 20th in the standings. He then went on to drive for Payton/Coyne Racing in a six-race program, sharing the ride with Dennis Vitolo. Salles surprised by qualifying fourth at Long Beach, and scored a single point at Motegi with a 12th place finish.[2]

Salles had a variety of one-off outings in 1999 with Payton/Coyne and Bettenhausen Racing, as well as his lone Indy Racing League start at Tri-Star Motorsports. During the summer, he was hired by All American Racers to obtain feedback on their Eagle 997 chassis, contesting seven races, and finished the year with a top-10 appearance at Surfers Paradise for Bettenhausen.[3] Salles was hired by Dale Coyne in 2000, but after three retirements due to mechanical failures in an unsponsored car, he was replaced by funded driver Tarso Marques. Nevertheless, he came back to Coyne in the middle of the season after Takuya Kurosawa was ruled out for the rest of the season with an injury. Then again, all three races ended in retirement.[4]

Salles did not find a ride for 2001 and switched his focus onto his native country to compete in Stock Car Brasil, before making a comeback to CART with Coyne in 2003. He first replaced Alex Yoong at Portland after the Malaysian ran into sponsorship issues, and then took over the other spot from Joel Camathias for the rest of the year, except for a couple of races where his stock car commitments took precedence.[5] In his last CART race, he finished in a career-best 6th place at Surfers Paradise.

Other series

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Salles had a brief sportscar foray in 2001, competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona and making a three-race gig with Panoz Motorsports in the American Le Mans Series.[6] Beyond that, he mostly drove in Stock Car Brazil until 2007, driving Chevrolets with very limited success and a lone podium finish over seven seasons.[1]

Motorsports career results

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American open–wheel racing results

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(key)

Indy Lights

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Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points
1996 Brian Stewart Racing MIA
6 		LBH
3 		NAZ
11 		MIS
6 		MIL
4 		DET
22 		POR
1 		CLE
1 		TOR
1 		TRO
15 		VAN
21 		LAG
19 		3rd 108

CART

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Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rank Points Ref
1997 Davis Racing Reynard 97i Ford XD V8t MIA
15 		SRF
24 		LBH
18 		NZR
24 		RIO
19 		STL
12 		MIL
22 		DET
21 		POR
23 		CLE
19 		TOR
18 		MIS
10 		MDO
20 		ROA
13 		VAN
26 		LS
7 		FON
14 		20th 10 [7]
1998 Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 98i Ford XD V8t MIA MOT
12 		LBH
13 		NZR RIO
20 		STL MIL DET POR CLE TOR
21 		MIS MDO
23 		ROA
17 		VAN LS HOU SRF FON 28th 1 [8]
1999 Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 98i Ford XD V8t MIA MOT LBH
27 		NZR 26th 5 [9]
Bettenhausen Racing Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t RIO
17 		STL MIL SRF
10 		FON
All American Racers Eagle 997 Toyota RV8D V8t POR
27 		CLE
13 		ROA
20 		TOR
25 		MIS
15 		DET
11 		MDO
18 		CHI VAN LS HOU
2000 Dale Coyne Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford XF V8t MIA
20 		LBH
22 		RIO
14 		MOT NZR MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIS CHI
22 		MDO
23 		ROA
20 		VAN LS STL HOU SRF FON 30th 0 [10]
2003 Dale Coyne Racing Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL
13 		LS POR
18 		CLE
17 		TOR VAN
DNS 		ROA
11 		MDO
17 		MTL
12 		DEN
18 		MIA MXC
15 		SRF
6 		FON
NH 		19th 11 [11]

Indy Racing League

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Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points Ref
1999 Tri-Star Motorsports Dallara IR9 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 WDW
23 		PHX CLT INDY TXS PPIR ATL DOV PPI2 LVS TX2 44th 7 [12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Driver: Gualter Salles | Driver Database". driverdb.com. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ^ "SpeedCenter - Long Beach 1998". www.speedcenter.com. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  3. ^ Henderson, Martin (1999-06-25). "Gurney Will Keep Salles in Driver's Seat This Week". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  4. ^ "Kurosawa Out For Rest Of Season". www.speedcenter.com. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  5. ^ "CHAMPCAR/CART: Yoong steps down at Dale Coyne Racing". us.motorsport.com. 2003-05-27. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  6. ^ "Gaulter Salles (BR) - All Results - Racing Sports Cars". www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  7. ^ "Gualter Salles – 1997 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  8. ^ "Gualter Salles – 1998 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  9. ^ "Gualter Salles – 1999 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  10. ^ "Gualter Salles – 2000 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  11. ^ "Gualter Salles – 2003 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  12. ^ "Gualter Salles – 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
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