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
Early career
Salles began his racing career in Europe in 1991 at the age of twenty, finishing eleventh 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.
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 ten points adrift championship leader David Empringham. Bad results over the last three races demoted him to third behind fellow Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan.
CART 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 twentieth 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.
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-ten appearance at Surfers Paradise for Bettenhausen.
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.
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. In his last CART race, he finished in a career-best 6th place at Surfers Paradise.
Other series 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. 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.
Motorsports career results
American open–wheel racing results (key)
Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points Ref 1996 Brian Stewart RacingMIA LBHNAZMISMILDETPORCLETOR TRO VAN LAG 3rd 108
CART Year Team No. 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 77 Reynard 97i Ford XD V8tMIA15SRF24LBH18NZR24RIO19STL12MIL22DET21POR23CLE19TOR18MIS10MDO20ROA13VAN26LS7FON1420th10 1998 Payton/Coyne Racing 34 Reynard 98i Ford XD V8tMIAMOT12LBH13NZRRIO20STLMILDETPORCLETOR21MISMDO23ROA17VANLSHOUSRFFON28th11999 Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 98i Ford XD V8tMIAMOTLBH27NZR26th5 Bettenhausen Racing 16 Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8tRIO17STLMILSRF10FON All American Racers 36 Eagle 997 Toyota RV8D V8tPOR27CLE13ROA20TOR25MIS15DET11MDO18CHIVANLSHOU 2000 Dale Coyne Racing 34 Lola B2K/00 Ford XF V8tMIA20LBH22RIO14MOTNZRMILDETPORCLETORMIS30th0 19CHI22MDO23ROA20VANLSSTLHOUSRFFON 2003 Dale Coyne Racing 11 Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8tSTPMTYLBHBRHLAUMIL13LS 19th 11 19POR18CLE17TORVANDNSROA11MDO17MTL12DEN18MIAMXC15SRF6FONNH
Indy Racing League 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 V8WDW23PHXCLTINDYTXSPPIRATLDOVPPI2LVSTX2 44th 7
References
External links