IndyCar: Gabby Chaves' hopes are high for solid rookie season - MotorSportsTalk

The hard work has paid off for Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves with a ride in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

But more hard work awaits for the Colombian as he seeks to fully establish himself in North America’s top open-wheel league with Bryan Herta Autosport.

He’s the latest young lion to step up from Lights in recent years, joining the likes of Jack Hawksworth (A.J. Foyt Racing), Carlos Munoz (Andretti Autosport), Josef Newgarden (CFH Racing), and Sage Karam (Chip Ganassi Racing).

So what can help him stand out? Carrying over the consistency from his 2014 Lights title run would be a start. He claimed four victories and closed the year with eight consecutive podium finishes. Furthermore, it was his five second-place runs that enabled him to be crowned champion over Jack Harvey on a second tie-breaker (both Chaves and Harvey had four wins apiece, but Chaves’ five runner-ups beat Harvey’s one).

Still, Chaves recognizes that you need the total package to succeed in the ultra-competitive IndyCar.

“You got to look at everything,” Chaves said recently during IndyCar Media Day activities. “You have to look at raw speed. You have to look at consistency. You have to look at your technical feedback. There’s a lot of things that make a driver as a whole. You can’t just look at one thing.

“[But] definitely, consistency is up there [in importance]. It just really separates the great from the greatest, the good from the best. When a driver has all these attributes, these qualities, it makes them a better driver overall.”

Last year in Lights, Chaves was a constant force in the championship, at first battling Zach Veach for supremacy (the two drivers traded wins in the first four races) and then surviving a late-season push from Harvey. This year, he isn’t expected to be a title threat as an IndyCar rookie.

But although expectations are a bit lower at this point, Chaves obviously still wants to show that he belongs.

“No one is expecting you to go out there and win three races in a row,” he said. “But definitely I think, as racing drivers … The mentality is always to go out there and drive as hard as you can. If you get to the race weekend and you don’t believe within yourself that you can win this race, that moment, your professional career is over.

“That’s my mentality. I have to go out every weekend and I have to think I have a chance, a shot at winning this one. Once we get going, we’ll see where we’re at. We’ll just keep working away. Hopefully, at some point or another, we’ll be able to show our potential.”

It would appear Chaves will have his chances to do just that. His new boss, Herta, has said that he’d like to hang on to him for a few years and have both team and driver grow together.

A big part of that will depend on how Chaves jells with his No. 98 team, which will be led by veteran engineer John Dick. Chaves knows that good chemistry can go a long way, particularly for a single-car team like his.

“I think that’s going to be the most important factor in my success for 2015 is how well can I connect with my engineers, how well can I connect with my mechanics, with everyone around me,” he said. “If I have a high level of chemistry with them, if we have a good atmosphere in the team, if there’s good energy flowing through our tent.

“I’m not saying we’re going to go out and win the first race, by any means. We want to go out there and race as hard as we can, compete with the fastest cars. I believe we can do it. I believe with the right work ethic, you can make it happen, even in a one-car team, being a rookie.”

Follow @estradawriting

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

IndyCar: Gabby Chaves’ hopes are high for solid rookie season

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

Read more about SuperMotocross