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.
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]
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.
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]
(key)
| 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 |
| 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] |
| 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] |