Henrique Chaves started his GT career in a magnificent fashion, ending is first International GT Open’s race, that took place today at Circuit de Paul Ricard, France, in the second position.
The Portuguese youngster was looking for a good result, after his teammate, Martin Kodric, put the Teo Martin Motorsport’s McLaren 720S in the third position in the qualifying.
The driver from the McLaren Young Professional Program’s driver started well and was in the hunt for a podium position, ending his stint in the fourth position on the back of the third classified driver, after numerous fights.
When he left the pits, the Portuguese driver was cautious in his first laps, as he didn’t drive the #59 car since the Thursday’s official test session, due a technical problem developed during the Friday’s practice sessions. But as soon as he understood the car’s handling, he showed an impressive pace.
Henrique Chaves soon started to put pressure in the third classified car, taking advantage of its fight with the second placed driver to climb to third. The Portuguese driver kept a strong pace and, with a magnificent manoeuvre, he overtook his opponent to second.
The Teo Martin Motorsport’s youngster was two second off the leader, but soon was on his back, starting to put him under pressure. However, his contender defended well, keeping the lead, and Henrique Chaves saw the chequered flag in second, half a second from the winner, achieving his first podium in his first International GT Open race. “It was a good start! Martin did a great job in the qualifying and did a good stint, giving me the car back in good shape and in a good position. I was careful in the first laps, but when I understood the Mclaren 720S’ handling, I started to increase the pace and I was fast. I took the opportunities well and made some good overtaking manoeuvres, which was important. I would like to win, but the second place is a great result in my International GT Open debut”, said the driver from Portugal.
Tomorrow will be held the second Paul Ricard’s race. Henrique Chaves will qualify the car and will do the first stint in the sixty minutes race, but he expects some difficulties after today’s good result. “This second place will give us a ten seconds increase in our handicap (pit-stop time) that won’t be easy to recover in the track. I’ll give my best to get a good grid position so we can have an easier race. We will fight hard to get another good result”, underlined the twenty-two-year-old driver
