Chaves 9th in Second Wet “Dual in Detroit” after placing 18th in First Dual
The weather presented as much of a challenge as the track in race one of the “Chevrolet Dual in Detroit Presented by Quicken Loans”. The conditions all weekend were less than favorable for racing with both Saturday’s and Sunday’s races requiring both rain and dry tires.
Saturday’s race tire choice went wet-dry-wet. Including a stop for a flat tire near the 2/3 mark of the race, the BHA team made eight pit stops during the thunderstorm shortened event. When the red flag for lightning ended the race, Chaves was credited with 18th position.
Sunday too was more fit for ducks than Nomex racing shoes. Qualifying was cancelled and the teams were lined up on points (18th for the BHA team). The race started on wet tires and continued through the second fuel stint on the treaded Firestone tires. Shortly before the #98 team’ final stop, the race officially became a timed (2 hour) race and teams began switching to dry slick tires.
Chaves and the BHA team, knowing it was “this could get crazy”, made the switch the alternate (softer) Firestone red tire for the finish of the race. Numerous yellows and a red flag allowed six cars who would require another stop to finish the race on fumes. However, the Bowers & Wilkins team soldiered home to a their first top ten finish of 2015 and Chaves highest career finish of 9th.
Gabby Chaves on his 9th place finish in Detroit Dual #2:
“We kind of stayed out of trouble the whole time, and it kind of paid off for us at the end. One of the cars in front of us had a drive through penalty and was blocking left and right, so we lost two positions because of that. But in the end we finished the race, and had a decent car ~better than before, so we’re improving every time out…”
