Nasr tests positive for virus before Daytona sports car race

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Felipe Nasr has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss the IMSA sports car race Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.

Action Express Racing said Friday that Gabby Chaves will replace Nasr and the Brazilian would quarantine in Miami. Nasr said he began to feel ill while driving Thursday to Daytona Beach.

“I wasn’t feeling just right,” he said in a statement. “So before I went to the track or met with my team or anyone in motorsports, I went and got tested and, unfortunately, I tested positive.”

He said he’d been in Miami about a month preparing for IMSA’s second race of the season and “felt I had been doing everything correctly” while avoiding contact with “anyone in racing.”

“I’ve been waiting so long for this weekend to get back to racing,” Nasr said. “Hopefully, I will recover quickly, and my doctors can clear me to return to racing soon.”

Nasr, the 2018 IMSA prototype championship, was scheduled to drive the No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R. with Pipo Derani.

Chaves drove for the team in 2018 at Petit Le Mans, finishing eighth.