Saavedra began in karting before moving to Formula BMW USA with Gelles Racing, finishing eleventh in points. He also drove in two Formula BMW ADAC races and competed in the Formula BMW World Final, finishing 32nd. In round 6 of the 2006 Formula BMW ADAC season he was involved in an incident with Sergio Pérez where Saavedra's car ended up on top of Pérez's; both drivers were black-flagged and Saavedra was dropped by Eifelland Racing.
In 2007 Saavedra switched to Eurointernational in Formula BMW USA, capturing one win and finishing twelfth in points across eight of fourteen races. He also contested six Formula BMW Asia races with three wins, two Formula BMW ADAC races, and finished fourth in the Formula BMW World Final. In 2008 he moved to the ATS Formel 3 Cup with HS Technik Motorsport, finishing second in points with three wins and competing in a number of Austria Formula 3 Cup races.
In 2009 Saavedra signed with the AGR-AFS Racing Indy Lights programme alongside teammate J. R. Hildebrand. He took his first Indy Lights win in the fourth race of the season, the first on an oval, at Kansas Speedway in April. In July he won from pole on the streets of Toronto.
Saavedra returned to Indy Lights in 2010 for Bryan Herta Autosport and made his IndyCar debut in the 2010 Indianapolis 500 for the same team. During qualifying bump day Saavedra was on the bubble and crashed in practice while waiting. While he was in hospital with no working car, Tony Kanaan bettered his time to push him out. However, when both Paul Tracy and Jay Howard withdrew their qualifying times and failed to re-qualify, Saavedra improbably returned to position 33 and started the race when time expired. He crashed out in a single-car accident on lap 159 and was credited with 23rd place. Later that season he captured Bryan Herta Autosport's second Indy Lights win in the AvoidTheStork.com 100 at Iowa Speedway. On 4 September 2010, Saavedra terminated his contract with Bryan Herta Autosport due to the team's inability to meet contract standards after a string of car failures and negative results.
Saavedra competed in the IndyCar Series season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway for Conquest Racing and signed to return for the full 2011 season in the team's No. 34 car. His best finish was eleventh in the 2011 São Paulo Indy 300. He failed to qualify for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 while one-off teammate Pippa Mann qualified. He was replaced by João Paulo de Oliveira for Motegi and Dillon Battistini at Kentucky Speedway, returning for the Las Vegas season finale, which was cancelled after Dan Wheldon's fatal crash. Saavedra finished 25th in the championship.
For 2012 Saavedra returned to AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport for a full Indy Lights season and also drove in the IndyCar Series at the 2012 Indianapolis 500 and at Sonoma Raceway and Auto Club Speedway.
For 2014 Saavedra signed with KV Racing Technology under the KV/AFS banner. In the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis he qualified on pole with a time of 1:23.8822 but stalled at the start and was struck by the cars of Carlos Muñoz and Mikhail Aleshin. His best result that year was 9th in Long Beach.
In 2015 Saavedra joined Chip Ganassi Racing, sharing the No. 8 car with Sage Karam. He ran the Indy 500 in a fifth Ganassi entry, the No. 17. During the race he collided with Jack Hawksworth, hit the turn four wall, and after bouncing off was struck just in front of the cockpit by Stefano Coletti. Saavedra was unable to leave the accident under his own power; his boot had to be cut off to remove him from the car. He participated in two more races that season before being released by Ganassi.
For 2017 Saavedra drove the Indianapolis 500 for the new Juncos Racing team in the No. 17 car, finishing fifteenth — matching his career best in the 500. Later in the season he drove at Toronto in the No. 7 car for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, replacing Mikhail Aleshin for the race weekend.
In 2019 Saavedra participated in the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona, winning the LMP2 class in the No. 18 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 alongside Pastor Maldonado, Roberto Gonzalez, and Ryan Cullen, overcoming an engine problem that nearly jeopardised the result.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
