Michael Lira (racing driver)

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Michael Lira
Michael Lira (racing driver) at Pocono Raceway June 2015.jpg
Lira in 2015
NationalityAmerican/Peruvian
Born (1997-07-16) July 16, 1997 (age 24)
Daytona Beach, Florida
ARCA Racing Series career
Debut season2013
Current teamLira Motorsports
Car number59
Starts26
Wins0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
1 race run over 1 year
2016 position71st
Best finish71st (2016)
First race2016 U.S. Cellular 250 (Iowa)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of July 30, 2016.

Michael Lira (born July 16, 1997) is a Peruvian-American professional stock car racing driver.

Early life and early career[]

Lira was born in Daytona Beach, Florida (Volusia County). He began his motorsports career racing quarter-midgets at Little New Smyrna Speedway, in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.[1] When he turned 12, Lira started racing in the FASCAR Pro Trucks Series. When he was 15, he competed in both the FASCAR Pro Truck and Florida United Pro Truck Series. He was the 2012 New Smyrna Speedway Pro-Trucks Track Champion,[2] and he tied for the Pro-Truck Track Championship at Orlando Speedworld.

ARCA Racing Series[]

Lira began competing in the ARCA Racing Series in 2013, at the age of 16. He drove for Kimmel Racing, making his debut at Berlin Raceway on August 10th.[3] Lira competed in a total of four races with Kimmel Racing in 2013, and another 11 races with the team in 2014. His best finish in those two years was 7th at Salem Speedway. His best qualifying effort in those two years was 4th at Pocono Raceway.[4]

Although not permitted to race in events at tracks over one mile in length due to track age restrictions, Before his 18th birthday, Lira participated in multiple ARCA Racing Series test sessions at Daytona International Speedway[5][6] and one test at Talladega Superspeedway.[7]

Switching to his family owned team of Lira Motorsports in 2015, Lira plans on competing in 16 of the 20 races on the ARCA Racing Series schedule. Age restrictions do not allow him to race at 4 of the tracks that have races scheduled before his 18th birthday. Through the first 10 races of the year, Lira's best finish was 8th at Mobile International Speedway, and he qualified 4th at three different tracks (Nashville Speedway, Toledo Speedway and New Jersey Motorsports Park).[8][9]

IMSA and SCCA road course racing[]

Lira competed in a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) road-course event at Daytona International Speedway in May 2014. In his first official SCCA start, he finished 8th overall and 4th in class.[10]

In January 2015, Lira made his International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Tudor United SportsCar Championship debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway driving for Muehlner Motorsports America.[11] The car suffered from mechanical issues during the race and was brought to the garage four separate times for more than eight hours of race time. The car finished 17th in the Daytona-GTD Class.[12]

Also in January 2015, Lira competed in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge BMW Performance 200 at Daytona International Speedway. In that race he started 8th and finished 13th.[13] He competed in a second IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge event, the Monterey Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in May 2015.[14] In that race, he started 15th and finished 14th with co-driver Nick Galante.[15] Michael's third and final IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race of 2015 was at Road Atlanta on October 2nd. In that race, Lira finished 10th along with co-driver David Levine.[16]

Family[]

Lira's father, Carlos Lira, is an accomplished sports car racer. He has been racing since the age of 18. He has earned five national championships in SCCA Ford Mustang road course competition. He also has experience in Grand Am, Rolex Sports Car Series and Pirelli World Challenge competition. Carlos Lira is a native of Lima, Peru.

Motorsports career results[]

NASCAR[]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series[]

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts
2016 B. J. McLeod Motorsports 15 Ford DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW DAY KEN NHA IND IOW
26 		GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM 71st 15

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

ARCA Racing Series[]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Racing Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ARSC Pts
2013 69 Ford DAY MOB SLM TAL TOL ELK POC MCH WIN CHI BLN
12 		ISF
13 		DSF 41st 670
68 IOW
18 		SLM
7 		KEN KAN
2014 DAY MOB
9 		SLM
18 		TAL TOL
9 		NJE
12 		MCH
10
27 		KEN
16 		KAN 20th 1750
69 ELK
14
17 		CHI
12 		BLN
12 		ISF MAD DSF
2015 Lira Motorsports 58 Ford DAY MOB
8
9 		SLM
11 		TAL TOL
17 		NJE
19 		POC
26 		CHI WIN
24 		IOW
25 		IRP
31 		BLN ISF DSF KEN KAN 23rd 1220
2016 36 DAY NSH SLM TAL TOL
12 		NJE POC
29 		MAD WIN IOW IRP BLN ISF 58th 415
6 DSF
14 		SLM CHI KEN KAN
2017 DAY
37 		NSH
18 		SLM TAL TOL ELK POC MAD IOW IRP WIN ISF DSF SLM CHI KEN KAN 83rd 185

References[]

  1. ^ Spruce Creek sophomore Michael Lira gearing up for ARCA debut (Daytona Beach News Journal, August 23, 2012)
  2. ^ Short Track History/Track Champions (retrieved 7/9/2015)
  3. ^ 16-year-old high school student Michael Lira to make ARCA debut at Berlin with Kimmel Racing (ARCA Racing website, August 8, 2013)
  4. ^ Racing Reference (retrieved July 9, 2015)
  5. ^ 16-year-old Michael Lira learns the craft of Superspeedway racing with Kimmel Racing (ARCA Racing website, December 23, 2013)
  6. ^ Michael Lira returns to DIS for opening day of ARCA testing (Daytona Beach News Journal, December 19, 2014)
  7. ^ Lira heading to Talladega for two days of testing (Daytona Beach News Journal, April 15, 2014)
  8. ^ Racing Reference (retrieved July 9, 2015)
  9. ^ Michael Lira Driver Bio (ARCA Racing website, retrieved July 9, 2015)
  10. ^ Young Port Orange Racer Michael Lira Well Prepared for First ARCA Road Race (Speed51 website, May 30, 2014)
  11. ^ Michael Lira Joins Muehlner Motorsports America For The Rolex 24 At Daytona (Catchfence website, January 20, 2015)
  12. ^ Michael Lira Records A Solid Performance In His Rolex 24 Debut (Lira Motorsports, January 26, 2015)
  13. ^ IMSA race results page (retrieved July 9, 2015)
  14. ^ IMSA race results page (retrieved July 9, 2015)
  15. ^ http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/race_result_files/2015_CTSC_MRLS_OfficialRaceResults.pdf
  16. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2015-10-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links[]

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