Michael Lira (racing driver)

Michael Lira

Lira in 2015
Nationality American/Peruvian
Born (1997-07-16) July 16, 1997
ARCA Racing Series career
Debut season 2013
Current team Lira Motorsports
Car no. 59
Starts 26
Wins 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Car no., team No. 15 (B. J. McLeod Motorsports)
2016 position 71st
Best finish 71st (2016)
First race 2016 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 an 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.

As of December 2015, Lira has a daughter named Lily. He has not seen her much as he races quite a bit. [17]

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

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

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. ↑ http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/race_result_files/2015_CTSC_RoadAtlanta_ProvisionalRace.pdf
  17. ↑ Self-made man Carlos Lira celebrates in Chicagoland (ARCA Racing website, June 21, 2015)

External links

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