Michael Valiante
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Valiante (born November 11, 1979 in New Westminster, British Columbia) is a Canadian racing driver.
Michael began racing in karting where his success earned him a full-season scholarship in the Skip Barber 2.0 Series. In his first season, Michael was both series champion and rookie of the year. Following this success he moved on the Barber Dodge Pro Series and then to the Toyota Atlantic Championship.
Driving for the Lynx Racing team in 2001, Michael was able to finish eighth in the series championship despite competing in only five events. His performance impressed Lynx enough to sign him for two more seasons. 2002 was Valiante's best year in the series. He won three races and led the points going into the final round in Denver, only to struggle in the race and lose the championship to Jon Fogarty. Valiante led the series early in 2003. However, his championship hopes were dashed when he missed the fourth round at Laguna Seca due to an illness. He went on to finish third in the championship and again scored three victories.
Valiante was set to make his debut in Champ Car at California Speedway in 2003, but the race was cancelled due to wildfires in the area. It was not until a year later that Michael made his first Champ Car start in Mexico City. His second start came at Portland in 2005 as a one-off drive for Dale Coyne Racing.
Although he is widely regarded as one of open-wheel racing's top young talents, Michael has not yet been able to find a full-time ride in Champ Car. He has very little financial backing at a time where paying drives in open-wheel racing are very hard to come by. In 2006, Michael competed full time with Finlay motorsports in the Grand-Am series, where he and co-driver Rob Finlay finished ninth in the final standings.
