Michael Valiante

Michael at Mexico City in 2004

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. He was not able to secure a full-time ride in the series due to his lack of financial backing.

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.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2001	Lynx Racing	LBH 4	NAZ	MIL	MTL 2	CLE	TOR 6	CHI	TRR 4	ROA	VAN 2	HOU	LS	9th	64
2002	Lynx Racing	MTY 4	LBH 1	MIL 7	LS 5	POR 9	CHI 3	TOR 1	CLE 4	TRR 1	ROA 4	MTL 7	DEN 12	2nd	150
2003	Lynx Racing	MTY 1	LBH 4	MIL 11	LS Wth	POR 3	CLE 4	TOR 4	TRR 3	MDO 1	MTL 4	DEN 2	MIA 1	3rd	161

Champ Car

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2004	Walker Racing	LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	DEN	MTL	LS	LVS	SRF	MXC 14	23rd	7
2005	Dale Coyne Racing	LBH	MTY	MIL	POR 11	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	LVS	SRF	MXC		25th	10

See also

List of Canadians in Champ Car

External links

• Official site

Persondata
Name	Valiante, Michael
Alternative names
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Date of birth	November 11, 1979
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death