Shinya Michimi


Shinya Sean Michimi is an American-born Japanese former racing driver who last competed in the GTD class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian.

Career

Born in Cincinnati to a Japanese father and American mother, Michimi lived in the US throughout his karting career, before moving to Japan to make his single-seater debut in 2012 in Formula Challenge Japan. In his first season in the series as a Toyota development driver, Michimi scored his only points of the season at Suzuka by finishing fourth and taking three points.
Returning to Formula Challenge Japan under Toyota's support for 2013, Michimi took his maiden series podium at Motegi by finishing second from pole. Michimi then scored two more podiums in the subsequent two rounds at Fuji, which helped him end the year seventh in points. At the end of the year, Michimi competed in the MRF Racing-centrally run 2013–14 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship. Racing in the first three rounds of the season, Michimi took his only podium of the season on his final series appearance, finishing second to Rupert Svendsen-Cook in race four at Bahrain.
After testing Auto GP machinery in late 2013 for Euronova Racing, Michimi joined the team for the fourth round of the 2014 season at Monza to make his series debut. Running as high as fourth on debut, Michimi retired due to a mechanical failure in race one, before finishing sixth in race two. After another one-off appearance at the Red Bull Ring in which he finished fourth in race two, Michimi returned to the team for the season-finale at Estoril, taking his maiden win in cars in race two.
Michimi remained with Vincenzo Sospiri Racing as he switched to Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe for 2015. Racing alongside Kei Cozzolino, the pair won in the Pro-Am class at Monza, before moving up to the Pro class and taking a best result of second at Spa. Remaining in Super Trofeo competition for 2016, Michimi joined Prestige Performance to race in its North American counterpart in the Pro class as a Lamborghini junior. Taking his maiden series win at Laguna Seca, before winning both races at Watkins Glen and VIR, and then taking winning Road America, helping him to secure the Super Trofeo North America title at season's end. After taking a one-year hiatus, Michimi returned to Super Trofeo North America for 2018, joining Precision Performance Motorsports in the Pro class alongside Brandon Gdovic. In his return to racing, Michimi took a lone win at Road America en route to a fourth-place points finish in class.
In 2019, Michimi joined X Works to race with them in Super Taikyu Series|Super Taikyu] and part-time in the GT300 class of the 2019 [Super GT Series|Super GT Series], in which he scored a best result of sixth at Sugo. During 2019, Michimi missed the second-to-last round of the Super Taikyu series as he made a one-off comeback to Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America at VIR, in which he won race two. Towards the end of the year, Michimi competed in the Petit Le Mans for Precision Performance Motorsports in the GTD class, in which he qualified third in class and set the fastest lap in GTD.
The following year, Michimi joined Honda-affiliated Meyer Shank Racing to contest the endurance rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In the four races he contested, Michimi won at Road Atlanta, finished third at Sebring and scored the GTD pole for the Petit Le Mans. After sitting most of 2021 on the sidelines, Michimi made a one-off appearance in the ST-X class of the Super Taikyu Series as he raced in the Fuji 24 Hours for CarGuy Racing.

Racing record

Racing career summary

‡ Team standings

Complete Formula Challenge Japan results

YearTeam123456789101112DCPts
2012FTRS ScholarshipFUJ1
1
12		FUJ1
2
9		MOT
1
10		MOT
2
Ret		FUJ2
1
9		FUJ2
2
9		FUJ2
3
11		SUZ1
1
8		SUZ1
2
4		SUZ2
1
9		SUZ2
2
8		SUZ2
3
9		10th3
2013FTRS Scholarship SMRFUJ1
1
9		FUJ1
2
5		MOT
1
4		MOT
2
2		FUJ2
1
3		FUJ2
2
13		FUJ2
3
11		FUJ3
1
2		FUJ3
2
13		SUZ
1
9		SUZ
2
7		SUZ
3
12		7th26

Complete Auto GP results

YearEntrant12345678910111213141516PosPoints
2014Euronova RacingMAR
1		MAR
2		LEC
1		LEC
2		HUN
1		HUN
2		MNZ
1
11†		MNZ
2
6		IMO
1		IMO
2		RBR
1
6		RBR
2
4		NÜR
1		NÜR
2		EST
1
6		EST
2
1		8th55