Nearly all the oval tracks in Regina Sirvent’s home country of Mexico pale in comparison to the size and high speeds of Michigan International Speedway.
The two-mile complex, which has hosted a plethora of NASCAR and IndyCar Series races during its lifespan, is where Sirvent will make her ARCA Menards Series debut this weekend in the Henry Ford Health 200. Sirvent is teaming up with Kimmel Racing for Friday’s race, driving the No. 68 Ford with sponsorship from Por Amor A Puebla.
Seeing Kimmel Racing earn a pole during the most recent ARCA Menards Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway boosted Sirvent’s optimism ahead of her first start. While she anticipates a learning curve, Sirvent believes she has everything necessary to make a strong first impression at Michigan.
“I’m really, really excited,” Sirvent said. “This is a big opportunity for me, and it has been my dream to be in one of the national series since I was a little girl. I have raced NASCAR Mexico and Late Models for a long time, so I feel ready for these new challenges. I think I’m with a very good team that will back me up and teach me a lot.
“I want to learn as much as I can to go strong into the next one.”
The inspiration behind Sirvent’s journey to the United States is her grandfather José, an accomplished rally racer who won the Campeonato Mexicano de Rally in 1974.
José passed down his love for cars and motorsports to Sirvent and provided his granddaughter her first go-kart at the age of nine. Sirvent quickly found a comfort zone with the go-kart and was compelled to one day follow in José’s footsteps as a successful competitor in her own regard.
Instead of rally racing, Sirvent decided she wanted to pursue a path in stock car competition, primarily due to the growing presence of NASCAR in Mexico. Sirvent took a major step toward accomplishing that goal in 2017, when she became a full-time driver in the Trucks Mexico Series.
Sirvent spent the next three years gradually learning more about the Trucks Mexico Series and how to race at so many different tracks, which culminated into her best overall season in 2020. Two victories and three additional top fives enabled Sirvent to finish third in the point standings behind a future ARCA Menards Series champion in Andres Perez.
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(Photo: James Gilbert / ARCA)