Lucia Ohara

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Lucia Ohara
LuciaOhara.png
Age 35
Nationality USA.png American
STARS Lowe's Premier Series
Car # 5
Years Competed 2019-
Debut Season 2019
Current Team Satou Medical
Former Team(s) MDM Motorsports, Inc, ATK Motorsports
Championships 0
Pole Positions 7
Wins 4
Top 5 Finishes 24
Top 10 Finishes 46
First Attempt 2019 Empire State 225 (New York)
First Start 2019 Golden Corral 200 (New Hampshire)
First Win 2020 KAN KAN MIKAN Duel 100's Duel #1 (Orange Show)
Last Win 2022 Old Spice California Challenge (Old Spice)
Last Start 2024 Sharpie Pocono 200 (Pocono)
Best Result 3rd (2021)
Miscellaneous
Twitter OharaRacing
Created By Ben
STARS Driver

Lucia Ohara (born 19th January 1995) is a former American-Japanese STARS Lowe's International Series driver from Astoria, Oregon.

Early Career

Ohara got her start in racing on indoor karts at the age of 12, while she was living in Japan. She was credited from an early stage in the career for being naturally fast and was scouted by several teams to compete in the lower ranks of Japanese open-wheel racing. In 2010, she won her first indoor karting championship in the Tokyo region before moving onto Formula Challenge Japan; an unheard of move at the age of just 15. Ohara struggled in her first full-time season before being picked up by front running team IchiCo and finding her feet in her sophomore year. She won the championship in 2012, taking home 6 wins, and becoming the first American to win the championship, as well one of the youngest at age 17. She earned a move to Japanese Formula 3, where she finished 2nd in points in her Rookie year, before earning a move to Super Formula in 2014.

Super Formula and Injury: 2014-2015

Ohara started off in impressive fashion in Japan's leading open-wheel championship by qualifying third in her first race at Suzuka. Ohara maintained this position and earned a podium in her first start. She continued to perform in her rookie year, but was not able to pick up a win in the first half of the season. During a race at Fuji Speedway, Ohara was running in the midpack during a pit sequence when she tried to make a move for position on Iwamoto Kawanari which would have been the battle for victory. The two made contact at high speed, which saw Ohara's car launch into the air. Her car flew over a guardrail and struck a marshalling post. Unfortunately, two marshalls were killed during the incident, and Ohara was critically injured herself during the accident.

Ohara's parents were told that it was likely she would not survive during the night due to a laceration to her spleen, causing her to lose a lot of blood. Emergency surgery was thankfully successful, and Ohara continued treatment for various other treatments, including a broken leg, a concussion and a sternal fracture. Ohara did not return to racing that year, and seriously considered quitting racing due to the mental repercussions her incident brought, but made a return to Super Formula in 2015.

Ohara struggled for pace in her second year in Super Formula, which many penned down to her prior accident in the series, but a surge in confidence came with her first pole position at Twin Ring Motegi. Unfortunately, Ohara was unable to convert this into a victory, but she managed to overcome a 17th place starting position at Saitama, using tire strategy to win her first race. In her return to Fuji, she secured her second victory, before she suffered another major accident at Yokoyama, where she rolled her car over after wheel-to-wheel contact with a competitor. Thankfully, Ohara climbed out okay from the incident after much concern. Despite being offered a renewal on her Super Formula contract, Ohara turned it down, instead choosing to chase her dream of competing in the Indianapolis 500.

US Lower Tier Racing: 2016-2018

Ohara entered the CCRA Lights series in hopes of forging a path to a full time CCRA ride. Unfortunately, her first season was cut short due to her teams lack of funding, despite her earning the team's first top 5 at Gateway. Ohara earned seat time in American Formula 3 for three races, where she earned a second place finish at Sonoma Raceway. Unable to find a CCRA Lights drive for 2017, Ohara elected to take an offer in TCR America; her first foray into closed cockpit racing. Ohara adapted to the Touring Cars well, and managed to win within three starts, beating out fellow future STARS driver Dan Kelly at Long Beach. Ohara managed to take another five wins to earn a comfortable championship in the series. As a result, she was noticed by CCRA team NRG Racing who offered her a full-time contract. To the surprise of many, Ohara declined the offer with a new ambition to compete in the STARS Lowe's International Series, citing that she preferred, and felt safer in closed cockpit cars.

Following her new career in stock cars, she signed for McBrien Racing in the USRC Championship Series. With the cars being high power, Ohara initially struggled with the new challenge, but quickly came up to speed after a lacklustre first five races. During the race at Iowa Speedway, Ohara was involved in an unusual accident, where her car climbed the wall and slid on its side. The car tumbled over twice, before landing on its wheel. Ohara was uninjured in the incident, and said the accident helped her want to compete in stock car racing more due to her faith in the safety. Ohara overcame a spin to take her first and only USRC win at Road America.

Despite her new ambitions, Ohara was still called up to compete in the Indianapolis 500 by NRG Racing. Despite there being 38 entries, Ohara comfortably made the event, starting in 13th. Ohara managed to find her way into the top 5 by lap 100, and was running better than two of her teammates, who were regulars in the series. With 20 laps to go, Ohara and her team were 3 laps short on fuel, and elected to try and save the fuel to make it to the finish. Sensationally, Ohara took the lead of the event with just 7 laps to go. She managed to lead 5 laps before she was forced to come in and take a splash of fuel. Despite the late pit stop, Ohara still managed to snag a 9th place finish.

After testing a STARS LIS car at Phoenix International Raceway, Ohara was called up by MDM Motorsports, Inc. to compete for them full-time in the STARS LIS series.

MDM Motorsports, Inc: 2019

Ohara started off her LIS career poorly, by missing out on the two opening races. She finally made her first start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where she was caught up in a crash on the 70th lap. Another accident at Charlotte Motor Speedway saw her finish in 41st position, before she suffered from another retirement at Orange Show. Ohara finally finished her first race at Auto Club Speedway, but only finished in 24th.

Despite her poor run of form, Ohara secured her first pole position at the Oklahoma City Motorsports Complex Superspeedway, and converted the great qualifying effort into her first career top 10 finish. Ohara won her first qualifying race at Saitama Ken Race Track, where her father was in attendance for the first time. As a result, she was locked in at Twin Ring Motegi, where she earned another top 10 finish.

At this point, Ohara started to outshine her teammates Tanner Steele and Neveah Laughlin, with all three drivers regularly missing races, but only Ohara scoring results in the opportunities she did get. Before long, Ohara started making regular races, and often missed out due to the poor reliability of the car, or mistakes not of her own doing.

At Walt Disney World Speedway, Ohara lead 25 laps, and battled with Chiyo Minami late in the race, eventually losing out, but earning a second place finish. Ohara led laps again at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but only managed to finish in 14th place. The next week at Chicagoland Speedway, Ohara managed to get another top 5 finish, narrowly beating Jack Kelley-Whitt for the 5th position. Ohara finished the season off strong with a 7th place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

McBrien Racing were set to bring Ohara up to their main team, replacing Dia McBrien. However, they spent time deliberating between Ohara and Cro Sawatari. During the season, Ohara had caught the eye of ATK Motorsports, who elected to swoop in for Ohara's signature. She agreed a one-year deal to drive the #2 Red Bull car for the team in 2020.

ATK Motorsports: 2020-

Ohara suffered an engine failure during her first race with ATK Motorsports in the famous Empire State 225, but rallied back at Watkins Glen International to earn a top 10 finish. Her first top 5 with the team at Charlotte Motor Speedway was followed up with her first career win in a convincing performance at Orange Show Speedway. Ohara consistently ran well, with a top 5 run at Martinsville Speedway, followed up by top 10's at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and Calder Park Thunderdome. With her good form and her win, Ohara qualified for the chase.

In the first race of the chase at Talladega Superspeedway, Ohara's engine expired after just 18 laps, where she followed that up with a mediocre performance, finishing 18th at Kansas Speedway. Being just above the cutoff line for elimination, Ohara needed a good run at Rockingham Speedway to secure her spot in the second round. Her crew chief made a bold strategy call to stay out during a caution to lead laps. This did not pay off, as a long green flag run saw her lose a lap, before a caution trapped her a lap down. Her chase hopes were brought to an end when she was caught up and eliminated in a lap 93 accident.

Indianapolis Crash

Ohara was injured in an accident with Kanon Matsubara at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on lap 37 in turns 1 and 2. Ohara hit Matsubara in the drivers side door, making her car quickly lose speed, before her car was sent into a series of barrel rolls. After the accident, Ohara said she could not feel her feet. It was discovered she suffered multiple broken bones in both of her feet, and suffered a fracture vertebrae. As a result of the accident, she missed the rest of the 2020 season, but recovered in time to return to ATK Motorsports, where her good regular season earned her a contract renewal for 2021.

Personal Life

Ohara was born to an American father and a Japanese mother. As a result, she lived in America, before her family moved to Japan when she was 8. She is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish. Ohara is currently in a relationship with businessman Kenneth Parker. She is one of the tallest female drivers in the paddock, measuring in at 5'9".

Ohara is known to be extremely easy to get along with, having a very laid back character. Despite this, Ohara is noted for being courageous and brave and has been known for being fairly hyperactive at times.

Ohara is a big fan of baseball, and supports the Chunichi Dragons and the Toronto Blue Jays. She is often seen in the paddock area wearing baseball jerseys of various teams.

Despite the similarities in names, Ohara is not related to Aqours Racing team owner, driver and sarcastic yet lovable school idol Mari Ohara.

Trivia

  • Lucia Ohara was originally written in as one of the main characters for a project that Ben is currently working on. In this, she is a small yet lively sniper who shoots people for a living. Pleasant, right?