Marsal Ready to Rebound at Homestead

Marsal Ready to Rebound at Homestead

Michael Marsal Media Contact: Matt Cleary
Media@sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)
www.marsalracing.com

Video of the dramatic turn-around from the Turner Motorsport Crew:

Homestead, Fla. (26 April 2012) – Fresh off a podium finish in his American Le Mans Series debut at the Long Beach Grand Prix two weeks ago, Michael Marsal returns to GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge action this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Kia 200 and Round 3 of the 2012 championship in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW GS with co-driver Boris Said.

Following a strong run in the season-opener at Daytona, Marsal’s hopes for another solid finish came to an abrupt end in the second round of the championship at Barber Motorsports Park.

After a lap 1 incident that saw Marsal make up ground early while several cars were involved, the ensuing restart was no better as a group of GS machines stacked up.

Marsal’s No. 97 BMW was turned hard into the inside wall and though he emerged from the car unharmed, the same could not be said for the BMW which sustained significant damage and was unable to continue.

The Turner Motorsport crew returned to their Boston-based shop and worked countless hours to have the No. 97 prepped and tuned for Homestead’s 2.3-mile speedway road course as Marsal is ready to rebound at the South Florida track.

Marsal made his debut at Homestead in 2010, co-driving with Joey Hand and claimed his first GRAND-AM podium with a third place result. Last year Hand (who is making his DTM debut this weekend) and Marsal teamed for a run to seventh on the South Florida track.

Now teamed with Said, who has a victory and four top-five results at the South Florida track to his credit, the Turner pair will look to make up lost ground with a solid result this weekend.

“I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the BMW,” said Marsal. “It was not much fun to have ended the last race with such a big incident at Barber, especially with a car that we all felt was going to be very competitive. But the Turner boys have been burning the candle and have the 97 ready to go this weekend. Hopefully we can reward all that work with a solid run.”

Making the move from the high speed Prototype back into touring car machinery is one that Marsal is more than ready for.

“The P1 car is simply an amazing car to drive and I’m looking forward to unlocking more speed with it,” said Marsal, who will graduate from college in May. “But I also really enjoy how much the driver plays a role in these Continental Tire races. The cars are so evenly matched between so many different brands. So you have to fight for everything you get out there. It is a big change between the prototype and the M3 of course, but the more cars I drive and the bigger my range of experience, the more complete of a driver I’ll become and I’m just looking forward to a good weekend with Boris and all the Turner guys.”

The Kia 200 opens with a promoter test day on Thursday, April 26 followed by official practice and qualifying on Friday. The 2.5-hour race begins at 2:45 PM (ET) on Saturday, April 28.

Live timing and scoring can be followed throughout the weekend at www.grand-am.com The Kia 200 will be televised May 12 at 12:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

Additional information:
http://www.marsalracing.com/
http://www.sundaymanagement.com/

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
mediawww.sundaymanagement.com
youtube.com/sundaymanagement
317.908.2975 (m)

Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm. Clients include Penske Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Rolex 24 at Daytona Champions Michael Shank Racing, Riley Technologies, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup