Marsal and Said Score Best Finish of the Year

Marsal and Said Score Best Finish of the Year

Run to 4th in New Jersey moves duo up to top ten in points

Millville, N.J. (12 May 2012) – Michael Marsal and Turner Motorsport co-driver Boris Said drove the No. 97 BMW M3 to a fourth place finish in the B+ Heroes 200 presented by BCKSTGR at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Round 4 of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship. The fourth place effort netted the Turner duo their best finish of the year after having already scored two top-10 results at Daytona and Homestead.

As Marsal looked for a return to the podium at his home track, he was set to move forward early in the 2.5-hour race and made quick work of it by picking up two positions on the first lap to run 12th prior to the first full course caution period.

When the race returned to green flag action, Marsal began a charge to the front to run as high as seventh before pitting during the second race caution to hand the car over to Said.

Said returned to the track 18th in the order but wasted no time returning to the front of the field as he improved 11 positions within five laps. Said continued to run among the top-five until a late-race full course yellow set up a three-lap sprint to the finish.

Using all his skills and decades of experience, Said moved to the outside in a slick maneuver to move the No. 97 machine up to fourth in Turn 1 on the restart, contending for a podium finish all the way to the final stages of the race.

“Fourth place feels good – I think I ran a great race and I think Boris (Said) did too,” said Marsal, whose mother made the three hour drive to be in attendance for Marsal’s Mother’s Day race weekend event. “I think we did exactly what we were supposed to do. Obviously we didn’t have the car to win – the Subaru is way faster than us. Everybody else just kind of checked out which seems to be a common theme here. There’s not really a lot of passing at the end. Everybody kind of stretches out and holds their ground. I’ve always performed well at New Jersey but I’m not really sure why – I guess it just suits me. It’s fun, it’s a patience track and it’s a technical track. It was good to be in a position for a podium there at the end and I’m happy with fourth.”

In addition to his compact Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race schedule which saw a morning practice, qualifying, and the 2.5-hour race all in one day, Marsal doubled up on the day as he also took part in the ITC series driving for Auto Technic in a 40-minute race held prior to the start of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge event.

That race would see him run at the front of the field as he raced ahead of his Turner Motorsport team owner Will Turner. But the day ended early as a car spun in Marsals path and he had no option but to make race-ending contact with the spinning machine.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge next travels to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for Round 5 of the championship June 8-9.

“I’m really looking forward to Mid-Ohio,” said Marsal. “It’s probably my favorite track to go racing. It’s not the greatest track for pure driving but for some reason it just makes for some great dog fights. People are making passes for positions all throughout the race and it’s really just a track where you’re always working and driving and it’s a ton of fun.”

The B+ Heroes 200 presented by BCKSTGR will broadcast May 26 at 2:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

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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.

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