Michael Marsal Heads West to Monterey for GRAND-AM at Laguna Seca

Michael Marsal Heads West to Monterey for GRAND-AM at Laguna Seca

Monterey,Calif. (5 September 2012) – The GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series may have seen a six-week break in race action since the previous round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Michael Marsal has not showed any signs of slowing down at all.

In the six-week span since the last time he sat behind the wheel of the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3, the recent college graduate has raced in three American Le Mans Series events with Dyson Racing, including taking his breakthrough ALMS P1 victory just days ago in the Baltimore Grand Prix. He also spent time testing the No. 93 Turner Motorsport GT at Lime Rock Park and even traveled half-way around the world with a trip to Russia.

Marsal will keep up that rapid pace this weekend as he once again travels over 3,000 miles to California, bringing along the momentum of having won with co-driver Eric Lux in Baltimore.

GRAND-AM’s Continental Tire Sports Car Festival at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca marks the penultimate round of the 2012 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship and Marsal and Turner Motorsport co-driver Boris Said are ready to rebound in Saturday’s race after electrical gremlins on the No. 97 took the BMW machine out of the previous race at the Brickyard just laps into the historic event.

“Winning at Baltimore for my first ALMS victory was just fantastic and we’ve had a few days to celebrate, but now it’s right back to work here this weekend at Laguna,” said Marsal. “Our result at Indy was so disappointing because we had a car that was really strong. Only getting a couple of laps in was very frustrating. But we’ve put that behind us and we’re ready to go for Laguna this weekend. It has been a busy summer for me so far, but it’s been great and I’m looking forward to having another good weekend with the Turner guys.”

Marsal had a stout debut at the 2.238-mile California road course when GRAND-AM traveled to the picturesque venue last year. He put the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 10th on the grid and he and co-driver Don Salama, who was filling in for Turner’s Joey Hand, drove to a 13th place finish. Marsal and Said have had several strong runs so far this year with a high finish of fourth at New Jersey Motorsports Park and the Turner duo will look to break through for their first podium finish together.

“We’ve had a couple of frustrating runs this year where we have had a good car and a strong pace but just ran into some unfortunate luck so hopefully we can turn that around this weekend,” said Marsal. “Laguna Seca is such a fantastic track and if you have a good car, with solid brakes, you have a chance for a strong run. Hopefully that plays into our hands and we come away with a solid result.”

The Continental Tire Sports Car Festival event will see plenty of on-track action with a Promoter Test Day scheduled for Thursday ahead of official practice on Friday which will see a morning and afternoon practice session. A 30-minute morning practice is set for 11:40 AM (ET) Saturday ahead of the 15-minute qualifying session which begins at 1:30 PM (ET). The 2.5-hour race will start Saturday at 5:30 PM (ET).

Live timing and scoring can be followed at www.grand-am.com. SPEED will televise the event Sunday, September 16th at 1:30 PM (ET).

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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
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