Lakeville, Conn. (21 May 2014) – Following a challenging outing in Monterey, Michael Marsal is ready to regain his season-opening momentum in the fourth round of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Lime Rock Park this Saturday afternoon.
The 1.5-mile racetrack located in Lakeville, Connecticut is Marsal’s home track and he has logged plenty of laps around the circuit, including a test at the track earlier this spring. The event is also a big homecoming for Marsal’s Turner Motorsport squad, with the team taking to its usual spot at the end of the paddock with a healthy fan base of Turner customers stopping by to check out the cars and the view of Turns 1 & 2.
The last IMSA race for Marsal, set on the other side of the country at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was less than a storybook weekend. An engine issue during qualifying in Monterey meant that Marsal had to start at the back of the pack, but he and co-driver Tom Kimber-Smith were able to make the most of the 2.5-hour race, bringing home a result a full 12 positions ahead of where Marsal started for the race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Marsal now looks to put his home track advantage to good use and pilot the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 to an even better result in Saturday’s race.
One of the shortest tracks on the 2014 schedule at just 1.50-miles in length, Lime Rock presents a unique challenge to the teams as they have to make quick strategy calls when it comes time for fuel and tire stops. One lap around the track will take just under a minute for Marsal, which leaves no room for error in the pits. But thanks to a huge playbook of experience and the frighteningly clever calls of strategist savant Don Salama, Turner Motorsport is one of the best in the business when it comes to perfect pit work and strategy and with the track also Turner Motorsport’s home venue, the stars are aligned for a great outing.
Marsal arrives at the track armed with plenty of experience, as Saturday’s race will mark his fifth start on the circuit with Turner Motorsport. Among his four previous starts with the team at the track, Marsal has never finished outside of the top-10, winning the race in 2010 with co-driver Joey Hand.
“I love Lime Rock – it’s a lot of fun to drive,” said Marsal who resides south of the road course in New York City. “It looks easy because it’s just a lot of right-handers. But it’s not. It’s fast and can be a lot of fun. I’ve done well in the past at this track and it’s Turner’s home track so the whole team has been working really hard. We had the Turner Motorsport open house last weekend and now we get to race at Lime Rock so it’s one of those weekends that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”
The Lime Rock Park event will once again see the GS and ST classes run separate races and with the slower ST traffic not a concern, Marsal and his Turner Motorsport team will focus on the race at hand as the group targets a return to Lime Rock Park victory lane.
The weekend will be a quick yet busy one for Marsal with just two practices ahead of qualifying Friday night. The green flag will fly on Saturday at 2:15 PM (ET). Live timing and scoring will be available on imsa.com.
