Indianapolis, Ind. (24 July 2014) – After putting in almost 60 practice laps around the newly reconfigured 2.435-mile, 14-turn road course of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway along with co-driver Tom Kimber-Smith, Michael Marsal piloted the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 to a starting position on the seventh row of the starting grid for Friday’s Brickyard Sports Car Challenge.

Marsal was more than ready to be back behind the wheel of the Turner BMW machine during the two practices ahead of qualifying after being forced to sit out the last round of competition at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park due to a back injury.

But Marsal quickly proved his short break from the car left no adverse effects as he and his co-driver Kimber-Smith remained consistently quick throughout the two practice sessions.

With plenty of experience around the previous road course configuration of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Marsal quickly adapted to the newly reconfigured circuit and is ready to score a solid result in the 2.5-hour race.

“It’s actually a lot of fun to drive here,” said Marsal after qualifying the car in the lucky 13th position. “The guys have done a really good job on the car, it feels great and it’s fun to just fly around here. I do like the changes they have made to the track and I think it suits our car pretty well. We have made some changes to the car, and we have actually gone back to the same setup as what we had at Daytona. It worked really well for us and it felt good out there today, so I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.”

Round 8 of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge is set to go green at 2:35 PM (ET) and will be streamed LIVE on IMSA.com. It will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1 August 3rd at 12:00 PM (ET).