Promising Outing Ends Early For Michael Marsal at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada (10 July 2016) – Just one week after an incredible comeback run in the six hour endurance racing classic at Watkins Glen, Michael Marsal looked for a more straightforward run in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition north of the border at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Unfortunately, another rebound just wasn’t in the cards for Marsal and co-driver Markus Palttala as their No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal/IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GT3 suffered a loss of drive due to a gearbox issue just before the 50-minute mark forcing an early retirement from the race.

The second of the only back-to-back weekends on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule started off well for the Turner Motorsport team as they fought to put together clean laps in a mixture of wet and dry conditions for the first two practice sessions on Friday. The duo finished the final morning practice on Saturday in fourth position having found speed in their BMW despite the varying conditions.

Marsal opened the race on Sunday from the sixth row, and quickly showed the yellow and blue BMW up to race pace. Just a few laps into the two hour and 40 minute race, Marsal had already worked his way into the top-10. By the time the gearbox issue reared its head, Marsal had made his way into ninth position, showing pace and ability to continue challenging.

The early retirement forced Marsal to accept a 13^th place result.

“Congratulations to Turner Motorsport on the win with the other car today, they did just a great job all weekend long,” said Marsal. “It was really a bummer that we had the problem with our car and it took us out so early. It’s been a really busy few weeks for all of the guys and they worked really hard to get the car ready for this weekend. We didn’t roll off quite as quick as we wanted in practice, but we made solid progress and we were feeling positive heading into the race. This track is really, really fun to drive so it’s just unfortunate we didn’t get to put more laps in and get the result I know we were capable of.”

Marsal now enjoys a brief break in racing action as he looks for redemption in the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on July 22-23. He won the 2015 edition of the Lime Rock Park race and will hope for another podium performance at Turner Motorsport’s home track.