Elkhart Lake, Wis. (9 August 2014) – In an eventful race that saw the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 switch up its strategy, Michael Marsal drove the anchor leg at Road America as he took the checkered flag of the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase in 13th position.
Marsal had to wait longer than usual to get his race laps in this weekend, as his co-driver Tom Kimber-Smith qualified the car in 12th position and began the race for the team.
An incident involving multiple cars in the very first lap of the 2.5-hour race foreshadowed the attrition and high contact-rate to come, but Marsal and Kimber-Smith both drove heads up races and avoided any issues to bring the Turner BMW home cleanly.
In his opening stint, Kimber-Smith was looking to move up, systematically picking off the cars ahead of him and worked his way up to hand the car over to Marsal in seventh place.
After hopping in the car just under the one-hour mark, Marsal immediately clicked off a series of consistent laps as he made good on the pit strategy with strong track position. That advantage was later erased with a pair of yellow flags that bunched the field and put Marsal back in the thick of battle.
But throughout his elongated stint, Marsal utilized his familiarity with the track to steadily improve his lap times and remain in strong contention, ultimately driving to the checkered flag in 13th position.
“It was really fun out there today,” said Marsal after the race. “The crew really did an absolutely amazing job this weekend getting the car all set up and ready. It was different to not start the race, so I was really happy when I was able to get in the car and do my stint. This track is great and the racing out there today was hectic but awesome. I got jumped a little on that last restart, but overall today was great. I’m just so pleased with everyone here at Turner Motorsport; Kevin Holmes, Doug Peterson and everyone.”
Marsal will have just a short break between races as he heads to Virginia International Raceway for the next round of IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge competition on August 22-23.
Be sure to tune in to watch the Road America race broadcast on August 17 at 12:00 PM (ET).
