Marsal takes 8th in Rolex series Detroit debut

Detroit, Mich. – Michael Marsal made his Detroit Grand Prix debut on Saturday, racing the No. 93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 in Round 5 of the 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series championship.

Making just his third career street course start, Marsal and co-driver Gunter Schaldach were hoping to end a run of bad luck that has followed the duo through the last two rounds of Rolex action.

#93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3: Gunter Schaldach, Michael Marsal

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

After a solid opening segment that saw Marsal behind the wheel for the first half of the race, the forward progress was thwarted when he was punted by a passing Daytona Prototype. The contact didn’t hurt the M3, but cost the young driver a significant stash of track position and time.

Marsal was able to return to the track and safely turn the M3 over to Schaldach, who took the car to the checkered flag. While the two-hour sprint race saw the duo score eighth at the finish, Marsal had been hoping for more on the day.

“We were just having a bad day,” said Marsal. “The guys worked really hard but the car wasn’t really able to turn and put the power down the way I was hoping it would. I couldn’t make the car go anywhere.

Then, I just got nailed. I don’t know what happened there-I saw him coming but didn’t think he’d be coming in. It just wasn’t our weekend but I’m looking forward to Mid-Ohio and just getting back into a better groove now that the schedule is picking up.”

The Diamond Cellar Classic at Mid-Ohio will open on June 14 as both the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and Rolex Sports Car Series take to the 2.2-mile natural terrain circuit in rural Ohio.

Turner Motorsport