Solid Sixth for Michael Marsal in Detroit

Michael Marsal and Turner Motorsport co-driver Markus Palttala finished Saturday’s Detroit Grand Prix in sixth in the Turner Motorsport No. 97 IHG Racing BMW Z4 after moving up through a 100-minute sprint race on the streets of Belle Isle Park.

Marsal opened the race from the fifth row under perfect conditions for the three-class (GTD, LMPC, and Prototype) race. Shrugging off some soreness in the car following an off in practice on Friday, Marsal got into an early race groove and improved his laps as the race ran at a flat out pace. After setting his personal best lap time on lap 15, Marsal continued to improve his position until turning the car over to Palttala on lap 25 during a full course caution.

Underscoring the defending championship squads attention to detail, the transfer from Marsal to Palttala was smooth and fast enough to earn the Turner Motorsport duo some added track position. The 2014 BMW Trophy winner was able to bring the car home through some mixed weather conditions in sixth to earn the duo’s best finish of the season to date.

“Considering all the carnage out there, and having had the car hurt yesterday, this is a pretty good day for us,” said Marsal. “The car was pretty good and it took me a few laps before I really got going, but once I did we were able to keep improving so I’m pretty happy with that. We practiced and practiced our driver changes, and it paid off with that stop. It wasn’t quite as quick as we did this morning, but it was still good enough to move us up so all in all it was something for us to build on heading to the Glen.”

Marsal will be back in action four weeks time when the TUDOR Championship returns to Watkins Glen International for the traditional Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen.

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