Michael Marsal Scores Sixth at Daytona
While the NFL season builds all year and closes out the season with the Super Bowl, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship busts out of the gates each year with its biggest race of the season: the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Turner Motorsport driver Michael Marsal opened the 2016 IMSA season with a strong run to sixth place in the No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal/IHG Rewards Club BMW GT3 with his co-drivers Markus Palttala, Maxime Martine, and Jesse Krohn on Sunday. The foursome did battle in the ultra-competitive IMSA GTD class, which saw a bumper field of 22 entries, with a fiercely competitive event that featured constant lead changes through all 24 hours of the race. Marsal’s off-season training program was well evidenced by the ease with which he absorbed a pair of lengthy stints behind the wheel of the all-new GT3 specification machine. After the 54-car field took the green flag just before 3:00 PM on Saturday, last year’s winner of the Lime Rock Park IMSA race jumped into the No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal/IHG Rewards Club BMW GT3 and opened his stint some 46 laps into the race, chalking up 64 laps around the 3.56-mile circuit before turning the car over some three hours later. After a break for some recovery, hydration, and relaxation, Marsal headed back to the pits to return to the controls of the BMW M6, this time taking to the track through an extended run in the dark of the Florida night. In a stint that lasted just shy of 100 laps, Marsal posted competitive times. Like his teammates, he worked his way through some niggling car issues to keep making progress through the field. “The car feels so easy to drive, from a driver point of view it is obvious that was something that BMW gave a lot of thought to when they built this car, and I have to admit that after my stints, I felt completely fine,” said Marsal. “So it is not only comfortable to drive but it also helps you go faster because you can just focus on getting the most out of the car.” The driver rotation continued through the race, which was slowed 21 times for yellow flags. The familiar and fast face of Palttala was joined in the roster by the capable hands of Martine and Krohn as the foursome clicked off the laps. The effort marked the North American debut for the GT3-specification machine, which impressed with a full race run, although there are items on the check list for Sebring. “We had some power down issues earlier in the race, and there were a couple of small things that cost a little bit of performance for us,” said Marsal. “But it is incredible to race a car in a 24 hour race for its first time out, so it was a very good start with this new M6. This race had a ton of good cars, and some big time driver line ups. So to come out of the weekend with a sixth place finish is a really solid start to the year and hopefully we can build on this at Sebring.”
Contact:
sundaygroupmanagement@gmail.com
