Turner Motorsport Lime Rock Pre-Race Report

The IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship returns to Lime Rock Park this weekend for Round 7 of the 2015 season set for the green flag on Saturday afternoon. Michael Marsal will team with Dane Cameron in the No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal / IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 in the two-hour, 40 minute race that will feature the GTD and LMPC classes in competition.

Just two hours north of Manhattan, the visit to the northwest corner of Connecticut has the feel of a home race for Marsal, who has been racing at the track since 2010 when he won on debut with Turner Motorsport. Marsal moved up to GT class competition at Lime Rock Park with Will Turner as his co-driver in 2012, and scored fifth with co-driver Billy Johnson in 2013.

The track is one that is close not only to the Boston-area headquarters for Turner, but also to the heart as the team has long made the trek to the 1.5-mile road course ever since Will Turner first started supporting BMW Club events at Lime Rock Park, selling brake pads and other go-fast equipment.

Marsal, who normally shares the driving duties with Markus Paltalla, will be joined this weekend by Cameron as Paltalla races in the 24 Hours of Spa. The weekend is a bit of a homecoming for Cameron, who with Paltalla raced to the IMSA GTD championship with Turner Motorsport last season in the No. 97 BMW Z4. 

“I am pretty excited about the Lime Rock weekend,” said Marsal. “It is a big deal for all the Turner guys, they’ve been coming here for years and there is such a great crowd of Turner customers. Having Dane (Cameron) with us this weekend - if you are going to replace someone for a weekend, having the guy who won the championship in this car last year is a good pick! I like this track a lot and it will be interesting with the traffic between the GTD cars and the LMPC, but I think we should have a very good car and hopefully can come out of here with a great result.”

Marsal will kick off the Lime Rock Park festivities on Wednesday as he takes part in the Racers in Soho event hosted by Seize sur Vingt. The IMSA promotional event is set to take place close to home for Marsal in NYC. 

Live timing and scoring will be available throughout the weekend at scoring.imsa.com, with IMSA Radio bringing international coverage on the air along with LIVE streaming of the race on IMSA.com. FOX Sports 1 will televise the event on Sunday, July 26 at 5:00 PM ET.