Michael Marsal will be back in IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship action this weekend and the Turner Motorsport driver is looking to build some momentum in the Detroit Grand Prix on Saturday (LIVE Fox Sports 2 broadcast starts at 12:00 PM ET). 

Marsal enters the race weekend targeting his third top-10 finish of the season after scoring eighth with co-driver Markus Palttala earlier this month at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Marsal has experience on the bumpy 2.3-mile circuit that sits on Belle Isle with the Detroit skyline as a backdrop across the Detroit River, having finished eighth in his Rolex Series debut on the track in 2013 for Turner Motorsport.

The race, which features Prototypes, GTD machines, and LMPC entries, will be a flat out sprint, with just 100 minutes of racing between the start and the checkered flag for round four of the championship. Marsal and Palttala opened the day with a run to fourth in the first practice before the track was enveloped by rain for the second practice session. 

A break in the weather on Friday afternoon set the stage for a dry qualifying session. Marsal, who will also open the race from behind the wheel, took to the track for the qualifying session. After setting a pair of banker laps, Marsal cranked out a series of laps that improved each time by as his grid spots went up accordingly. Unfortunately, that progress halted with a red flag after Marsal made contact with a tire barrier, losing his fastest lap of the session as a penalty. 

“I’m okay, but that was a frustrating way to end that session,” said Marsal. “I had a problem with a downshift going into the corner so I just had too much speed at entry and there wasn’t any way to get it slowed down enough to make the corner. It is too bad to lose our fastest lap, but tomorrow is a new race and everyone expects it to rain so you never know what might happen. We’ve been better in the races than in qualifying this year, so hopefully that is the case again tomorrow!” 

Marsal will start the Turner Motorsport No. 97 IHG Racing BMW Z4 entry from the fifth row of the three-class field. Live timing and scoring will be available at scoring.imsa.com, with IMSA Radio bringing international coverage on the air along with the FOX Sports 2 live broadcast.