Baltimore : Merchant Services Racing Ready For A Street Fight
Merchant Services Racing will head to the streets of Baltimore for this weeks American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón for the Baltimore Sports Car Challenge presented by SRT. The eighth round of the American Le Mans Series championship is 2-hour charge through the city’s Inner Harbor district. As defending champions of the 2011 event, the team hopes to repeat and keep their podium streak alive.
Fielding two cars for the event, Tony Burgess will join Kyle Marcelli in the No. 8 Lamex, Butterfield Farms ORECA, while Lucas and Matt Downs take on the driving duties for the No. 7 sister car.
“I don’t want the guys to be over confident going into this round,” noted team principal, Brian Alder, “but I think we’re in a good place. We know the cars. We know the track. And we’re defending champions. If you combine that with our consistency over the summer, you’d have to give us pretty good odds.”
“More importantly though,” added Alder, “I’m confident in the way the team is performing week in and week out. The crew is really finding their groove. They’re avoiding mistakes and they’re operating in a pro-active mode. They’re not leaving anything to chance with car prep and they’re performing extremely well on their pit stops. I’m real happy with those guys.”
The team also has the benefit of their lead driver, Kyle Marcelli. Marcelli has earned the respect of his fellow competitors and many in the American Le Mans Series. He’s fast, consistent and knows how to stay out of trouble. Just last week, Marcelli shattered the Prototype Challenge track record at Road America by over one second clocking a time of 1:57.172, six tenths quicker than 3-time 24 Hour Le Mans Winner Tom Kimber-Smith, Indy Car Ace Bruno Junquria and Sports Car Veteren Marino Franchiti.
The Baltimore Sports Car Challenge presented by SRT is a two-day event. ALMS teams will take the track for two practice sessions on Friday, August 31, followed by qualifying at 5:27 p.m. (ET). Green flag for the race is on Saturday, September 1, at 4:30 p.m. (ET).