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Marcelli takes fourth in Long Beach

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Team press release

(Long Beach, California) April 17th 2012 – It was a street fight Saturday afternoon during the 38th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as the American Le Mans Series Presented by Tequila Patron roared around the 1.9 mile temporary racing circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Merchant Services Racing driver Kyle Marcelli and co-driver Anthony Downs raced to a 4th place finish in the LMPC category.

For the drivers of the American Le Mans Series, it was a race weekend that offered zero dry practice laps prior to taking the green flag for the two-hour sprint race.

Teams and drivers had a two-hour free practice session on Friday morning to learn the circuit and test set-ups. Unfortunately, it was under very wet conditions. For 22-year old Kyle Marcelli, he had no problems coming to grips with the circuit under the miserable conditions. Marcelli posted the fastest lap in the LMPC category which impressively was second fastest overall behind the Muscle Milk Honda LMP1 of Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf.

“If you ask me, I rather enjoyed it.” Said the Canadian racer Kyle Marcelli. “I’ve driven many permanent road courses in wet conditions but never a temporary street circuit. The car was very good under braking and on turn-in, I suffered most just trying to get the power down as the car has no traction control.”
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Kyle Marcelli to partner with Pfaff in Porsche GT3 Cup

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The inaugural season of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada was so successful, that Porsche Canada promised the series would be back in 2012. Not only would the series return, but they assured competitors and media that the competition would be even better as the field would swell. The series gets a big boost today with the news that Pfaff Automotive Partners would be fielding a car for Kyle Marcelli this year.

“My father built the company on a passion for motorsports and it gives me great pride to continue this racing legacy today,” said Christopher Pfaff, president and CEO, Pfaff Automotive Partners. “We are very excited about the upcoming race season and have great expectations for the team we have put together with Fiorano Racing and up-and-coming driver, Kyle Marcelli behind the wheel”.

Twenty one year old Marcelli is a popular driver in the American Le Mans Series and has been a friend of The Garage since he joined us as an instructor at our Winter Driving school for teens a couple of years ago.

“I’m really excited to be driving for Pfaff in this year’s Porsche GT3 Cup Canada. This marks a great opportunity for Pfaff Automotive to build on their already popular brand and successful auto-racing heritage,” said race driver, Kyle Marcelli. “For me, this serves as a wonderful platform to build a relationship with Porsche. Together our goals are quite simple, win races and sell cars.”

Fans will be able to see Marcelli and the Pfaff Porsche GT3 in action this year at the following events.

  1. May 17-20    Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport)
  2. June 8-10      Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
  3. July 5-8          Circuit Mont Tremblant
  4. July 19-22     Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
  5. August 9-12  Calabogie Motorsports Park

Head past the jump to read the full press release and watch a video of the series in action.
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Disappointment For Marcelli At Road America

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Team press release

(Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin) August 23rd 2011 – Fresh off a pole position and lap record at Mosport Int’l Raceway as well as a victory at Mid-Ohio just a few weeks ago, Marcelli was anxious for extra success on the 4.5 mile road course located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, what started out as another promising race weekend for the talented 21-year-old Canadian race driver, the weekend’s 4-hour Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase at Road America ended with disappointment.
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A character building weekend for Kyle Marcelli at Mosport Marcelli: Becoming Quite Familiar to the Front Row of ALMS 2011 Grand Prix of Mosport in pictures

A character building weekend for Kyle Marcelli at Mosport

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Team press release

(Bomanville, Ontario) July 27th 2011 – After a dominant performance leading the way through each official practice session, qualifying on pole position and setting a new lap record. Canada’s Kyle Marcelli, driver of the #89 Intersport Racing entry was forced into an early retirement at the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport after a spinning GTC car made contact with Marcelli in turn 3.
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Marcelli: Becoming Quite Familiar to the Front Row of ALMS

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Team press release

(Barrie, Ontario) June 7th 2011 – Intersport Racing’s driver Kyle Marcelli, piloting the #89 LMPC is the lone full-time Canadian in the American Le Mans Series. Since making his rookie debut into the American Le Mans Series with Intersport Racing in 2010, the 21-year old is becoming quite familiar to the front row of ALMS. Marcelli having been appointed to qualifying the car for eight races thus far, he has qualified the Intersport entry on the front row of the grid for five of those eight races. While that statistic is impressive on its own, for Marcelli it’s just not enough as he’s still highly anticipating his first series pole position.

“It’s getting to be a little bit frustrating, laughs Marcelli. The Intersport Racing team and I have worked very hard together to develop a good race car and we’ve certainly showed that we can race upfront in a series that’s filled with competition from around the globe. More times than not we have qualified on the front row yet all second place missing out on the pole by only a fraction. Certainly, our first ALMS pole position is highly anticipated.” Says driver Kyle Marcelli.

“We’ve kept very busy during the break in the ALMS schedule, the Intersport crew has been working hard in preparation for Lime Rock. It’s a pleasure working with Kyle, each race weekend we continue to make strides forward in development. We’re extremely anxious to earn our first series pole position in LMPC and more importantly to back up our podium finish from Long Beach with another great run in Connecticut.” Said Intersport Racing Team Manager, Brian Alder.
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The Garage Blog Winter Driving Academy proves value of tires and training

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Juliana Chiovitti shows proper hand placement

Now that the turkey coma has subsided and the Boxing Day madness has passed by, I can tell you all about our first ever Winter Driving Academy!

Just a few days before Christmas, we gathered at Mosport with a flock of young drivers (and one not so young driver) who were enjoying their holiday break from school. They were about to add a twist that they will never forget to the break.

With the legendary Grand Prix track buried in new snow, the day began with breakfast and a classroom session where chief instructors Gerry Lowe and John Mahler taught students the basics of car control and a bit of the physics behind the techniques they would learn.

One can only learn so much about driving in a classroom, so after the lessons, the group moved over to the west end of the property, where a water truck was busy turning that fresh snow into an icy surface on the skidpad. The fun was about to begin!

Gerry and John were joined by Canadian racers Kyle Marcelli and Juliana Chiovitti as they put the drivers through a series of exercises designed to allow them to feel how a car reacts in extreme conditions and then progressively learn how to control the situation.
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