Lexington, Ohio (9 June 2012) - Michael Marsal and Turner Motorsport co-driver Boris Said completed Round 5 of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday with a 11th place result in the 2.5-hour EMCO Gears Classic event at the Ohio road course.

Marsal had looked for his Mid-Ohio luck to turn around this weekend with a strong result, but the Turner team faced a challenging day as the No. 97 BMW ran just outside of the top-10 throughout most of the race.

"It seems to be my Mid-Ohio luck," said Marsal. "We had a decent car but I think the motor was on the end of its life cycle because it was a little down on power. We were out of our handling window and we just didn't have a car to race. We held onto it for as long as we could and we stuck right there just outside of the top-10 but unfortunately neither Boris or I had anything for anybody else so it was just kind of a survival race."

The Turner Motorsport squad called a strategy that saw young Marsal working from behind the wheel for nearly an hour and 30 minutes before turning the car over to Said. The team had hoped the cautions would play into their favor, but unfortunately the race saw eight caution periods which allowed the front runners to conserve fuel without having to make an extra pit stop.

"We knew that we didn't have the fastest car out there so we just automatically put ourselves on a different strategy hoping that it would play out," offered Marsal. "Unfortunately with all of the yellows it just wasn't a good strategy to be on. I mean we'll take it - it's 11th, it's not horrible. It's just not where we wanted to be."

Marsal will look to rebound as GRAND-AM heads to Road America - another favorite circuit of Marsal's.

"We'll be full bore GRAND-AM now, it's go time," said Marsal of the GRAND-AM events coming up over the next few weeks. "We'll head to Road America in two weeks and go straight to the Glen after that. I like Road America - it's a cool place. We got wrecked out of Road America last year so hopefully we'll have some better luck this time. I really enjoy racing there."

The Road America event takes place June 21-22. The EMCO Gears Classic will be broadcasted June 17 at 12:00 PM on SPEED.