PRESS

MARCELLI AND LAFARGE TAKE 4TH AT PETITE LEMANS

With the support of multi national organization Lafarge, Marcelli partnered up with the experienced AIM Autosport crew for the event. Testing began on the Tuesday and Wednesday where Marcelli was able to get comfortable in the new car and work with the engineer dialling in the race cars set-up.

“The AIM crew was a great bunch of people to work with, very knowledgeable, experienced and a lot of fun!” says Marcelli

Testing was very successful as Marcelli was up to speed and competitive right away allowing more time to tune the car. With the two AIM cars starting with somewhat different set-ups they eventually worked towards being the same as both Edwards and Marcelli’s driving styles were very similar.

Qualifying was 45 minutes. The field was split into to groups which were determined by the practice times. Kyle was in the faster group. As the drivers took to the track with new Goodyear rubber the times were quicker than ever. Marcelli wowed everyone as he was P5 for most of the session before posting a flyer in the closing stages to secure P4, a second row start alongside his teamate John Edwards.

New to the Star Mazda Championship in 2008 was the Formula 1 style “standing starts”. Marcelli having only recently competed in Formula Ford, US F2000 and Canadian Touring Car where rolling starts are what gets the race underway this was going to be a new challenge.

The 24 car field lined up two by two Friday afternoon for the start of round eleven, with Marcelli starting on the outside of row two his attention was focused on getting off the line quick and clean. As the lights went out Marcelli nailed his first start in the series overtaking position into turn one.

As always in the competitive open wheel development series, the racing action was very fast, close and extremely exciting. At the conclusion of the 45 minute or 32 lap race Marcelli had a hard fought race eventually crossing the stripe in his Lafarge sponsored car 4th place, just missing out on a podium finish . The AIM Autosport team as well as many key influencers were very pleased with Kyle’s performances in his 2008 Star Mazda Championship debut.

“I want to sincerely thank Lafarge for their support in my Star Mazda debut; it wouldn’t have been possible without them. Overall the weekend was very successful! The plan was to go down and be competitive and we accomplished that. AIM Autosport did a great job for me, and comparing data with Edwards was also very valuable. I will be working hard over the winter months trying to put together a package to run the series full time in 2009.” Says Marcelli

Marcelli would like to thank his year long sponsors Donnybrook Industries, Lafarge, Barrie Trim and Mouldings, GP Masonry, Trudel Roofing, PFAFF, Alpinestars, The Robert Simpson Brewery, Brown Windows, MG Homes, Mullins Pub, MMG Trading, Simcoe Building Center, RE/MAX Barrie, Stif Creative Works and Canadian Tire Barrie South.