Canadian race driver Kyle Marcelli has sure added a few stamps into his passport over the last several weeks as not only has he been participating for Intersport Racing in the American Le Mans Series but also co-driving alongside Miami’s Chapman Ducote in the last two rounds of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Most recently with the 2011 American Le Mans Series championship coming to a close it was Marcelli who qualified on pole position, set fast lap of the race and went on to finish second in LMPC at the 14^th annual Petit Le Mans.

It was a race week that started out like all others, however would soon took a turn for the worst as co-driver of the #89 LMPC David Ducote was air lifted to the Gainsville Hospital after a crash in Saturday morning practice. As the car was virtually destroyed, many were unsure of David’s condition. Yet, hoping for the best, the Intersport Racing crew worked hard over the next three hours to prepare the back-up #37 chassis for qualifying. After tightening the final bolt just moments before the green flag for prototype qualifying, Marcelli was strapped in behind the wheel. Miraculously, he wowed fans and series officials as with just moments to go he laid down a blistering lap of 1:14.848 which secured him the LMPC pole position by .7 tenths of a second.

Following post-qualifying interviews, Marcelli was off to the hotel for an early night as Saturday meant game day, a ten-hour race testing both man and machine. When he arrived to the track early Saturday morning, the team informed him of the news. They had been moved to the back of the grid due to some protests against his qualifying efforts. As it turned out, switching to the back-up #37 tub was not an issue providing the major components are from the #89 and although the car passed the post-qualifying technical inspection with flying colours, many were questioning Marcelli’s incredible performance in qualifying. Some thought that maybe the wrong restrictor was in the car. However, this assertion proved to be completely false. The Intersport Racing crew had made sure to utilize the proper size restrictor and had certainly been reviewed during post qualifying inspection. Nevertheless, rules are rules and that meant Marcelli had his work cut out at the start of the race.

“I was certainly very happy with my performance in qualifying but especially pleased with the crew’s performance to prepare the back-up car in less than three hours. That was simply amazing. It’s a shame our efforts were taken away, nevertheless we and I’m sure many others recognized what we did,” Marcelli said.

The 14^th annual Petit Le Mans was one for the ages. However, for Marcelli and Intersport Racing it was nowhere close to a walk in the park. After starting from the back of the grid, Marcelli showed his true talents as he stormed to the front and took the LMPC lead in only his first stint. Following Marcelli’s double stint to start the race, he then handed the wheel off to Miami’s Chapman Ducote for a single stint. Chapman was still a little shaken up from his brother’s incident; nevertheless he showed he was willing and able to get the job done. Marcelli was soon thereafter back in the car for another double stint, maintaining the LMPC lead it was about hour five when a scheduled stop for fuel and tires got Hollywood’s Tomy Drissi into the car. Tomy did his job exactly, running a double stint and kept the car just where Marcelli left it, at the front. With the sun beginning to set and just about two hours remaining, Intersport Racing had their “stig” Kyle Marcelli back in the car to chase for the win. Marcelli had retook the lead and held a comfortable gap over second place Ryan Lewis of England, however with instructions from the engineers to slow the pace to conserve fuel Marcelli’s gap would soon vanish. As it turned out, both Marcelli and Lewis would need to pit in the final stages of the race for a quick splash and go. It would be a dogfight to the end. By this time it was completely black outside, yet the intensity was through the roof as drivers and teams pushed to the limits. Following completion of the splash and go, Marcelli had about a seven second lead with only ten minutes remaining. Unfortunately, it was one lap later that a full-course caution appeared for an incident in turn three. The race would end up going green with three laps remaining. As Marcelli was third in line on the restart, he had two LMP2’s behind him then the LMPC of Ryan Lewis. After holding them off for the first lap, the LMP2’s would soon find a way by Marcelli into turn six. This gave Lewis a good run as he was able to draft by Marcelli with only one lap to go. With the crowd on their toes, Lewis drove defensive and Marcelli tried to make the car stick on the outside of turn ten. However, it wasn’t meant to be as the two crossed the finish nosed to tail separated by only 0.172.

“To lose a ten-hour race in the second last lap was so dis-heartening. The team and myself worked so hard all race long and it was in the palm of our hands. Yet, the caution with only three laps remaining was like leading the Indy 500 on a green, white checkered. Nevertheless, I’m happy for what we accomplished this weekend. Setting the pole position in qualifying, leading a good part of the race and setting the fastest race lap. I think our efforts were noticed and at the end of the day we did our best,” said Marcelli.

For Marcelli its time to take the racing helmet off and put the business hat on. The next several weeks will consist on hard work behind the scenes to make 2012 another banner year for the 21- year old.

Kyle would personally like to thank his corporate partners: Lafarge (Turbo Plus), DynaPep Energy (7/11), Barrie Trim & Mouldings, Simcoe Building Centre, Thermo Seal Insulation Systems, Braille Battery, Merchant Services Ltd, Sailun Tire, Spherion Staffing Solutions, 104.1 The Dock, Leaf Racewear and Intersport Racing.