F2000: Double podiums for Marcelli in Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen, NY (June 17th 2008) – Marcelli leaves the fast and unforgiving Watkins Glen International as the only driver to make the podium both days in the ultra competitive Pro F2000 Championship Series.

After battling back from the very difficult weekend in Road Atlanta, Marcelli worked hard in preparation for round 5 and 6 held this past weekend at Watkins Glen International. Having shown the speed necessary thus far in the season, Marcelli again has proven himself to be a championship contender.

Marcelli quickly got up to speed on the Thursday test day posting times consistently in the top 3. Friday approached and the times continued to drop as teams and drivers tuned their set ups. BGR’s Kyle Marcelli didn’t miss a beat continuing to be in the top three of each session.

“Watkins Gen is a beautiful facility; the track is world class as it is very fast but leaves no room for error. I really enjoyed pushing the car to its limits around the 3.5 mile road course, it very flowing and really rewards smooth drivers,” said Marcelli

With rain expected all day Saturday, Thursday and Friday testing looked to be a wash. However, the F2000 Championship Series time slots seemed to have fit great into mother natures schedule as we had a dry track for both qualifying and racing.

Saturday featured Marcelli put his Brian Graham Racing prepared Van Diemen on the front row for the start of round five. As the green flag dropped Marcelli slotted into second place. Marcelli ran a mistake free race crossing the stripe after the 30 min feature race behind the Norwegian driver to finish second.

Sunday proved to be entertaining as Marcelli again put himself on the front row for the start of round six. The outside starting position at Watkins Glen proved to be a difficult position as Marcelli was forced wide by the Anderson Racing duo. Putting the pace down right away Marcelli caught back up to the lead pair before having a full course caution bunch the field back up. Ready for the restart things got messy as the field was five wide into turn one.

As multiple drivers were storming aggressively up the inside, Marcelli was again forced way wide barley missing a multi car pile up in corner one. Getting back on track Marcelli found himself in sixth. Working hard putting down fast laps Marcelli made his way back into the top three. With still three laps to go Marcelli had the pedal to the metal catching the second place car, unfortunately running out of laps Marcelli crossed the stripe taking third place and being the only driver on the podium both days.

“Overall it was a successful weekend for myself and the BGR squad. It was great to be the only driver on the podium both races earning good points for the overall championship. I’m really looking forward to Mid Ohio, In the meantime we will continue to work hard and prepare to go for the win at the next round.” Says Marcelli

The next round in the Pro F2000 Championship Series is in about three weeks time at the Mid – Ohio sports car course.

Marcelli would like to thank his sponsors Dan Chobotiuk at Sunlife Financial, Lafarge, Barrie Trim and Mouldings, GP Masonry and Landscaping Supplies, Trudel Roofing, PFAFF, Alpinestars, The Robert Simpson Brewery, Brown Windows, MG Homes, Mullins Pub, MMG Trading, Simcoe Building Center and Stif Creative Works

From www.kylemarcelli.com