Merchant Services Racing scored their first American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron podium finish at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Challenge in Lexington, Ohio. The No. 8 Lamex Butterfield Farms, MBRP Performance Exhaust LMPC Oreca, driven by Kyle Marcelli and Anthony Downs finished third in the highly competitive LMPC division.

“This is an exciting step in our on-going progress,” noted team principal, Brian Alder. “We’ve been extremely fast all year and have been in scoring position more often than not. We just haven’t caught a break. I’m really proud of the team and our drivers. They’ve kept their heads down and not lost focus of getting the Merchant Services Racing cars to the front.”

“Today was a lot of fun for our friends and families,” added Alder. “And it provided terrific sense of accomplishment for the whole team. Seeing both cars running 1 -2 in the early stages of the race was fantastic. The guys in the No. 7 car did a great job all week long. There was a lot of additional set up work required to get the car sorted for the drivers, James Kavacic and Tony Burgess, while keeping it comfortable for both. They were very instrumental in our early race dominance.”

Unfortunately, the No. 7 car would not finish the race. A high pressure fuel pump failed while on track. The driver managed to get the car back to pit lane, however the problem was internal requiring the car to go behind the wall.

Completing the family oriented homecoming weekend at Mid-Ohio, driver Kyle Marcelli announced his engagement to Amy ‘Lulu’ Beck. Jon Buck proposed and is now engaged to Candace Moore Pringle. Finally, putting the icing on the weekend’s cake, Brian and Cathy Alder gave birth Monday to their second child, 8lb. 3oz. Lily Alder.

Merchant Services Racing’s next event is the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón Road America Road Race Showcase at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., on Saturday, August 18.

Source : Merchant Services Racing