SCC: Birmingham: Jason Martinelli preview

Martnelli Ready To Take on The Grand Sports Class at Barber

LEEDS, Ala. -- Jason Martinelli will be making his third Grand-Am Cup start this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, and the newcomer is looking forward to racing at a track where he already has experience.

Martinelli will be teaming up with Don St. John to drive the No. 08 Automatic Racing BMW M3 in the Grand Sports class of Saturday's Grand-Am Cup 250.

The pair first drove in the Grand-Am Cup Series at Mid-Ohio, and most recently they raced in last week's round at Virginia International Raceway. Both tracks were new to Martinelli, but now he has the advantage of having raced at Barber in the past.

Martinelli competed at Barber last season in a BMW CCA event, getting not only a chance to learn the tricky 2.3-mile, 16-turn course, but he also got experience behind the wheel of a BMW there.

"Barber is such a great track. It's a driver's track, like Virginia," said Martinelli. "Barber is definitely a challenge, but still fun and it's one of my favorite tracks. Instead of a lot of long straightaways, Barber is packed with turns and some of them are really tight. That should be beneficial to us since the BMW handles so well in the corners. I think this round will give us a good opportunity to move up and we'll have a good finish there."

The Grand-Am Cup 250 at Barber Motorsports Park will start on Saturday, October 9, at 2:00 p.m. CT. Martinelli will have a day of practice on Friday to prepare for the race.

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