“Feast or Famine” for Marcelli in Full Time IMSA Return

Photo: Sideline Sports Photography/Lexus Racing

Kyle Marcelli says he’s looking forward to a busy season ahead in IMSA competition, in what’s been a “feast or famine” for the Canadian in securing drives in recent years. 

Marcelli is set for full-time campaigns in both the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, having inked deals with 3GT Racing and KohR Motorsports within the span of a week.

It comes after a challenging 2017 season that saw him contest only a handful of races, after his primary program with R. Ferri Motorsport in Pirelli World Challenge came to an early end.

“It’s feast or famine,” Marcelli told Sportscar365. “2016 was the busiest year for my career at that time. I was full-time in WeatherTech and full-time in Pirelli World Challenge, and then some Trans-Am one-offs.

“At that time, I was like ‘This is too busy’. 2017 rolls around and it was one-third of that. I had the SprintX races in PWC and two one-offs in WeatherTech so it was a very minimal year for me.

“When you have opportunities you’ve got to take them.

“The Ford deal came up and almost immediately after the Lexus opportunity came up. It all happened in the same week really, so it’s a busy year ahead.”

Marcelli will join former FIA GT3 European champion Dominik Baumann in 3GT’s Lexus RC F GT3, marking his first full WeatherTech Championship season in two years, when he drove for Performance Tech Motorsports in Prototype Challenge.

“I’ve had the relationship with Paul [Gentilozzi] and RSR from the Prototype Challenge days,” he explained.

“We knew each other. In our original conversation, it didn’t look like there was an opportunity but then a week and a half ago or so, Paul called me back and said it looked like there is an opportunity.”

The newly rated Silver driver said the Lexus will be the only GT3 car he drives this year.

“It’s a very different GT3 car compared to that of other manufacturers I’ve driven,” Marcelli said.

“It does some things really well but there are other things we’re working to adjust.

“There’s certainly a lot of people here and everybody’s got the same focus. There are a lot of people from Lexus and TRD and it’s cool to be a part of that. It’s certainly the biggest effort I’ve been a part of it.”

Marcelli on Double-Duty

While no stranger to racing multiple cars on the same weekend, Marcelli said he expects no issues between jumping from the 3GT Lexus to KohR’s Ford Mustang GT4, which he will share with Nate Stacy.

“This weekend, in particular, [was] really busy because it seemed like the schedule was just back-to-back between Continental and WeatherTech.

“Looking ahead to the race, the schedule will be broken up a little bit more.

“In terms of driving the different cars, it usually takes a lap or two to get your reference points readjusted but again, I’m at a point where I need to take opportunities when they come.

“This is a really great one here with Lexus and it’s exciting to be a part of it.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John