Mitchell to Sub for Marcelli at Road America

Photo: Sandy Mitchell Racing

Lamborghini factory driver Sandy Mitchell will sub for Kyle Marcelli in this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America as Marcelli recovers from a medical condition.

Marcelli, who normally co-drives with Danny Formal in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, has developed Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, a condition that has affected his right arm while driving.

The 34-year-old Canadian told Sportscar365 that he expects to return to the cockpit for next month’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.

For Mitchell, who has two previous WeatherTech Championship starts in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Scot said he’s looking forward to the expected one-off effort with WTRAndretti.

“I was quite surprised and quite kind of last minute as well in terms of getting a call-up,” he told Sportscar365.

“But I’m really excited, it’s my first IMSA race outside of Daytona, which is a race I’ve done a couple of times as a fourth driver. So be a little bit more directly involved with a sprint race is really cool.

“It’s a track I know well from Super Trofeo, having the lap record and race wins there in 2019, so I’m eager to go back in GT3.”

Mitchell, who had previously driven for the team in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America competition, is hopeful the Road America race could lead to more WeatherTech Championship opportunities in the future.

WTRAndretti has ambitions of becoming a two-car GTD operation next year, with Ashton Harrison earmarked as the designated Silver-rated driver in the second Lamborghini.

“It’s a team that I know well,” said Mitchell. “Obviously I’ve worked with Lamborghini for a long time as well and raced for Wayne Taylor in Super Trofeo.

“I completed a test with them at Laguna as well just to see if there was anything that we could work together on to help for the season.

“Getting to do Daytona is obviously one of the highlights of the year and I really enjoy racing in the States having done Super Trofeo there, a couple of races in Daytona, doing a little bit of SRO stuff in the past couple of years, but just one-off races as well.

“Championship-wise, I’ve been very much based in the UK and Europe, but IMSA’s a really fun championship.

“The regulations are quite different, and I definitely enjoy doing that in the future, in the next year or two.”

Davey Euwema contributed to this report

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