Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico (12 June 2024) – After countless hours of preparation and pre-running, the hard work paid off as Spy+ Optic Mike Marsal Racing team scored the team’s highest BFGoodrich Baja 500 finish with the fourth fastest finishing time in the Trophy Truck Spec category this weekend.
The race, which is the second in the four-round SCORE 2024 championship, is double the distance of the opening round in San Felipe, with the Baja 400 set for September ahead of the season finale with the iconic Baja 1000 in November.
Marsal was alongside his long time navigator, Hudson Hall as the duo set the 16th fastest lap in qualifying ahead of the 486 mile race. But as has often been the case, the race pace was strong, with Marsal and Hall making up nine positions in the first half of the 10 hour and 20 minute race to set the stage for a strong finish.
“We had a really good run to start and made up a lot of ground,” said Marsal. “The conditions were pretty consistent and I think we had learned a lot in our pre-running with our SPY+ truck that was useful for the start. It is a good result and it’s always great to finish all the miles. I know that Troy and Matt had to fight back from a flat but we were still able to get a good result and that’s great for our season championship focus.”
Troy Grabowski and Matt Martinez took over the Spy+ Optic orange No. 236 machine and kept up the pace before unfortunately being slowed with a flat. But the two were able to replace the tire and get back on the road to make their way to cross the finish line in third. A speeding penalty added two minutes on the team’s overall finishing time bumping the Mike Marsal Racing crew to fourth.
“We had a pretty solid day,” said Grabowski. “Mike started 16th in our class and worked our way up to seventh, but we got a flat tire and lost a few positions. We picked our way through a couple of guys and it looks like we got a top three, so that shows we had a good run. We made no mistakes and are happy to be here.
The Spy+ Optic Mike Marsal Racing team will take a hiatus ahead of working through preparations for the Baja 400 in September.