Daytona Beach, Florida - David Merkel had no auto racing background when he graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, with a degree in mechanical engineering in 2006.

But German engineering fascinated him, especially in the automotive and motorsports fields. And challenges always have motived Merkel, so he set out to find a path to Germany to immerse himself in the country's rich, engineering-driven automotive industry.

So it's little wonder Merkel, 32, finds himself nine years later as a new member of the Porsche Motorsport North America track support team. The group of engineers provides comprehensive technical assistance to Porsche customer teams in a variety of North American sports car racing series, including the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama and Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin.

"Everything I did was all really designed to learn the language, the culture and to be educated with the aspiration to work in this industry in Germany," Merkel said. "It took me awhile to get there. But I did."

Merkel's journey to Porsche started right after he finished undergraduate studies and has taken many interesting turns and passport stamps along the way.

In 2006, he went to Germany for three months on a joint scholarship from the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag. He learned the German language and immersed himself in the country's culture, deepening his interest in German engineering.

He returned to the United States and began graduate school in January 2007 in a dual-degree program between the University of Rhode Island and TU-Braunschweig, a major technical university in Germany.

Merkel completed his master's degree coursework in mechanical and systems engineering from Rhode Island after a year and then worked a 10-month internship with Porsche Motorsport in Weissach, Germany, in the Quality Management Department under the guidance of veteran engineer and Quality Director Hans Koerkemeier.

Working for Koerkemeier and other engineers responsible for all areas of design and manufacturing of Porsche racing machines stoked Merkel's fire for motorsports even more. So after the internship ended, he then studied automotive engineering for two semesters at TU-Braunschweig, working to complete his engineering graduate studies.

But then Merkel's route to racing took a detour toward the skies.

When Merkel finished his studies at TU-Braunschweig, General Dynamics offered him a job in rockets and ordnance at its facility in Burlington, Vermont, just across Lake Champlain from his boyhood home in Plattsburgh, New York. He worked there for a year before he was offered a job at Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics subsidiary, designing processing systems for high-pressure oxygen tubing systems for Gulfstream's large cabin business jets in Savannah, Georgia.

While working in Savannah, Merkel's compass again started to point northeast. He never lost sight of his goal of working in automotive engineering in Germany, with his memories of his fruitful internship with Porsche still fresh.

So Merkel returned to Europe to work from 2011-13 in Switzerland for a Gulfstream company, Jet Aviation A.G., performing cabin outfitting and certification for wide-body executive and private jets. His responsibility was design, engineering and certification of systems for these luxury aircraft. Merkel also completed his Master of Business Administration during this time.

During his stint in Switzerland, Merkel reconnected with Koerkemeier at Porsche, trying to find an avenue back into motorsports.

Merkel's relationship with Koerkemeier - who had just retired - led him to Porsche engineer and director Dr. Daniel Armbruster, who was in charge of the 911 GT3-R hybrid program.

"He was very interested by my aerospace experience," Merkel said of Armbruster. "The level of requirements of engineering in aerospace is unparalleled anywhere else in industry. He wanted to use these strengths for me to come in and bring in continuous improvement to the way we manage manufacturing, assembly and the overall project with the gearbox."

Merkel was offered a job with Porsche in Weissach, responsible for quality management for the gearbox for all 991 models of Porsche 911 race models. He had achieved his dream. But the hard work was only starting.

The 991 gearbox project was a major undertaking. Porsche - one of the only automotive companies in the world to still design its gearbox in house -- was increasing its output from approximately 20 to 400 gearboxes in a year due to the growing global motorsports program with the introduction of the Type 991 911 race car in 2014 in a variety of series, including the USA and Canada GT3 Cup Challenge championships.

"This undertaking to manufacture 400 motorsports gearboxes in a year, maintaining tolerances to the micron in many instances, was unprecedented," Merkel said. "It was an enormous feat to develop systems with our vendors to allow for Formula One precision, yet hold a small volume production rate to safely sustain Cup manufacture in Zuffenhausen."

Merkel's skilled, efficient work with the gearbox engineering team also led Armbruster to appoint him as the project leader for quality project management for upcoming projects.

The 991 gearbox project was successful for Porsche, so Merkel - always motivated by challenges - began to investigate new roles within the company. He wanted to expand his responsibilities and knowledge base with Porsche racing machinery from one specialized component, the gearbox, to the entire car. He also wanted to work hands-on with Porsche customers.

So when PMNA track support team member Eric Bloss moved within Porsche earlier this year to the company's historic racing vehicle program, Merkel took the opportunity to delve deeper into motorsports.

He began working with the PMNA track support team at racetracks around North America this summer, assisting Porsche customer teams in a variety of one-make Cup series.

The job of the PMNA track support team is simple in theory and very detailed in execution. PMNA track support engineers work with teams during race weekends to diagnose and fix problems with their Porsche race cars.

PMNA track support engineers are as familiar a sight in Porsche team paddocks across North America as tool boxes and trailers. Merkel and other members of the team dart around the paddock area before and after track sessions, plugging laptop computers into Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars to help identify and repair gremlins.

"We're 100 percent committed to providing product support for every component of the race car," Merkel said. "Any issue on any part of the vehicle, be it electronics, powertrain, body, suspension - the full gamut - our customer should have the expectation they can come to us and we need to make it right. That's diagnosing the problem, identifying the best immediate solution and developing corrective action to ensure it doesn't happen again.

"This is a special and unique service Porsche provides, and it's something we're fully committed to. Motorsports is an integral part of Porsche's identity, especially GT racing in the U.S. and Canada. With the level of competition increasing, we realize how important this is to our customer and our business. We are dedicated to this line of service and are striving to uphold our commitment. To accomplish this, we are increasing the expectation we have on ourselves so that our customers are getting overall better service. We want to take it from where we are and bring it to the next level."

The new role is providing all of the interesting, fulfilling work that Merkel expected and wanted. Working for PMNA track support also draws upon his complete Porsche experience, which started as an intern and then progressed into reaching a dream of working for the company in motorsports.

"If the challenge is there, then I'm switched on," Merkel said. "Motorsport isn't for everyone. It's a very demanding environment. So you take the way we work in development, we have high expectations of each other, and we bring that to the track. We expect that the customer is letting us know all of the issues, what is good and what isn't good, so we can work on it. In return, they need to see from us the commitment and the resolve to take care of those things accordingly.

"Motorsport takes it to the next level because to be successful, you don't go home at a certain time. You're there until it's resolved. And you don't mind because it's a passion that you have, and you're willing to forego other things to be committed to what you're doing."

About IMSA

The International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 with a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America, which will become the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2016. IMSA also sanctions the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, as well as four single-make series: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama; Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin; Ferrari Challenge North America; and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. IMSA - a company within the NASCAR Holdings group - is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected TUDOR Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. For more information, visit www.IMSA.com, www.twitter.com/UnitedSportsCar or www.facebook.com/UnitedSportsCar.