Magnus Racing Adds Sweedler and Keen to CTSCC Entry, Pays Up to Autohaus Motorsports at Lime Rock this weekend
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 02:17PM 
May 24, 2011 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – Before taking to the track for this weekend’s Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Magnus Racing’s John Potter will have a little bit of business to take care of.
At last weekend’s race at VIRginia International Raceway, Autohaus Racing claimed the bounty that Magnus Racing had put on the Turner Motorsports BMW M3 of Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana. The $25 bounty will be awarded to Autohaus Motorsports’ drivers Bill Lester and Jordan Taylor in the form of a $25 discount on the purchase of any used race car from Magnus Racing.
“Who doesn’t want a discount on a Porsche?” said Potter.
Potter and Stanton are looking to rebound from a frustrating race at VIRginia International Raceway which saw the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup finish a disappointing 15th after running solidly in second place. Despite the result, Potter and Stanton sit only sixteen points out of the GT class championship lead after four races of the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted in Virginia, but it is still early in the season,” said Potter. “Luckily we have a great staff and crew that keep giving Craig and I a car that is competitive each weekend. Lime Rock isn’t a track that suits the strengths of the Porsche, but if we have a good strategy and are able to stay out of trouble we can bank on a solid finish in the points like we got last season.”
At last year’s Memorial Day Classic, the Magnus Racing Porsche survived a late race incident in which Stanton was tagged by another car in Lime Rock’s Big Bend corner with a few minutes remaining to finish in seventh place.
Joining Magnus Racing this weekend will be Bill Sweedler and Leh Keen, who will be competing in Saturday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman.
Sweedler, a veteran of sportscar competition, has over six podium finishes in the American Le Mans Series, including at the most recent Long Beach round, as well as having competed at this year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. A long-time Porsche specialist, this will be Sweedler’s first race with Magnus Racing and the Porsche Cayman.
Keen is no stranger to Magnus Racing and the Porsche Cayman – in addition to routinely stealing food from Magnus Racing’s hospitality area, Keen co-drove the Cayman in the 2010 CTSCC season with John Potter and scored a second-place at Mid-Ohio. For Sweedler, who lives in nearby Westport, CT, the CTSCC race is a welcome opportunity to get back behind the wheel on his home course.
“Since Leh and I are racing together in the ALMS this season, we decided that since there was such a long break between Long Beach and Lime Rock, that this would be the perfect race for me to tune up and get back in a car,” said Sweedler. “Lime Rock is my home track and I always look forward to racing at it – even more exciting is getting back to racing on the original layout. I’m looking forward to racing with Magnus Racing this weekend after competing against them in the ALMS.”
Keen and Sweedler’s No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman will be supported by Battery Tender, Muck-Off and Vital Fluids. Keen and Sweedler are also teammates in this year’s American Le Mans Series, driving a GT-C class Porsche.
“We’re obviously very happy to have Leh and Bill joining us this weekend in Lime Rock,” said Potter. “Leh hangs around so often and eats so much of our food most of the crew still thinks he drives for us, so he is like part of the family. We’ve gotten to know Bill through our involvement in GT-C, and our crew will give them a competitive race car this weekend that Leh obviously knows very well. It will be exciting to see how they do in Saturday’s Continental race.”
The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at the Memorial Day Classic will be run on Saturday, while the Rolex Sports Car Series race will be run on Monday and shown live on SPEED Channel at 2:00 PM ET. Fans of Magnus Racing can follow the team throughout the weekend on Facebook (facebook.com/magnusracing) and twitter (@magnusracing).
More information about Magnus Racing can be found at www.magnusracing.com. Any organization interested in learning more about how to be involved with one of the most unique and visible teams in the Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.
Reader Comments (1)
It is great to hear that the Cayman will be back on the track rather than sleeping in the trailer.
kdsCayman