Another Podium Finish for Magnus Racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Monday, September 10, 2012 at 02:22PM 
Monterey, CA (September 10, 2012)- Headed in to the penultimate round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series championship, Magnus Racing has held one goal for the remainder of the season: add more trophies. After a hard fought two-hour, forty-five minute race, drivers Andy Lally and John Potter were rewarded with a well-earned third place finish in the Rolex GT category.
With two wins and three podium finishes in the 2012 season prior to yesterday, the entire team headed in to yesterday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Festival knowing the configuration of the 2.5-mile road course might prove favorable to Porsches.
Qualifying the no. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup on the fifth row, Team Owner and Driver John Potter got off to a clean start, driving comfortably within the top-10 during his opening stint. When an opportune caution period came out at the 45-minute mark, Potter would bring the car in without a mark on it, handing the reigns over to Andy Lally who immediately took charge.
Faced with the challenging task of trying to chase the field in front of him while also preserving his tires, Lally would drive the middle of the race with a combination of pace and patience, fighting the no. 59 Brumos Porsche of Leh Keen for several laps.
As the middle stints would unfold, clever strategy by engineer Lars Giersing would see the no. 44 pit earlier than many, putting Lally in a position to set off fastest laps on a clear race-track in pursuit of the front of the field.
As pit stops and fuel stints cycled through, the no. 44 was as high as second before pitting for the final time with 30 minutes to go.
With fuel strategy playing a clear role for the entire GT field, the stage was set for an intense final 30 minutes. With Lally one of the first to pit, the Northport, New York native set off a number of fast laps in pursuit of the cars who were due to pit. One-by-one, the rest of the field would begin to duck in to the pits for their last splashes of fuel, eventually settling the no. 44 in to fourth place for the final laps.
As the final laps emerged, Lally would find himself directly behind the championship leading no. 69 AIM Ferrari of Jeff Segal. Having just come out of the pits for fuel, the no. 69 was still on old tires, allowing Lally to pursue heavily for the final laps.
Similarly, the second-place no. 03 Extreme Speed Ferrari had elected not to pit for fuel, taking a significant risk that they might not be able to finish the race.
As the three cars took the white flag, a thrilling last lap would emerge (see video link). As Lally chased down the no. 69, the no. 03 was clearly running out of fuel in front of them. As this all transpired, the no. 7 of Colin Braun in the Daytona Prototype category was also trying to pass all of them simultaneously, causing a chaotic run up the hill toward turns six and seven. Headed out of turn six on the run up to the infamous “corkscrew,” Braun’s pass on the no. 69 would give Lally a run around the outside of the straight, while the no. 03 sputtered as it struggled to find fuel. This would cause a three-wide pass in to the hard-braking corkscrew, with Lally on the outside.
With all three drivers managing to avoid contact, Segal would nose ahead of Lally through the corkscrew, and van Overbeek left with no choice but to coast down the hill en route to the checkered flag.
Lally would finish third; the fourth podium for the team in 2012, and once again taking top honors for Porsche.
“That was a crazy last lap,” stated Lally. “We really had a shot at second so I’m a little frustrated that we weren’t able to get there, but we still finished on the podium. The guys did a great job today getting the car in to the position we were in, pit stops were critical and they delivered perfectly.”
For Team Owner John Potter, top Porsche honors highlight a hard fought weekend.
“If you can’t take first, you at least want to be the first Porsche,” stated Potter. “This whole weekend the team has worked really hard to get the setup right, and as it turned out pit stops and strategy played a key role. It was a real team effort and we’re happy to walk away with our fourth trophy of the year.”
With only one race remaining in the 2012 season, the team has a short break before heading out to Lime Rock Park at the end of the month. As the season finale, an action-packed event can be seen LIVE on SPEED, taking place on Saturday, September 29 at 3PM ET.