May 25, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – A few weeks ago, teammates John Potter and Craig Stanton drove the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup to fourth at the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIRginia International Raceway – the best result of their GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16 season. Under the radar, Stanton moved up several positions in the last hour to finish just off the podium in a thrilling GT race.
The two are now looking forward to another strong run at this Monday’s Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park. This is the first the time the duo will drive together at Lime Rock, a track that will pose some challenges to the Porsche teams.
“Everybody tells us that we aren’t going to do well, and that this isn’t a good track for the Porsche,” said Potter, who will also drive in the weekend’s GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race in his team’s Porsche Cayman. “But we heard the same thing about VIR, and the Porsches did pretty well there. It’s not like we can keep up with most of the tube-frame cars on outright speed, but if we stay out of trouble and in a good spot at the end, anything could happen.”
While the nature of the Lime Rock circuit does not favor the street-derived, rear-engined Porsche, Craig Stanton, a former champion in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series, knows there are other factors at work for he and Potter to have another top-five result.
“This is a short, tight track where half of the time, we will be trying to not get run into by the Daytona Prototypes,” said Stanton. “So I am expecting quite a few yellow flags. As long as we have good pitstops – and the Magnus Racing team has delivered all year long in the pits – and can stay on the lead lap, and keep the car in once piece, we should be set to have another great finish. These guys have worked their tail off to make the car fast and it is beginning to show.”
Magnus Racing currently sits fifth in the GRAND-AM GT Team championship, while Stanton and Potter are eleventh in the Driver’s championship. Potter also sits fourth in the Bob Akin GT-Class standings for sportsman drivers.
The Memorial Day Classic will be shown live on Speed Channel, Monday the 31st, at 2:00 PM ET. Fans of Magnus Racing can follow the team’s progress throughout the weekend at magnusracing.com, facebook.com/magnusracing, and twitter.com/magnusracing (@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 Sportscar Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.