January 29, 2011 (Daytona Beach, FL) – Starting from the third position for the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Craig Stanton showed from the drop of the green that the no. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup had some serious speed as he needed four laps to move into the lead of the GT class battle.
Once clear of the rest of the field, Stanton began to extend an advantage throughout the opening stages before pitting under yellow and handing the car over to John Potter. Potter enjoyed a trouble-free stint running in the top ten as several teams ran alternate fuel pit strategies and handed the car over to Austrian Richard Lietz during a full course caution.
Lietz stint would be the first time the Magnus Racing Porsche encountered difficulty as, while running in second position, he ran over debris that was left on the track in the bus stop from previous incidents. The debris broke the rear swaybar of the car, requiring Lietz to pit under green. The Magnus Racing crew jumped into action and needed two laps to remove the swaybar, which was dragging under the car, and send Lietz back on his way.
Lietz continued through another stint before handing the car over to German Marco Holzer. Holzer’s stint was trouble free and he turned the car back over to Craig Stanton at around 9:00 PM ET. As of 9:30 ET, Craig Stanton had the Magnus Racing Porsche running in ninth position, two laps behind the GT class leader.
DRIVER QUOTES
Craig Stanton
The car was so hooked up in the beginning of the race, it was so fun to drive and an awesome feeling to lead the Rolex 24. It wasn’t the prettiest drive I’ve ever done but it got the job done and I didn’t have to push the car that hard, which shows just how good it is. The whole Magnus Racing crew really deserves a great result for how hard they have worked on this car because it is really a rocket. Especially with the new pavement, the car is really a joy to drive.
John Potter
My stint was uneventful, except for the odd Daytona Prototype, but things are going really well. It’s a long race and there is still a lot that can happen, as we saw when Richard ran over the debris. As we learned last year it’s a long race and we have plenty of time to make up lost time and lost positions if we just keep out of trouble and keep the car underneath us.
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