Magnus Racing Takes 11th in Rain-Hampered Race

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 28, 2018) – Following a dynamic 24 hours of racing at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, the season-opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Magnus Racing would survive a quiet event to take 11^th. Making zero major errors, the team enjoyed an up-and-down day that ultimately came down to a lottery of different caution periods and rain which would see the No. 44 Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3 just miss the top-10.

“Of course the result is not quite what we wanted, but the team did a good job,” stated Magnus Racing team owner John Potter. “No one really made any major mistakes, but with a field this competitive it only takes one unexpected yellow, etc., to get on the backfoot and struggle to fight back. Overall the final position doesn’t really show our performance potential, but we’re in a good spot for the rest of the year.”

Running the full endurance schedule for the team, Spencer Pumpelly would take on starting duties, running a double-stint without error and maintaining a solid top-10 start. John Potter would follow suit, suffering the only major mishap of the race when contact from behind would cut down a tire, stranding John to drive the rest of his lap at a crawl to prevent car damage.

Falling down the order as a result of the incident, Potter’s stint would conclude a couple laps down, but with plenty of time to make the time back up. From there the team would rotate through Andy Lally, as well as factory-supplied driver Marco Mapelli in the fight to get back on the lead lap.

Through the night all four drivers would manage to avoid incident and with 10 hours remaining would find themselves back hunting for the lead lap.

Doing their best to get on the lead lap, the remaining nine hours would see a heavy string of long yellow flags for wet weather, and eventually a red flag with three hours remaining, making it near impossible to make up lost ground. 

With over two hours remaining, the race would resume, with Spencer Pumpelly managing wet conditions as best he could, driving conservatively avoid mishap.

Unfortunately IMSA officials would elect to bring out a final red flag with conditions simply too difficult to continue, effectively ending the race early with the team listed in 11^th.

Magnus Racing and the rest of the IMSA championship will now have several weeks to recover and rebuild, with the next round of competition at the famed 12 Hours of Sebring, March 13-16.