GRT Magnus Racing Tune-In: IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America

This weekend, we’re racing in the land of cheese and brats, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This event will be open to fans, and although we won’t be able to enjoy your company in the pits or paddock, we know you’ll still be cheering us on from corner or home.  If you’re at the event, you can find our merchandise near the turn five grandstands, at the Styled Aesthetic Garage.

 

If you have a cable subscription, you can watch live on Saturday, August 2 from 12:00PM to 3:00PM Eastern on NBC Sports Network. If you don’t have a cable subscription, you can sign up for the NBC Sports TrackPass, and our international audiences can watch via imsa.tv. IMSA Radio and LiveScoring will continue their coverage for each of the sessions, although they will be running limited staff, so please be patient with them if any issues arise.

 

If you need any more information, visit IMSA’s event page.

GRT Magnus Racing Tune-In: IMSA WeatherTech 240 at Daytona

After six long months, it’s finally race week again. Not virtual racing: real racing. As a GRT Magnus Racing fan, here’s what you need to know headed into the event.

 

John Potter and Andy Lally are still our full season drivers in the No. 44 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO, and we’re unofficially leading the points. Technically, we’re sitting in second, but the championship leaders have withdrawn themselves for the foreseeable future, meaning we’ll be defending from the high ground this weekend.

 

We’ll have one practice on Friday, July 3^rd, and race day, Saturday, July 4 will be packed with practice two, qualifying, and the race. If you don’t already, follow us on Facebook, twitter, and Instagram for our race weekend updates.

 

If you have a cable subscription, you can watch live from 6:00PM to 9:00PM Eastern on NBC Sports Network. If you don’t have a cable subscription, you can sign up for the NBC Sports TrackPass. Michelin is currently offering a limited about of annual TrackPass subscriptions for free if you click this link and enter the code MICHELINIMSA. IMSA Radio and LiveScoring will continue their coverage for each of the sessions, although they will be running limited staff, so please be patient with them if any issues arise.

 

If you need any more information, visit IMSA’s event page.

Potter Leads Victorious GRT Magnus Quarantine Effort In First Annual Dad-Prix 400

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (April 9, 2020) -- As the motorsport world adjusts to a time without on-track action, GRT Magnus has taken first place in quarantine festivities, proving the team’s perseverance and tenacity to excel in all things. There may not be auto racing, but the competition continued for the fan favorite sports car racing team at the Dad-Prix 400 powered by Charmin Ultra Soft. Thanks to the support of FlexBox, Team Somebody John Potter stood on the top step of the podium on Saturday with his “#1 Dad” cup held high over his head, met with cheers from the crowd of his three supporters in attendance.

Following an early morning warm up, Potter led the effort to make the team’s morning breakfast, making the risky strategy call for homemade waffles. Measuring and mixing the perfect proportions of ingredients, Potter found the desired consistency and expertly poured the batter into the waffle iron. Eyes on the clock, he closed the lid on the batter, watching each minute go by with building tension. After a grueling five minutes, he lifted the lid to reveal golden brown waffles, much to the relief of the team.

 

“It was a dangerous call to go with the waffles,” said Jack, the eldest of the All-American crew. “Between the risk of mess, and the hot temperatures of the waffle iron, we could have spent a lot of time in clean up. However, all went well, and the payoff was worth it. Great effort all around.”

The team celebrated its mealtime efforts with their fans of the outdoor variety and headed to the Potter outfield to feed the birds. Bag of feed in hand, Potter, joined by teammates Jack and Will, set the feeder on the ground, and in record time, filled the wooden structure with food, spilling little onto the ground. They replaced the feeder on its branch and returned back to home base in impressive time, meeting the minimum required amount of time to be at the assigned tree for the fill-up.

“At first, it appeared that Dad had the best setup to beat us back to the house, but in the end, Jack and I had the better Balance of Performance for that run,” said Will, the youngest Potter. “We got a better exit out of Yard Tree, and were able to stay in front on that run. Overall, it was a successful feeding” young William added, while pooping in his diaper.

The family patio held the next round of nail-biting events where the Potter men faced off on the Step2 Roller Coaster. The three-piece Polyethylene track stretches over 10 feet, putting parent and toddler to the test while still offering world class safety for competitors. With expert coaching from full season co-driver and skate boarding pro Andy Lally, the two youngest Potters expertly maneuvered the temporary course, earning two more class victories for GRT Magnus.

“I’m proud of the show the kids put on out there,” said Lally. “The Step2 Roller Coaster separates the babies from the toddlers, and Will and Jack really earned their class wins today. The tires held on strong for the three second laps, and all the work the boys have been putting into their fitness really paid off during those demanding stints.”

The suspense reached its critical peak as the trio of competitors headed to the Antsy Pants Build and Play Ball Pit. Potter, Potter, and Potter took their starting positions, and at the wave of the green flag, jumped into the 30 inch by 34 inch ball bit, filled with over 400 BPA and Phthalate free plastic play balls, giving the event its Dad-Prix 400 name. As Potter crashed into Potter, dozens of the 2.5 inch plastic balls flew across the room, casualties of the continuous side by side contact. Event official Emily Potter ruled the contact as a ball-playing incident, but issued soft warnings during room clean up. Declared the winner of the ball pit festivities, the senior Potter again finished his stint within eyesight of the lead.

The final event of the Dad-Prix 400 powered by Charmin Ultra Soft came to the double points round of high stakes coloring. Each of the Potter men chose their canvas. While Will and Jack opted for blank canvases, John chose to color a clean livery template, which would save him ample time in the design process. Armed with their Crayola Crayons, the Potter clan began the final competition. Will chose the unique strategy to draw squiggly lines, not only disregarding proper shapes, but color pairing as well. Jack used a little more strategy in his artwork, drawing a Prix-themed piece with trophies and other indecipherable shapes that were allegedly racing related. The eldest Potter put on a coloring clinic for the competition, expertly gliding his color coordinating crayons inside the lines, producing nothing near a masterpiece, but a winning design nonetheless.

In the end, John Potter celebrated victory on the top step of the podium, spraying pretend champagne, surrounded by cheering supporters. The local PA announcer narrated the usual podium hat dance as all Potters relished their successes, throwing the sponsor branded hats into the crowd for the young fans in attendance. Like car racing, this event had its fair share of controversy. Commented Jack Potter, “I think Dad only won the trophy because it already said #1 Dad and that’s all we had in the house.”

“I’m really proud of the team’s performance in the Dad-Prix,” said Potter. “We miss being on track, but we’ve proven that GRT Magnus is a force to be reckoned with no matter what level of competition we’re faced with. I’m looking forward to seeing what else we can achieve in the coming months. I welcome all other racing moms and dads out there to host their own events and share them, too!”

GRT Magnus Secures Podium at Rolex 24 At Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., (January 27, 2020) – In the first race under the new banner of GRT Magnus, the No. 44 Flex-Box Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO of John Potter, Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, and Marco Mapelli began its 2020 race season with a strong second place finish at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The team ran a perfect race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, completing 765 error-free laps on the 3.56 mile circuit.

The No. 44 Lamborghini showed strong speed all weekend, but a gearbox issue forced the team to skip Thursday’s qualifying session. Spencer Pumpelly would be forced to start from 16th, but he immediately set the best lap times in class, jumping up several positions in the first 20 minutes to run ninth. He made it as high as fourth before pitting, making way for John Potter to next command the stint. He ran a clean stint, maintaining ground until Andy Lally took over and turned his first laps with two hours and 30 minutes complete. Marco Mapelli completed the rotation, bringing the car up to first by the six hour mark.

The teamwork of the drivers and the strategy calls from pit lane continuously kept the No. 44 up front, able to fight the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini for the lead. Throughout the night hours, the race stayed clean, resulting in a spectacular battle between both machines. At midnight, the GRT Magnus team performed a brake change in chilly temperatures, and hunkered down to ride out the remaining five hours of night racing.

With 413 laps complete, the GRT Magnus Lamborghini came alive in the cold temperatures, and again led the GTD field. As each hour of competition was marked off, the GRT Magnus team showed they were to be a strong contender for the No. 48 for the remaining hours. The sun came up at 7:00AM, and teams immediately started calculating the best fuel usage and pit stop strategies. In no time, the No. 44 with Lally at the wheel was leading driver Madison Snow in the No. 48 by eight seconds. A full course caution brought the top five GTD cars back on the lead lap, and a nail-biting four car battle for the continued to the wave of the checker flag.

One pit stop in particular showed the caliber of the GRT Magnus crew, beating the Paul Miller Racing car out of pit lane. Cautions bred cautions, and every lap presented a battle on track and in pit lane. Each team fight for every tenth of a second, and with 40 minutes to go, the No. 44 gave up the lead to make a final stop. While the Paul Miller team also needed to make a final stop, in the end, the team rejoined in second, and maintained position until the checker flag, having led a total of 99 laps. While the team certainly had a program, car, and team worthy of a first place finish, the group had run a perfect race that resulted in a second place finish.

The team will have their next chance to pursue victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, March 18-21 at Sebring International Raceway. While only half of the distance of the Rolex 12, the Twelve Hours of Sebring brings its own challenges, with a track surface known for being aggressive to cars and drivers. Full time drivers John Potter and Andy Lally will be joined by Spencer Pumpelly, where the trio will try to best their 2019 second place finish.

Driver Quotes

John Potter

I say this with a bit of sadness because second place at the 24 Hours of Daytona is really kind of a sad thing when you've won it before. It was a great race, and I've got three great co-drivers. I knew them last year since we all drove together and it was great to have a much better result this year and prove what an awesome car we have, what an awesome team we have, and people we have. Even though there have been a few changes and it's now GRT Magnus, there's still a lot of the core elements there. And a lot of those new elements we brought in really shone well. It was a great race. Thank you to Gottfried Grasser and the whole crew.

Andy Lally

2004, 2006, 2010, and now 2020. I finished 2nd at the Rolex four times. I've won it five times, and I've got a third place finish here in 2008. So that’s a 10th podium. It's my ninth top two finish and these are my optimistic ways of suppressing the "how close we came to win another Rolex." But it's a good start to a season points wise, it's a great start to the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. I'm not sure where we're at, but we're going to be first or second I think. Just massive thanks to GRT Magnus for putting together a strong car that lasted really well for 24 hours, and thank you to Flex-Box for continuing their support of this program.

Spencer Pumpelly

This is my 19th time doing this race, this is my third time finishing second, but what I really loved about it was that we were in contention the whole time. This used to be a race that if you finished the whole 24 hours without any mistakes that you'd win the race. Now it's gotten so competitive that you really need a lot of pace, you have attack the whole night, you need to have perfect strategy, you need to have no mistakes and more. We were right there. We finished 20 seconds back, but we slowed down significantly at the end when we knew it was out of reach. I think we were only about 10 seconds on the road when we finally decided to give up the fight with a couple minutes left. To be that close after that much racing, it says a lot for everyone who put this effort together. It says a lot for John, Andy, and Marco, all the Grasser guys and the Magnus guys that came together. This effort was pretty mashed together when we first got here, but the guys did such a phenomenal job in the pits and with the car I just can't say enough.

Marco Mapelli

I was upset when I jumped out of the car because I wanted to win, but the 48 had something more at the end of the race, so we finished second. The team did a good job because, this partnership with Grasser is brand new and everything was brand new. Especially the organization from the Roar. Building up from the Roar, I finished a 24 hour race with no damage and no mistakes. Everybody's happy so this is a good success and good points for the team for the next races.

Magnus Racing Readies for Daytona 24 Hours with Return of Posters and Webcast, but no Gearbox

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla, (January 24, 2019) –  Ten years after making their debut as Magnus Racing at the Grand-Am Rolex 24 Hours, the team now known as GRT Magnus will kick off another season in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship beginning with the Rolex 24 at Daytona.  In celebration, the team is doing the same thing it has in past years, offering up special movie-themed hero cards and a new twist on 24 hours of GRT-Magnus web content.  

Fans should tune into live.magnusracing.com for a GRT Magnus-version of a “webcast” (Ding) and occasional live updates on social media.  Fans at the race should look forward to the continuation of Magnus’ traditional poster with special autograph session giveaways.  Some posters will also be distributed via social media for fans who just can’t do Florida.  All of which will be revealed by following the team’s Facebook, twitter, and Instagram.

 

Oh yeah, the event:

The No. 44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini Huracán GT3 came ready after the Roar with no BOP adjustments.  On track, practices have been strong, except for a mechanical issue with the transmission that caused them to miss qualifying.  Despite the setback, the drivers are holding onto their optimism with crossed fingers, and are fresh and ready to race their 11^th, 19^th, 20^th, and something-th Daytona 24.

Leading up to Saturday’s antics, practices have been fruitful for the team.   Drivers yielded solid times during practice, the main exception being the second session on Thursday.  While Marco Mapelli piloted the car, the gearbox decided to revolt, resulting in an early end to the session. The team had to miss qualifying in order to repair.   The gearbox rejoined the team after some coaxing, and night practice again garnered some top times for the team. 

The event brings long-time co-drivers Potter and Lally prepared for another season.  Here they can reminisce how together they celebrated the team’s first victory at the iconic Daytona 24 in 2012, beating out 28 other entries in the GT class, and came back to win again in 2016.  The 2016 victory marked the fifth Daytona 24 win for Lally, and his ninth podium.   Combined with Pumpelly’s two wins, the drivers have nine Rolexes between them.  In addition to all the bling and experience, the team is coming to the 2020 event with a striking new blue livery on their No. 44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo and completely original optimism.  

 

Andy Lally comes to the 2020 race as the winningest active driver and third for all time wins at the Rolex 24. 

“After almost 20 years of racing at Daytona, this will be the first time I ever return with the exact driver line up and car as the previous year,” said Lally. “For our first outing together as the new GRT Magnus effort, I was happy with our speed at The Roar and cautiously optimistic returning for the race that we have a good car to do the job. I’m pretty stoked.”

For Pumpelly as well, this weekend’s run will make almost two decades of competing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, with 18 already under his belt.

“This will be my 19th Daytona 24 but this will be the first time I have returned with the same driver line up and car as the previous year,” said Pumpelly. “The GRT Magnus team did a great job at the Roar and I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll have a good car for the race. Let’s hope 19 is a charm.”

“I’m very grateful to be joining Magnus guys again this year,” said Rolex addition Marco Mapelli. “I’m learning many things every time from their experience, about this race, and U.S. races in particular. I believe, with the GRT partnership, we have a good package to do the job and hopefully we can still improve during the week. Can’t wait to start it.”

Continuing with the trend of making the race difficult to follow for cable subscribers, fans can watch the first hour of the race live on NBC at 1:30PM Eastern, January 25^th, before the broadcast jumps between NBC, NBC Sports Network, and the NBC App. All 24 hours of coverage will be available with NBCSN authentication on the NBC Sports app or on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. Additionally, fans will be able to tune into unique GRT Magnus content online, throughout the race, at live.magnusracing.com.

“If you read this far into this release, I want you to know that you will find the webcast very disappointing” added Team Somebody, John Potter.