Magnus Racing Turns to Detroit for Optimism

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (May 27, 2015)- Following a 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season that has seen everything from incidents with competitors, to incidents with wildlife, to finally seeing their first top-10 of the year at the most recent round, Magnus Racing will head to this weekend’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers in search of a true return to form.
 
“When we think of turning things around and really being optimistic, we think of Detroit,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and co-driver John Potter. “It’s always been a little bit of a struggle for us there, most notably last year, but we’ve put a lot of time in to testing and development over the last six weeks. There are so many reasons to visit Detroit, for me it’s the sunshine and the women, and we’re all excited about it. I think we’ll really start showing the fruits of everyone’s effort.”

Taking place on the temporary course run on the streets of Detroit’s scenic Belle Isle, this weekend’s event will run in concert with the Verizon IndyCar Series. With a shortened schedule for the weekend, the team will have very limited track time in preparation for Saturday’s race, which at 100 minutes will be the shortest of the season. It will also be the team’s shortest pre-race press release.
 
Practice begins this Friday, May 29, with the race taking place one day later at 12PM ET. Live coverage will take place on Fox Sports 2, however for those unable to receive the channel there will be a re-airing on Fox Sports 1 at 2PM ET. The team will also provide continuous updates throughout the weekend on their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds.

Magnus Continues Top-Six Streak at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 4, 2015)- Headed into Sunday’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda, Magnus Racing had just one goal: continue their streak of podiums top-six finishes alive at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  Having finished third in 2012, winning in 2013, and third again during last year’s event, the team would come away satisfied having finished sixth during Sunday’s third round of the GTD class for the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship.
 
“We took away a lot of positive elements from today’s race,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and co-driver John Potter. “We obviously would have liked to finish higher, but with the way our season has been going, a solid finish is a move in the right direction. We know the speed is there as we showed throughout practice, so we’re definitely headed in the right direction. I’m fairly happy with my stint, Andy did a great job to bring the car home, and all in all I’d say we can at least leave the event knowing there’s a good amount of momentum moving forward.”
 
With Potter qualifying the No. 44 Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT America in fifth, his first qualifying performance since 2013, the team was optimistic for a strong finish. When the green flag fell the Utah resident did his best to avoid incident successfully navigating the traditionally chaotic start and settling into his own pace. As the field would see a variety of maneuvers and overtakes, John would maintain a grip on the lead pack, battling to stay in the top five but never putting his machine at risk.
 
With the race requiring John to do a minimum of 60 minutes in the car, an early caution period would see the team elect to bring him in for tires and fuel, however, John would stay in the car in order to fulfill his time requirement. Continuing where he left off, the team owner would do his usual steady job of driving while maintaining lead contact, until surpassing the 60-minute mark and eventually being called in to switch with lead driver Andy Lally.
 
Crucial in this decision was the timing of the driver change which came early enough that the team was effectively forced to do one more stop to make it to the finish, whereas the teams ahead took the more risky strategy of staying out much longer to make it their final pit stop, meaning they’d all have to run conservative on fuel and tires for the rest of the race.
 
As Lally circled the track with no worries for fuel, the race simply wasn’t meant to be for the team. Running fast lap after fast lap without trouble, the leading pack of cars were able to successfully run their strategy to the end, miring the No. 44 back in sixth with simply not enough time to catch.
 
While the team would have liked a stronger finish, a combination of fast lap times and also achieving their first trouble-free run of the 2015 season was still a positive for the team.
 
“Of course we would have liked to have finished better, but I’m still very proud of the effort,” stated Lally. “This car has been strong all weekend and that bodes very well for us for the rest of the year. This race is so hard to predict, the strategy could have easily gone the other way and worked to our advantage, so we should still be happy with this. All in all I’m happy with the weekend, and it’s great to have our season back on track.”
 
With a four-week break in store for the series until the next round, Magnus Racing will still be hard at work preparing for the busy summer season with the next round taking place at the unique Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of the scenic Belle Isle Park. Practice begins on Friday, May 29, with the race the next day on May 30. Live coverage can be found on Fox Sports 2 at 2PM ET, with next-day coverage on Fox Sports 1 at 5PM ET.

Magnus Racing Targets Continued Podium Success at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

 

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (April 29, 2015) – After a difficult start to their 2015 campaign in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, Magnus Racing will return to one of their most historically successful circuits, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during this weekend’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda. With the two longest events of the season behind, and the team’s GTD category beginning the first sprint race of the year, the team is eager to get their championship effort back on track.
 
“It’s always tough to come back after having two difficult races in a row, especially at events that we’ve had success at,” stated team owner and co-driver John Potter. “Luckily the team seems motivated and eager to get back to racing. We’ve spent a lot of time preparing for this weekend, we had a very successful test, and Laguna Seca is a great venue for us. Hopefully this will be the point in the year where our fortunes turn around.”
 
As a 2.238 mile, 11-turn permanent road course featuring some of the most significant elevation changes in the championship, the historic circuit has traditionally proved strong for the No. 44 Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT America. Since 2012, the team has managed a podium finish at every event, including winning in 2013 and taking a spectacular podium in the closing meters of last year’s race when the leader ran out of fuel.
 
Following an 11th place finish at the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, and a failure to finish during the most recent Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, co-driver Andy Lally is eager to get back to action.
 
“The break has been a good opportunity for the team to re-group and concentrate on what’s ahead,” stated Lally. “I know I’ve said it repeatedly, but we have some of the best in the business on this team, and after our most recent test I think we’re in great shape. It’s a good venue for us and one we’ve done well at, I think we’re as prepared as we can be.”
 
Continuing the team’s commitment to fan interaction, the team will also welcome the return of their heralded Team Pit Tours, as well as announcing two scheduled “Periscope” garage and Q&A sessions. Periscope, a new live streaming app developed by Twitter, is a means to provide fans a live opportunity to look into the pits and interact directly. The team will provide Periscope sessions this Friday at 2:30PM PST and Saturday at 7PM PST, pending a strong enough data connection. For those at Laguna Seca, the team will be offering free team tours on Saturday at 12PM and Sunday at 9:40AM.   
 
The Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday at 4PM ET, and the team will provide continued updates via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout the weekend.

Early End to Sebring for Magnus Racing Following Incident at Sebring

SEBRING, Fla. (March 22, 2015)- Despite a strong effort through the early parts of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Magnus Racing’s ambition to repeat last year’s victory ended with an 11th place ranking. Following a mid-race incident, the team would make a valiant effort to get the car back on track and ensure valuable championship points, however a terminal issue would result in a failure to finish.
 
“This was a really difficult one,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and co-driver John Potter. “We put a lot of effort in to trying to win this one, everything from testing here several weeks ago, to a ton of time prepping, and the crew here has been relentless. Unfortunately it just wasn’t our day and I really feel bad for everyone here, it’s a tough one to swallow.”
 
With drivers Andy Lally, John Potter, and Marco Seefried swapping seats during a smooth first half of the race, the team was on-form for another strong finish. Starting in seventh, Lally would slowly gain positions over the course of his stint, handing the car to Potter with the team having cracked the top-five.
 
Driving one of his best series of stints, John Potter was remarkable as he cycled through to the lead, and would spend the majority of his time in a constant fight with the No. 33 Viper GT3-R for first, engaged in a series of swapped positions before ultimately pitting and handing the car to Seefried.
 
With Seefried cycling through effortlessly, Lally would once again take the reigns, and as the team approached the halfway mark, the team would once again hand the car to Potter to take his final stint.
 
Continuing his show of impressive form, the Utah resident would once again prove fast, making an impressive pass on the No. 63 Ferrari to put the No. 44 Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT America in the lead once again.
 
Unfortunately, while trying to lap a backmarker, contact with traffic would damage the right front of Potter’s machine, resulting in a collapsed suspension a half-lap later, sending the vehicle in to the wall on the track’s back-straight.
 
John would limp the car in to the pits where the team would begin repairs, choosing to roll the car back to the team’s paddock for further work.
 
Effectively rebuilding the entire suspension, within two hours the car was able to run again, yet another herculean task by the Magnus crew.
 
By series rule, John Potter had to complete a minimum of three hours in his Porsche for the team to be eligible to score points, meaning he still had just under an hour to go to keep the team’s championship hopes alive. The effort proved successful, and as the team continued on, they unfortunately discovered a terminal problem as the laps proceeded, eventually being forced to retire.
 
“Today was a tough one,” stated Andy Lally. “We were ready, this car was really fast and I think we showed strong throughout the day. John was absolutely excellent out there, he lead more than any of us! That’s incredible. Unfortunately, we all make mistakes, and he’s once again proven his professionalism by accepting it and moving on. We’ll all re-group and move on to Laguna Seca, we’ve always run really strong there.”
 
For Marco Seefried, many positives can be taken on the weekend.
 
“The team has a lot to be proud of,” stated Seefried. “I really believe we had a car capable of winning today, everyone was really strong. John was exceptional today, to lead for as long as he did, battling with so many great cars, we were all very impressed. Mistakes happen, there’s not a driver out there who can say he hasn’t done that, and John should be proud of how he drove. This truly is a great team, I’m sure they’ll have a great season.”
 
Magnus Racing and the entire GTD category will now take a six-week break, with the next round kicking off the “sprint” season at the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix, taking place from May 1-3.

Magnus Racing Returns to Sebring in Defense of Victory

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (March 18, 2015)- One year after their last victory in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, and the only 2014 win for Porsche in the GT-Daytona (GTD) category, Magnus Racing heads to Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring looking to defend their title.

“Sebring was definitely the highlight of our season last year,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and driver John Potter. “Beyond being one of the signature events of the series, it was a great team effort, making it all the more special. We had an endless series of challenges, yet everyone on the team did their job perfectly and the result spoke for itself. Everyone knows the challenges we had at Daytona so it would be great to rebound and move the season forward.”

As a 12-hour race notorious for its immense challenge on equipment due to the bumpy and difficult circuit surface - originally built as a World War II airfield - the team’s 2014 victory was not without its challenges. Following early contact with a competitor, the team was forced to make quick repairs to the nose of the car before the race had hit the two-hour mark, and would go on to suffer everything from shifting issues to an endless series of technical complications throughout the event. Despite this, the team never lost site of their goal, with drivers John Potter, Andy Lally, and Marco Seefried all taking their first victories at the event.

Opting not to mess with a good thing, all three drivers will return to the No. 44 Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT America, continuing a combination that has amassed a podium finish in every race they’ve run together.

 For Lally, returning to Sebring is a welcome opportunity to turn their season around.

“Daytona was a difficult week for us, and returning to the place where we took such a great victory will be a great change for us,” stated Lally. “John and Marco are both incredibly fast here and the team is more prepared than ever. You never know how these races will unfold, but we’re all optimistic.”

For Seefried, a similar sentiment is shared.

“It’s great to return to Sebring with Magnus,” stated the German. “The team is, of course, a lot of fun but they provide a fast car and a very quality program and I think it shows in the results we’ve had together. We really hope to have a chance for victory, the team is definitely prepared for it.”

Official practice begins tomorrow morning, with the race taking place this Saturday, March 21. The race will begin at 10:45AM ET and end 12 hours later, with race coverage beginning at 10:30 AM on FOX Sports 1, followed by a variety of coverage on FOX Sports 2, IMSA.com, and returning to FOX Sports 1.