Montreal is the second stop of Magnus Racing’s Excellent Canadian Adventure

August 24, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – With only two races remaining in the 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, John Potter and Craig Stanton are now headed north of the border – barely – to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the Ile Notre Dame in Montreal, Quebec, for this weekend’s Montreal 200.

While Montreal is a favorite amongst the team – several of them live in the city, and Potter is eager to show off all the French he learned last week at the Grand Prix de Trois Rivieres – the team are hoping for different weather conditions than they experienced at last year’s Montreal 200. Heavy periods of rain meant that Potter and Stanton – along with several other teams – pitted several times due to the changing conditions. Eventually, Potter and Stanton finished ninth after they were caught a lap down due to a late race yellow.

After struggling at the Crown Royal 200 at the Glen earlier this month with numerous tire and brake problems, the Magnus Racing team hopes to use a good finish at Montreal to springboard to another strong result at next month’s season finale at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City. With only two races remaining in the team’s inaugural season in the Rolex Sportscar Series, Potter and Stanton aim to improve on their season best finish of fourth, which they scored at VIRginia International Raceway.

“If there is one thing more fun than dodging Daytona Prototypes, its dodging them in the middle of a downpour,” said Potter. “So as long as we don’t have rain like we did last year, I’m looking forward to Montreal, which is a track that should suit our car well. And because several members of our crew live in Montreal, and we’d like to give them a good reason to celebrate after the race. Not that they really need a reason…”

Stanton is looking forward to getting back in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup after a completely forgettable last outing at Watkins Glen.

“Watkins Glen was so disappointing, especially for the guys who worked so hard on the car all weekend,” said Craig. “We had tire problems. Then we had brake problems. Now, we’re just going to put all that behind us and run to the front in Montreal. John had a great opening stint there last year, and our strategy ended up not working out with the way the yellows fell. But we always follow up a rough race with a strong one, and this should be a good weekend for Magnus Racing.”

Practice and qualifying will be held on Friday, with Saturday’s two-hour race broadcast live on SPEED Channel beginning at 2:00 PM ET. Fans of Magnus Racing can stay up to date on the team’s progress throughout the weekend on the team’s website (magnusracing.com), via twitter (@magnusracing) and with GRAND-AM’s live timing and scoring at www.grand-am.com.

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-AM Rolex Sports Car Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.



Huitième in Trois-Rivieres for Potter and Keen

August 18, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – Traveling to Canada to sightsee and take in the local culture of Quebec, John Potter and Leh Keen took the time to bring the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman north of the border with them. Luckily, they found themselves at the Grand Prix de Trois Rivieres, which happened to be the ninth round of the 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

While most street circuits are described as ‘tight and twisty’, that is the perfect description of Circuit Trois-Rivieres, a 1.521, 10-turn street course located at Terrain de l’Exposition. The packed weekend schedule meant that GRAND-AM’s GS-class cars would compact all of their practice, qualifying, and racing into one day of action.

Taking the wheel for qualifying, Potter drove his Cayman to 11^th on the starting grid for the two-hour contest that would start at dusk and finish at night. Although they had not had a lot of track time, the team realized quickly that conserving the brakes of the Cayman would play a huge role in the outcome of the race. With several heavy braking zones in a short course, brake usage was the highest the team had seen all season.

At the drop of the green, Potter made a clean start and drove conservatively , doing everything he could to conserve the car – especially the brakes – so Keen would be able to race to the end without trouble.  Three caution periods during the first hour of the race – including one for a car which crashed due to failed brakes – helped him in his efforts.

With Keen in the car for the second half of the race, the Cayman was able to maintain pace with the leaders, waiting for another yellow to come to help him make up some track position. Surprisingly, a yellow never fell in the final hour of the race and the long green-flag run meant that Keen would begin to experience brake fade near the end of the race. However, he was able to keep the car on the lead lap – and at the checkered, crossed the line to finish eighth. And just as in New Jersey, the Cayman was the first non V8-powered car to cross the finish line in the GS class.

“We knew that we were going to be in trouble with the brakes if we were not careful – we used one set of pads up during qualifying,” said Potter. “I saved as much of the brakes as I could during my stint while trying to go fast enough to stay close to the leaders. Leh still had trouble, but at least he didn’t crash and have the car catch fire, unlike some others. We’re happy with first in class and I’m glad that we got part one of the two-part Magnus Racing Excellent Quebec Adventure done with no major harm.”

Part two of the Magnus Racing Excellent Quebec Adventure will be August 27-28 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, on the Ile Notre Dame. The event will be round eleven of the Rolex Sportscar Series, and Potter will be back in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with co-driver Craig Stanton.

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-AM Rolex Sports Car Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.



Magnus Racing goes to Quebec to say ‘Bonjour, veuillez répondre à nos vert Porsche’

August 11, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – Their French may not be that good, but John Potter and Leh Keen can’t wait to get across the border to compete in this weekend’s Grand Prix de Trois-Riveires, held on a temporary street circuit at Terrain de l’Exposition in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada.

Coming off of their two best finishes of the season in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, with a seventh place at New Jersey Motorsports Park preceded by a second place at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, the pair are banking on the agility and light weight of the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman to get back on the podium on the 1.45-mile Circuit Trois-Rivieres, which features several tight turns and hard braking zones.

“It would appear that this is a track that will suit the V8 cars, since it is a point-and-shoot style of track,” said Potter, driver and team owner of Magnus Racing. “But we’ll also use up less of our brakes and less of our tires, and when it gets down to the end of the race we might be in a good position relative to everyone else. And if we aren’t, we’ll be done by Friday and we can party the rest of the weekend.”

When asked for comment, Keen, the most recent winner in the Rolex Sportscar Series GT division, wasn’t sure there was a race in Trois-Rivieres until told for this press release.

“Everyone kept saying how Trois-Rivieres was such a party, and such a great time,” said Keen. “So I really thought we were just going to party. Good thing I packed my helmet anyways.”

Running in the standalone GT race, Potter and Keen will practice and qualifying on Friday before the green flag falls for the two-hour race at 7:00 PM ET on Friday night. While the race will not be broadcast on television, a live video feed is available from the event website at www.gp3r.com, and timing and scoring will be available at www.grand-am.com.

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-AM Rolex Sports Car Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.

Relief for Magnus Racing – to get out of Watkins Glen

August 9, 2010 (Watkins Glen, NY) – Magnus Racing drivers John Potter and Craig Stanton entered Saturday’s Crow Royal 200 at the Glen with hopes of finishing on the podium, something they felt they should have accomplished during June’s Sahlen’s Six Hour of the Glen. 

Their hopes, however, fell apart with the right rear tire on the team’s No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the early stages of the two-hour contest.  A second cut tire, as well as persistent braking problems in the latter stages of the race, meant that Stanton drove the car back to the team trailer and into retirement before the race was over – capping a frustrating season at the track, and ruining Stanton’s hopes of seeing Potter do pushups in victory circle.

“We had a phenomenal car here in June, and for some reason we just couldn’t find the magic here this weekend,” said Stanton. “The guys worked so hard all weekend – we threw everything we had at it – and it’s one of those deals where things just didn’t go right at all. We’re all really scratching our heads about it, but having two tires get cut is something that you can’t recover from on the short course at the Glen. It’s bizarre that we had all these problems, but this is the best crew in the GRAND-AM pits and I know they will make the car perfect for Montreal.”

The struggles that his team faced this weekend have left team owner John Potter contemplating new strategies for the coming races in Trois-Rivieres, Montreal, and Utah.

“Someone in upstate New York put a curse on green cars,” said Potter. “We started with a rough time in qualifying and ended with a bad time in the race. The only good thing was I avoided Craig challenging me to do pushups after the race. We must not have enough New Yorkers on our team. Thankfully, we have plenty of Canadians, but we’ll get more for Trois Rivieres and Montreal. I’m from Salt Lake City, but I’ll have to make sure that half of the city is out there for the GRAND-AM finale and they are all wearing green.”

Potter will team with Leh Keen for next weekend’s Continental Sports Car Challenge race at Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman. The duo has a best finish in 2010 of second, at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course. Following that will be the Rolex Sportscar Series event in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, followed by the GRAND-AM season finale at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

While the race from Trois-Rivieres will not be televised, the Rolex Sportscar Series race from Montreal will be shown live on August 28 at 2:00 PM ET on SPEED Channel.

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-AM Rolex Sports Car Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.



Magnus Racing has unfinished business in New York, and Craig Stanton issues a challenge to John Potter

August 3, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – Magnus Racing had a star-crossed visit to Watkins Glen International in June for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.

With Craig Stanton at the control, the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup took its first pole position, setting a new track record, and led the GT race comfortably until an electrical failure put the car in the pits for several laps while the team made repairs. Although the car finished the race, it was several laps down and did not do justice to the speed of the car or the work done by drivers John Potter, Craig Stanton, and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

“We should have won that race,” said Potter, driver and team owner of Magnus Racing. “It was so frustrating since everyone on the team did such a great job and we were let down by a part that broke. Maybe it would have been easier to take if we went off the track or hit something, but we didn’t. It would also appear that we made some of the racing gods mad at us that weekend since we have had pretty bad luck since the six hour. So we’re looking for a good result and to shake some of this bad luck.”

Spirits are high – as they always are with Magnus Racing – as the team travels back to Watkins Glen International for Saturday’s Crown Royal 200 at the Glen, a two-hour race that will begin Saturday afternoon at 6:00 PM ET. Stanton, whose pole time at the six-hour will continue to stand as the course record as GRAND-AM will utilize the short course this weekend, is brimming with confidence ahead of this weekend’s race. Last year, Potter and Stanton finished the Crown Royal 200 in seventh place.

“I can’t wait to get back to Watkins Glen,” said Stanton. “The short course is really fun and it will be a good track for our Magnus Racing Porsche. It will make for a really fast-paced race with lots of action and lots of drafting, which is good for the Porsche since it favors high-speed courses. I’m really excited about getting back on track at the Glen - and just to prove how excited I am, if we get the Magnus Racing car on the podium, I will do 44 straight pushups when I get out of the car and I challenge John Potter to do the same!”

The Crown Royal 200 at the Glen will be televised live on SPEED Channel on Saturday from 6:00 – 8:00 PM ET. Fans of Magnus Racing can follow the team on www.magnusracing.com, at facebook.com/magnusracing, and on twitter at 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-AM Rolex Sports Car Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.