Potter and Stanton survive hectic Lime Rock race to record a seventh-place finish for Magnus Racing

Craig on his way to the checkered flag in Lime RockMay 31, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – The first GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16 race at Lime Rock Park that featured a combined field of Daytona Prototypes and Grand Touring cars lived up to expectations that the race would be fast-paced and feature plenty of action between the two classes of cars.

The mission for Magnus Racing’s starting driver John Potter was simple: keep the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 out of trouble and hand over a good car to his co-driver, Craig Stanton. While other GT cars around him ran into trouble – or were run off the track by Daytona Prototypes – Potter moved upwards through the field in what was, for the second time this season, the only Porsche entered in the race.

When the bulk of the GT field came to the pits, the Magnus Racing team executed a flawless pitstop and Stanton rejoined the race in tenth position. As he did at last month’s race at Virginia International Raceway, Stanton moved the Porsche forward throughout the final hour. With a few minutes remaining in the race, Stanton executed a pass on the No.30 Mazda RX-8 entering Lime Rock’s Big Bend for sixth place. Stanton, one of the most experienced drivers in the Rolex Sportscar Series, made the pass happen on the outside of the corner but left plenty of racing room for his competitor to make it through the corner. He was then hit in the right rear by the Mazda, sending him spinning off the track and causing him to lose several positions.

Stanton rejoined the race and owing to another incident later that lap involving other GT cars, he was able to bring the Magnus Racing Porsche home in seventh place.

“We knew that we would be struggling on pace in Lime Rock – it’s just a track that’s not suited for our car,” said Potter. “We can run an excellent race pace and go very fast at the end of a race if Craig and I take care of the car and look after the tires, but track position is huge at Lime Rock so had a disadvantage from the start because of qualifying. We did get some help with the yellows and were able to minimize the loss of time and damage to the car when the prototypes went by. It’s too bad Craig was punted by that Mazda because if not for that we would have been sixth, but we are relatively happy with seventh and we’re happy the car is in one piece so the guys don’t have to thrash to get it ready for the Sahlen’s Six Hour of the Glen.”

Stanton and Potter remain eleventh in the Rolex Sportscar Series’ GT championship standings, while Potter also remains fourth in the Bob Akin Award standings for sportsman drivers in the GT class. Magnus Racing is also fifth in the GT Team Championship standings.

The team in green will now head west to Watkins Glen, New York for this weekend’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen. The GT race will air live in two segments on SPEED Channel, with the first segment beginning at 2:00 PM ET, and the second beginning at 6:00 PM ET. Fans of Magnus Racing can see photo galleries from the weekend and more at magnusracing.com, facebook.com/magnusracing, and 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-American Rolex Sportscar Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.

Potter and Keen look to replicate top-10 run for Magnus Racing’s Porsche Cayman at Lime Rock

Magnus Racing is looking for another top-10 in GS(May 26, 2010) Salt Lake City, Utah – The short career of the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman has been a good one, as the team’s little Porsche has quickly found a place toward the front of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge’s GS class.

Embroiled in a race-long battle at the Bosch Engineering 200 at VIRginia International Raceway, Potter and Keen jumped from their 14^th starting position to run as high as third. A late-race pitstop for a splash of fuel dropped them down the order but the Cayman still crossed the finish line in tenth, for the first top-10 of its three-race career.

Keen, the defending champion in the GRAND-Am Rolex Sportscar Series Presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16’s GT class will again join Potter in the Cayman in Lime Rock for this weekend’s Memorial Day Classic for the GS-only race.  The tight and twisty 1.53-mile road course in upstate Connecticut will tip the balance of speed to the Cayman a bit more than VIR did, as it places an emphasis on chassis and minimizes advantages gained by the big horsepower cars. At last year’s GT-only race in Lime Rock, Potter co-drove a Porsche 997 to a second-place finish.

“We have had the chance to test the Cayman since VIR, and we keep learning new things each time,” said Potter. “We’ve been pleased with the performance and results to date, and Lime Rock should be a track that favors the Porsches a bit more than some of the other tracks we’ve been to. Horsepower still helps, but the straightaways aren’t really long and you can pay a penalty if you use up your tires.”

Because the race will not be broadcast live on television, fans of Magnus Racing can keep up with the progress of Potter and Keen at magnusracing.com, facebook.com/magnusracing, and twitter.com/magnusracing (@magnusracing). Friday will see the team practice and qualify, with the green flag dropping for the GS-only race on Saturday at 3:00PM ET.

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-American Rolex Sportscar Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.



Potter and Stanton come to Lime Rock full of confidence after Virginia result

May 25, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – A few weeks ago, teammates John Potter and Craig Stanton drove the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup to fourth at the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIRginia International Raceway – the best result of their GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16 season. Under the radar, Stanton moved up several positions in the last hour to finish just off the podium in a thrilling GT race.

The two are now looking forward to another strong run at this Monday’s Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park. This is the first the time the duo will drive together at Lime Rock, a track that will pose some challenges to the Porsche teams.

“Everybody tells us that we aren’t going to do well, and that this isn’t a good track for the Porsche,” said Potter, who will also drive in the weekend’s GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race in his team’s Porsche Cayman. “But we heard the same thing about VIR, and the Porsches did pretty well there. It’s not like we can keep up with most of the tube-frame cars on outright speed, but if we stay out of trouble and in a good spot at the end, anything could happen.”

While the nature of the Lime Rock circuit does not favor the street-derived, rear-engined Porsche, Craig Stanton, a former champion in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series, knows there are other factors at work for he and Potter to have another top-five result.

“This is a short, tight track where half of the time, we will be trying to not get run into by the Daytona Prototypes,” said Stanton. “So I am expecting quite a few yellow flags. As long as we have good pitstops – and the Magnus Racing team has delivered all year long in the pits – and can stay on the lead lap, and keep the car in once piece, we should be set to have another great finish. These guys have worked their tail off to make the car fast and it is beginning to show.”

Magnus Racing currently sits fifth in the GRAND-AM GT Team championship, while Stanton and Potter are eleventh in the Driver’s championship. Potter also sits fourth in the Bob Akin GT-Class standings for sportsman drivers.

The Memorial Day Classic will be shown live on Speed Channel, Monday the 31^st, at 2:00 PM ET. Fans of Magnus Racing can follow the team’s progress throughout the weekend at magnusracing.com, facebook.com/magnusracing, and 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-American Rolex Sportscar Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.

Magnus Racing records first top-10 result in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge

The No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman finished 10th at VIR.April 27, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – In the third race of its GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge career, the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman recorded its first top-10 result of the 2010 season at last weekend’s Bosch Engineering 200 at Virginia International Raceway.

Built by Magnus Racing throughout the 2009-2010 winter, the Cayman made its debut at Homestead-Miami and has done the bulk of its testing at each GRAND-AM event. The car showed speed straight out of the gate but has undergone continuous improvement at each weekend.

Team owner John Potter put his Cayman 14^th on the starting grid, holding the position at the start and picking up a couple of positions throughout the first hour of the race. Pitting for fuel and tires, Leh Keen jumped in the car and began to progress through the field. With some help from strategy calls from the pits as well as an extended yellow flag session, Keen got the Magnus Racing Cayman up to third place where he had a large battle for position that the Speed TV cameras covered – along with several shots of Keen catching air through the notorious esses of VIR.

The strategy was a gamble, which would have paid off if the race had another extended yellow-flag session – not an uncommon occurrence in a Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race. However, the yellow that the team needed never came, and the Cayman was brought into the pits for a splash of fuel.  The stop would drop the Cayman to 12^th overall, but he would make up two positions before the checkered to finish in tenth.

On the heels of finishing fourth earlier in the day in the GT class of the Rolex Sportscar Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16, the Cayman’s result marked the most successful day yet of the short history of Magnus Racing.

“It was a really good day, and I’m proud that the team was able to get the Cayman up to third place today,” said Potter following the race. “We’ve been working on the car and changing things each session since Homestead and continuing to make progress. There is still a ways to go but this is very encouraging. Perhaps if we had gone a different way on strategy we could have had an even better finishing position, but we have to always try different things since we can’t win on horsepower on these bigger tracks. I’m looking forward to Lime Rock at the end of next month.”

The Continental Tire Sports Car Series’ Bosch Engineering VIR 200 will be shown on May 1 at 1:00 PM EST on SPEED Channel. The next race on the GRAND-AM schedule is the weekend at Lime Rock Park, May 28-31. Magnus Racing fans can see photo galleries of the weekend at www.magnusracing.com, or facebook.com/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-American Rolex Sportscar Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.

Stanton’s charge through the GT field nets a fourth-place finish for Magnus Racing

The Magnus Porsche flies on its way to 4th placeApril 26, 2010 (Alton, VA) – Throughout the first hour of his stint behind the wheel of the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup at the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR, Craig Stanton had one objective on his mind – conserving his car. It was a move that paid off, because in the final hour Stanton used the car up as he marched from ninth in the GT class to a stunning result of fourth place.

Team owner and leader of Magnus Racing, John Potter, started the race in the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup. From the drop of the green, he battled throughout the opening stint with several other cars – keeping the car safe and intact but definitely putting pressure on everyone ahead. His stint at the helm was a clean one and served notice that the Porsche was going to go forward.

 A quick pitstop by the crew of the No.44 car for fuel, tires, and a driver changed helped the Porsche gain track position. With Stanton now behind the wheel, things stayed relatively trouble-free and unexciting for the team until the final hour of the race, but Stanton remained within striking distance of the rest of the GT-field.  

“We had taken really good care of the car – the tires and brakes were in great shape, and I could tell that most of the other cars around us were in trouble,” said Stanton. “The crew did a phenomenal job of preparing the car, and we knew that after practice and qualifying that it was going to be a really fast car. We also knew, however, that if we were trying to race everyone else too soon, we would run into tire problems later on. With the rules changes that GRAND-AM gave the Porsches, it helps us with speed but hasn’t quite helped our tire wear, so we still had to look after that.”

With a couple of well-executed passes on restarts, and a gutsy last-lap pass in the Rollercoaster, Stanton brought the car home in fourth place – a season-best result for Magnus Racing in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sportscar Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16. The team’s previous best was a fifth, at the season opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“I am really glad that we were able to get a great result for our team this weekend,” said Potter. “I had a really fun stint behind the wheel, and had a really fun time watching Craig go through the field and pick off the Mazdas one by one. I never thought I would see that this season, but he found a way to do it. The Porsches are more competitive now and we are looking forward to the next few races, which will help play to the strengths of our car and our team.”

The result moved Potter and Stanton to 11^th overall in the driver’s championship, and moves Magnus Racing to fifth in the Team Championship.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Series’ Bosch Engineering VIR 200 will be shown on May 1 at 1:00 PM EST on SPEED Channel. The next race on the GRAND-AM schedule is the weekend at Lime Rock Park, May 28-31. The Rolex Sportscar Series race from Lime Rock will be shown live on SPEED Channel at 2:00PM EST. Magnus Racing fans can see photo galleries of the weekend at www.magnusracing.com, or facebook.com/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-American Rolex Sportscar Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.