Magnus Enjoys Quiet Weekend at Road Atlanta

BRASELTON, Georgia (April 22, 2013)- With the scenic Road Atlanta circuit in Northern Georgia playing host to one of John Potter and Andy Lally’s favorite tracks, Magnus Racing came in to this weekend’s Visual Studio Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta ready to capitalize. Following a fairly quiet run on Saturday, the team managed their third top-five finish of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season.
 
“We walked away from the weekend with good points,” stated Magnus Racing Team Owner and Driver John Potter. “We ran a fairly mistake-free race, which is what we need to do in order to keep our championship run going, we just didn’t have the pace to move further up.”
 
With Potter starting on the pole position by virtue of Friday’s rained out qualifying session, the relative pace of his competitors was instantly apparent as the race went on. While the no. 44 Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT3 Cup ran the first stint without incident, the demand for rear grip on the rear-engined Porsche proved apparent as Potter fought to preserve his rear tires throughout the second half of his run.
 
“As the stint wore on the car definitely began to become a bit of a handful,” stated Potter. “Rear grip is so critical at a place like Road Atlanta, and I found myself really trying to manage the car as time wore on.”
 
Following a mistake-free opening stint, it was co-driver Andy Lally’s turn to take the reigns. With Lally putting on an impressive series of lap times, the Dacula, Georgia resident found himself in a similar position to Potter as his stint wore on. Opting to preserve the car and its fragile rear tires, Lally picked up a couple positions as the race continued.
 
When the time came for Lally’s next stop, a lack of cautions meant that strategy would play less of a factor than in previous rounds. Knowing that outright pace was the ultimate factor in Saturday’s race, Lally made the intelligent decision to simply manage the car to the end, ultimately taking fifth spot.
 
With yet another consistent run, Magnus Racing slipped one position in the point standings to second, albeit one point shy of the team and driver’s championship lead.
 
“Everyone here did the best they could today,” stated Lally. “The Rolex GT series is possibly the most competitive it’s ever been, so you really have to fight for everything you can get, and today we just didn’t have the pace to move much further. The guys were perfect all weekend, and that’s why we’re still so close in this championship.”
 
With the fourth round of the championship now behind, the series will take an extended break, missing the entire month of May, before heading to the Chevrolet GRAND-AM Detroit 200 on Saturday, June 1. Live SPEED coverage of the race will be on Saturday, May 1, at 5PM ET.

Potter Runs Faultless to Take Road Atlanta Pole

BRASELTON, Georgia (April 19, 2013)- Understanding how critical qualifying would be for tomorrow’s Visual Studio Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta, Magnus Racing’s John Potter came in to this afternoon’s qualifying session at the famed Road Atlanta circuit knowing that he had to have a mistake-free qualifying.

Sitting on pole position for tomorrow’s race, the Salt Lake City resident delivered.

“I came in to qualifying wanting to drive 110%,” stated Potter. “Track position is everything here. I was worried I might leave a little too much on the table today, but we really showed the strength of the Porsche. When I look back at today’s session, I can’t think of one thing I could have done differently. The car was just faultless, we really stuck it to all those Ferraris.”

Contributing to Potter’s success today was also the fact that it was completely rained out. By GRAND-AM Rolex Series rule, when qualifying is cancelled, the starting order for the race is determined by championship points. Currently sitting in the championship lead, Potter took his second career pole by default.

“Sure, sure, you can blame the rules all you want,” stated Potter. “For once, the rules worked in our favor! In all seriousness, it’s actually a great credit to the entire team. We’re here because the team has been so consistent that we’re on top in the points, so it’s really everyone at Magnus’s accomplishment.”

With weather forecasts showing rain as unlikely tomorrow, the no. 44 Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT3 Cup will take the green flag leading for the third time in team history, and second in Potter’s GRAND-AM career. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED at 4:30PM ET.

Magnus Heads to Road Atlanta in Pursuit of Victory

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (April 16, 2013)- Just 12 days after completing their last race at Barber Motorsports Park, Magnus Racing will head to the fourth round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series at Road Atlanta in pursuit of their first victory of the season.

Running the no. 44 Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT3 Cup at the scenic 2.5-mile, 12-turn circuit for the first time in Rolex Series history, Magnus Racing is no stranger to the Northern Georgia-based track. In 2010, the team made their American Le Mans Series debut at the famed Petit Le Mans, taking their first premier-series podium in the process.

“Road Atlanta is one of my absolute favorite tracks to drive,” stated Magnus Racing Team Owner John Potter. “We took a podium in our ALMS debut in 2010, and the following year I came second during the event’s IMSA Cup race. It’s a great venue with some very challenging sections, and should provide some great racing for everyone in the series.”

Living only 12 miles from the track, Magnus Racing’s Andy Lally is no stranger to success there. In 1999, the Dacula, Georgia resident took his first open-wheel victory driving in the USF2000 series, and eleven years later took a triumphant victory at Petit Le Mans.

“When I first heard that GRAND-AM was competing at Road Atlanta, I couldn’t have been happier,” stated Lally. “The track always packs plenty of excitement, and the tight competition in the Rolex Series should make Saturday’s race really fun to watch.”

As the fourth round of the series, Magnus Racing heads to Road Atlanta knowing that the best way to extend their championship point lead is to win. With features that could prove favorable to the Porsche’s, the team will come in to Friday’s practices prepared and ready for victory.

The race will take place on Saturday, April 20, with live coverage on SPEED at 4:30PM ET.

Magnus Racing Maintains Point Lead After Holding On at Barber

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (April 7, 2013)- Headed in to Saturday’s Porsche 250, the third round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, Magnus Racing knew that the emphasis for this weekend would be simply to maximize what they could out of the race. Taking a sixth place finish, the top finish of any Porsche in the GT class, the team was at least able to walk away in control of the championship point lead.

With the twisty 2.3-mile, 17-turn Barber Motorsports Park traditionally favoring other marques, the no. 44 Flex-Box Porsche GT3 Cup came in to the week knowing that outright speed would pose a challenge for all Porsche teams. Having recently announced that Flex-Box was continuing with the team for the year, having partnered with the team for the first two rounds, the team was working with extra incentive to maximize their weekend.

With a cold and wet series of practice sessions hampering the team’s ability to dial in the car, Team Owner and Driver John Potter took the car for its first completely dry laps during Friday qualifying.

As it would turn out, Potter would put in one of his best career qualifying performances to date. Taking sixth position, the result alone demonstrated one of Potter’s best runs, however that only tells part of the story.

“I was actually on a lap that would have been three or four tenths quicker before they threw a red flag,” stated Potter, whose quickest lap was aborted when qualifying was stopped for an incident. “Based on the predictive lap time, we might have even been higher on the charts, but I was still pretty happy with sixth.”

When the green flag fell the next day, the race would begin for an uncharacteristically short elapsed time; two hours. With most cars in the series only able to stretch a load of fuel to around 45-50 minutes, strategy would play a key role, as teams would need to decide when to stop for a “full” load of fuel and tires, versus when to stop for a shorter fill to ensure they could last the full race distance.

Running his traditional clean start to the race, Potter held position comfortably until the race would take a turn nearing the 20 minutes mark, as the first caution period of the race took place. Working backwards, this meant that the team would have one hour and 40 minutes left to run in the race, which would mean that if they stopped during this first caution, they would theoretically be able to run the race with only one additional stop.

Opting to go this route, Potter brought the no. 44 for routine service, but falling short of the required minimum drive time, Potter stayed in and would have to drive another full stint.

Not putting a foot wrong, Potter drove his second stint flawlessly. Holding position and knowing that preserving the car for teammate Andy Lally’s stint would be the key, Potter would pit for the second time with 50 minutes remaining. This would actually serve as one of only a handful of Rolex races where Potter drove the majority of race-laps in the car.

With co-driver Andy Lally now in the car, the Georgia-resident was tasked with moving the car to the front, but having to watch his fuel in order to ensure he could go the distance. As pit stops cycled through, Lally would find himself fairly comfortable in fifth position, until a late-race engine issue surfaced.

With 30 minutes left, Lally radioed in a possible puncture to the front radiator, which was quickly justified by the engine’s rapidly rising temperatures. As the team looked at the engine data from pit-lane, the car was running temperatures just edging on what Porsche engineers deemed as an acceptable limit. With temperatures climbing over the final minutes, Lally’s attention turned from pursuing the cars in front, to simply keeping the nose in clean air and trying to bring the car home.

The no. 44 would cross the finish line in sixth, with literally nothing but steam left in the Porsche engine.

“I’m happy to be top Porsche, and the guys worked really hard to get us there,” stated Lally. “John should be especially proud of the weekend, he did an awesome job. He ran a great qualifying session, and had to really put on a strong performance the way the race unfolded, and he didn’t disappoint. A top-five would have been nice, but considering we kept the engine alive and we’re still leading the points, we’ll take it. Road Atlanta should be a great circuit for us, and I’m really looking forward to getting out there.”

Echoing Lally’s comments, John Potter walked away pretty satisfied with the day.

“The fact that the engine made it at all is pretty amazing,” stated Potter. “I have to give everyone at the team and Porsche Motorsport credit, they all stayed very calm during the last 30-minutes and just worked through the process. We were able to bring it home, ahead of every other Porsche, and still with the point lead. I’d say it was a good day.”

The Flex-Box no. 44 will only have one weekend off until the fourth round, taking place at the prestigious Road Atlanta circuit in Braselton, Georgia. Live SPEED coverage can be seen on Saturday, April 20, at 4:30PM ET.

Flex-Box, Magnus Racing Commit to Full 2013 Season

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (April 2, 2013)- After campaigning the first two rounds of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series together, Magnus Racing and Flex-Box have agreed to continue their partnership for the full 2013 season.

“We’ve had a great start to the 2013 season, clearly the Flex-Box graphics are a great luck charm,” stated Magnus Racing Team Owner John Potter. “We’ve really enjoyed using our paddock and trackside experience as a means of entertaining the various guests who’ve come through, and I’m very happy to continue this through the duration of the season.”

Flex-Box, based out of Hong Kong, is a leading worldwide supplier of new and used shipping, storage and reefer containers. The company manufactures and ships containers to customers all over the world, keeping a year round inventory of containers in China, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America.

With the familiar blue rectangle of Flex-Box adorning the side of the no. 44 Porsche GT3 Cup for the first two rounds of the season, the original arrangement was to run select events throughout the series championship. However, after leading more laps than any other team at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona en route to fifth, followed by a podium most recently at Circuit of the Americas, both Flex-Box and Magnus Racing have decided to simply continue on for the full season.

“We are very pleased to continue with Magnus Racing through the remainder of the season,” stated Henrik Nielsen, Founder of Flex-Box. “They are obviously a very fun team, but they’re also great with our guests, and their performance on track speaks for itself. The 2013 season is off to a great start, and we really look forward to seeing the Flex-Box Porsche in victory lane.”

With the third round of the GRAND-AM Rolex Series in only three days’ time at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingam, Alabama, the team will look to expand their series point lead.

The Porsche 250 will take place this Saturday, April 6, with coverage on SPEED the following day, April 7, at 5:30PM ET.