Complete Team Effort Keeps Magnus Podium Streak Through Monterey

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 6, 2014)- Continuing the team’s streak of podiums in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, a remarkable effort by everyone on the team would see their car take third on the closing laps of this weekend’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda.

“We weren’t sure what to expect this weekend so everyone’s very happy with the result,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and co-driver John Potter. “Like all of our races, this was a total team effort and everyone was flawless. Perfect pit stops, excellent strategy, and Andy and I doing our part all made for a good weekend. We had several guests on hand this weekend and I’m glad we were able to give them a good show.”

Starting the No. 44 Flex-Box / Credit Suisse Porsche 911 GT America in ninth, Potter made his usual clean start with an eye on delivering a good car to his teammate. With the series having not raced in six weeks and the tricky course at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca being known for its strong mid-pack battles, the Salt Lake City resident did his best to stay out of trouble. Delivering solid and consistent lap times, an opportune caution toward the 45-minute mark would allow Potter to hand his car over to teammate Andy Lally who would drive the remainder of the two-hour race.

With the team gaining several positions on the stop, Lally found himself in a great position when the race resumed and the Georgia resident made a strong series of moves to climb his way through the field.

As the race carried on, the inevitable question of fuel strategy came to everyone’s mind across pit lane. While making one additional pit stop would guarantee a comfortable pace to the finish, team strategists began to calculate the possibility of finishing the race without any additional visits to pit lane allowing the car to gain significant track position.

Opting to continue a strong pace, the team made the critical decision with less than 30 minutes to go that they should pit for tires and fuel, which the team performed flawlessly and Lally was once again on his way.

Knowing he had plenty of fuel and a fresh set of tires, it was now up to Andy to push as hard as he could to make up ground on the cars ahead of him. With the team adopting the sprint strategy, Lally’s only hope of a good result rested on passing the slower cars in front of him as quickly as he could, as well as routinely taking advantage of his fresh tires to set some of the fastest laps of the race.

Luckily the experience of Lally proved fruitful, and as the car moved up field the team’s strategy would come to light as the cars in front of him began to pit for fuel one-by-one.

By the time the white flag flew, Lally was up to fourth and seemingly settled into the position. However, as the category-leading No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi of Spencer Pumpelly began to drive up the hill for the final time, his car began to slow as his machine ran out of fuel. The driver would do his best to coast down the hill en route to the finish line, but it was not enough and he’d not only lose the lead but Lally would also be able to eclipse him at the end for the final podium spot. Magnus would earn their second podium of the season as well as put themselves in a prime points position.

“I can’t say enough how awesome this team is,” stated Lally. “Since I joined the team in 2012 we’ve been on the podium at Laguna Seca every time and I was quietly hoping we’d do the same today. Everyone did their job perfectly and it was this team effort that put us here today. Now that we’re in the sprint part of the season, all of us are thinking about championship points and this was huge.”

With the season entering full swing, the team will now have three weeks until the next event, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix taking place on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit on May 30-31.