Half of Salt Lake City turns out to see Magnus Racing round out Grand-Am season

September 13, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Calif.) – With the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season finale held at the home base of Magnus Racing – the expansive Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah – it was no surprise that half of the event attendance was made up of visitors of the Magnus Racing hospitality area.

As such, team owner John Potter was eager to put on a strong showing in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in Saturday’s Utah 250, and the team was in high spirits after a strong showing at the Montreal 200 in Montreal, Quebec when he led the race in the early going before Craig Stanton brought the car home in fifth place.

Finishing in 11^th position in Friday’s qualifying session, Potter had a clean start when the green flag fell for Saturday’s Utah 250 and ran a steady pace throughout his stint. He advanced a position when he passed the No. 41 Mazda RX-8 before a caution for ‘debris’ saw him pit and hand the car over to Stanton.

With the race being relatively incident-free and with the field spread out, Stanton was directed by the team to begin saving fuel with the goal being to have enough to make it to the end of the race. Running a conservative pace, he ran as high as seventh before two yellow flags removed any issue of fuel mileage from the race. With such a long stint on his tires, Stanton struggled for grip but found a way to make a last-lap, last-corner pass attempt on Memo Gidley in the No. 43 Mazda RX-8 that he was unable to pull off. He crossed the finish line in eight to put a cap on the first GRAND-AM season for Magnus Racing.

“Craig refers to the people who post on our website and Facebook pages as the Magnus Nation. If that is the case, then this is Magnus City,” said Potter. “We wanted to put on a good show and the Porsche ran great today and all weekend. We picked a strategy and unfortunately the race played out differently than we would have liked, but we brought the car home in one piece, none of our drivers passed out, and no one hit us, so it was a good day in GT.”

Unfortunately, the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman was more reluctant than its green brother, as it flat out refused to start after Friday’s final practice session. A glitch in the car’s ECU could not be resolved, despite the efforts of the Magnus Racing crew and Ken Garff Automotive Group, the Porsche dealership in not-so-nearby Orem, Utah.

No such problems existed on Friday when Potter drove the Cayman from downtown Salt Lake City to Taylorsville, Utah, when he drove 11-year-old Reed Tyler to Bennion Elementary School. Tyler was selected by Miller Motorsports Park as the winner of the VIP Ride to School contest, which included a live television spot on the local Fox News affiliate and a high-speed police escorted ride in the Magnus Racing Cayman down I-215. Tyler also joined the crew during the Utah 250, wearing a Magnus Racing firesuit and sitting on the pit box with Potter and the team’s engineering staff.

Magnus Racing finished ninth in the team championship in their first season, and it will be a short off-season before the team reappears in January for the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona – where Magnus Racing’s campaign to bring a new perspective back to sports car racing will continue.

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.



Friday at the Thriller at Miller

We had a great first day at the GRAND-AM season finale at Miller Motorsports Park, the home track of Magnus Racing. John and Craig were fast throughout the day in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and hopes were high going into qualifying. John ripped off an early quick lap to put the car in P4 before the session was halted due to a car stopped on course. However, the track quickly went green (we were hoping for a long cleanup...) and afterwards the field went quicker and John would end the session in 11th.Tomorrow will be a long day. In the morning, John will qualify the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman for the CTSCC race, and at 2:00 PM ET, the green flag will drop for the Rolex Sports Car Series race. Once that race is over, and after a short break, the green flag will drop for the final Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race of 2010. Make sure to tune in live at 2:00 PM ET on Speed for the Rolex race!

Magnus Racing featured on Grand-Am.com

Take a look at the home page of Grand-Am.com, with a feature story on Magnus Racing as we head to our home track at Miller Motorsports Park for the season finale.

Photos from Montreal 200 posted

The crowd went wild for the Magnus Racing, eh? car in Montreal and now you can too with our photo gallery of the weekend in our Photos page.

Au revoir to Montreal as Magnus Racing leaves with a fifth place

August 30, 2010 (Salt Lake City, Calif.) – It was an up and down day in Montreal as the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 of John Potter and Craig Stanton went from the back, to the front, to the back, and ultimately crossed the finish line in fifth position.

Debuting its “Magnus Racing, eh?” livery for the first time on the weekend, Potter took the green flag in tenth position, but the team gambled on track position to keep him out on track during an early yellow flag when most other cars went to the pits. As a result, Potter led the race overall under yellow and inherited the GT class lead. That, however, placed him perfectly in the middle of two spinning Daytona Prototypes on the restart, forcing him to take to the grass to avoid a collision.

Making it through that near-miss, Potter led the GT race for several laps before he spun entering turn two. He rejoined down the order and finished out his stint trouble-free until handing over to Stanton.

Stanton, cool as ever, jumped into the Magnus Racing Porsche in ninth and began making progress through the field. Over the final hour, he picked off several cars before catching the No. 70 Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay, which was running fifth. Although Stanton could get around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve faster than Tremblay, he found making a pass difficult on the lightweight Mazda difficult. In the final minutes of the race, however, Stanton got the pass done and was running behind the fourth-placed Mazda and third-placed Camaro with an opportunity to move the Magnus Racing Porsche up to third. Ever the professional, Stanton elected to keep the nose of the Porsche clean and crossed the line in fifth place.

“I really wish I hadn’t spun the car around in turn two,” said Potter. “It was going really well and the car was fast. I was comfortable pushing things a bit to keep the Mazda behind – I guess I just pushed it a little too hard. We had a good weekend and nothing went wrong – other than my spin – and we’re excited to go to Miller for the finale.”

After a completely frustrating weekend in Watkins Glen two weeks ago, when the team was mystified by tire and braking problems throughout the race, leading in Montreal before finishing fifth was a big boost for the drivers and team as they now only have the finale at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, remaining in the 2010 season. Magnus Racing happens to be based in Salt Lake City, and Potter makes his home there, making the Miller race a big one for the team.

“What a great weekend for the team,” said Stanton after the race. “We ran strong and fast and led for a while, and it was great for us to get a good, solid weekend underneath us. The guys did great and it was fun to see John lead a race for the first time. Now we’ve got some momentum on our side and we can finish strong at John’s home race at Miller Motorsports Park next month.”

The final race of the 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series weekend will be the Utah 250, September 10-11, at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. Potter and Stanton will be aiming to finish Magnus Racing’s inaugural season on a high note, while Potter will team with Leh Keen for the final Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche Cayman. The Utah 250 will be broadcast live on SPEED on September 11 at 2:00 PM 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-AM Rolex Sports Car Series can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.