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.