TOOELE, Utah (August 15, 2017) – Taking to the “home track” of Utah Motorsport Campus for the first time since 2010, Magnus Racing drivers John Potter and Marco Seefried would take top honors for the team with a third-place finish in class during Saturday’s SprintX round of the Pirelli World Challenge. Doing their best under difficult circumstances, Spencer Pumpelly and Pierre Kaffer would take a top finish of ninth overall on Sunday.
“Taking a podium on the weekend is as good of a result as we could have asked for,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and driver John Potter. “With so many guests on hand, we wanted to deliver, and being able to celebrate on the podium with them was a great experience. Unfortunately it’s proving more and more difficult to get results with the way the rules are working, but the team is pushing as hard as ever to get the most out of the car, and I don’t think we can be disappointed with our efforts internally.”
Driving the No. 44 Audi Tire Center Audi R8 LMS in front of nearly 100 invited guests, John Potter and Marco Seefried would enter the fourth weekend of “SprintX” competition in pursuit of their first podium together since 2016. While the three-mile “outer course” layout of Utah Motorsport Campus is extremely familiar to local hero John Potter, the current Balance of Performance rules written to try and equalize the diversity of machinery in the series seemed to really work against the normally-aspirated V10 of the Audi R8 LMS. The unique altitude and configuration of the circuit would prove difficult against the competition, with neither the team nor Audi possessing any recourse to be able to solve the disparity.
Regardless, Saturday’s Race One would prove solid for the duo. With Potter taking starting duties, a strong opening drive would take his Audi comfortably within the top-four, while strong pit work and an excellent closing stint by Seefried would take the team one additional place up to third.
Sunday’s Race Two would prove much of the same, however an extended series of caution flags and incidents, coupled with the challenges of passing, would keep Seefried and Potter in fourth throughout much of their run, where they would finish.
Driving the No. 4 Audi Tire Center Audi R8 LMS for overall honors, the Balance of Performance challenges for Spencer Pumpelly and Pierre Kaffer would prove impossible to overcome, making a tough weekend for the pairing.
With the official series’ speed reports showing their machine as much as seven miles-per-hour down on straight-line speed compared to other cars, the inability to hold pace on the straights meant that the No. 4 would be working at a deficit all weekend, creating a number of problems.
On Saturday’s Race One, Pumpelly’s opening stint would prove critical, tangling with the No. 99 Porsche only five laps in to the race as he did everything he could to fight with the field. Due to the contact, the team would retire the car.
On Saturday’s Race Two, Pumpelly and Kaffer would drive a clean race, however they were unable to better a ninth-place finish.
Magnus Racing and the Pirelli World Challenge will return to racing action in just three weeks’ time, heading to the beautiful Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, the final race of the series “SprintX” championship, and penultimate race of the championship season. Official practice will begin on Friday, September 1, with double-header race action on Saturday, September 2 and Sunday, September 3.