Road Atlanta: Magnus Racing race report

Strong ALMS debut for Magnus Racing as team finishes third in GTC at Petit Le Mans

October 3, 2010 (Braselton, GA) -- After nearly ten hours of hard fought competition between five classes of racing, the No. 77 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup crossed the finish line to take third position in the American Le Mans Series' GTC category.

Atlanta-based drivers Andrew Davis and Ryan Eversley joined team owner John Potter in the team's first ALMS race, working diligently with the Magnus Racing engineers to develop the team's Porsche to have the speed to race with the GTC frontrunners -- which it demonstrated by qualifying third in Friday's qualifying session.

Davis started the race in the Magnus Racing Porsche and despite being held up by slower GT2 traffic and losing a position on the opening lap, he quickly moved back to third and comfortably ran in that position until an early yellow flag period caused the car to go down a lap on the two GTC cars ahead. Potter then completed a full stint, maintaining third position, until Eversley got behind the wheel and dropped to fifth through the cycle of GTC pitstops. Posting competitive times throughout his first stint, Eversley moved back to third but made a mistake under braking for turn seven, spinning into the gravel. The car lost two laps to the leaders as the race went under full course caution to extract him.

After that hiccup, Davis returned behind the wheel and made up the two positions lost from the spin before his stint was over. All the drivers then cycled through as the race wore on, with Davis behind the wheel when the checkered flag fell on the Porsche after 332 laps of Road Atlanta circuit. The result was Magnus Racing's first podium with the team's Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and second podium of any type for the season.

Petit Le Mans was Magnus Racing's final event of its inaugural year of competition, which saw it stand apart from the crowd with its philosophy of bringing the fun back to sports car racing. The team will be back in 2011, aiming for more strong results and more fun.

John Potter

Ending the year with a third at Petit Le Mans after starting with a fifth at the Daytona 24 is a great way to wrap up our first season as a team. We came hoping to be competitive having not competed in ALMS spec before and our drivers and team prepared a very fast race car, and I can't thank the whole team enough. We had a great time competing in the American Le Mans Series and hope to do more events in the future. But if we had qualified first as promised, it would have been a clear victory for Magnus Racing...

Ryan Eversley

I had a great time spending the weekend with Magnus Racing, on my home track, and in a great event like Petit Le Mans. I am proud of the way that John and Andrew drove -- I think we showed that we had one of the strongest driver lineups, which helps when one of us makes a mistake and gets the car stuck in the gravel for two laps. But all the credit to the guys, they worked hard and their work was what allowed us stand on the podium at Petit Le Mans and spray some champagne.

Andrew Davis

I'm really proud of the whole Magnus Racing squad, and honored to have been asked to race with them at Petit Le Mans, on my home track of Road Atlanta. We came into this series and class where everyone has been racing all year long, and we showed that Magnus Racing is a very professional team. We ran up front in every session and challenged for the win. The guys didn't give up when we had our problems, our pitstops got better every time and the car got better every time. Thanks to John Potter and the entire Magnus Racing squad for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the team. And I promised a podium -- not a pole!

-source: magnus racing