SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Following several races of contact and aggressive driving inherent in the sprint format, Magnus Racing heads to the famed Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the hopes that the culture of its fans might transfer to the drivers.
“The fans at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park are the only ones we’ve ever seen line-up for a grid walk,” stated Magnus Racing team owner and co-driver John Potter. “When I say line-up, I literally mean forming a single-person queue in order to walk on to the grid. They’re the most polite people on Earth. Following a few races of hard contact between both cars, we’re hoping that same attitude reflects on our two SprintX races. Regardless, we’re excited about this weekend and look forward to another round of Pirelli World Challenge competition. After VIR we definitely learned a lot, and headed in to Canada I’m confident we can capitalize on everything we’ve seen.”
With this weekend of Pirelli World Challenge competition serving as the third and fourth rounds of the SprintX championship, the team will once again feature four drivers sharing two cars.
In the No. 4 Audi Tire Center Audi R8 LMS, Pierre Kaffer will once again be joined by Spencer Pumpelly to conquer the all-pro category. After setting several of the fastest laps in practice, a challenging weekend at VIR would prevail for the duo after contact would send the car out of contention during the opening round, followed by a fifth-place in Round Two. Looking for redemption, the fast nature of the of 10-turn, 2.5-mile circuit should provide an interesting challenging for the Audi.
“After the weekend at VIR, we definitely want to show our true performance,” stated Kaffer. “The team has done a great job all year, and we’ve had great cars but the final results haven’t shown our true potential. CTMP is a track that really requires you to find the maximum from everything, and we’re hoping that this could finally bring us the results we’ve been searching for. I look forward to being back with the team.”
For teammate Spencer Pumpelly, a similar feeling is shared.
“Even if the final results didn’t show it, there were a lot of positives at VIR,” stated Pumpelly. “Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a track that really requires the most out of the car and driver to perform well, and I believe it will play to the strengths of the team. Having run a full SprintX weekend, the team has a much better understanding of what to expect and I think that will show in Canada.”
For the No. 44 Audi Tire Center Audi R8 LMS, Marco Seefried will also return to the team to co-drive will full-season entrant John Potter. While the duo have teamed together on multiple occasions since 2014, their first SprintX weekend together at VIRginia did not go as well as everyone had hoped. Mechanical gremlins would prevent them from a good result in Race One, while contact would take them out of contention in Race Two. While this will be the first race for Seefried at the famed Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the German’s experience in testing should still prove fruitful.
“It’s a really exciting track to visit,” stated Seefried. “The circuit is very fast and doesn’t afford a lot of mistakes, and hopefully that should play to our advantage with a patient drive. Luckily John has raced here before and I believe that will help, and given the way the racing went at VIR, I believe a patient run will create good results for us. We’re all looking forward to it.”
Official practice will begin this Friday, May 19, with a double-header of races occurring on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s SprintX Race One will occur at 1:45PM ET with Race Two at 3:40PM ET on Sunday. Live streaming will be available at world-challenge.com/streamvideo .
Magnus Racing will continue to provide updates and coverage throughout the week via their Facebook (facebook.com/RacingMagnus) and Twitter (@MagnusRacing), as well as via www.magnusracing.com.
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 sports car racing can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.
To visit the Northern Ontario-based Magnus Theatre, click here.
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Source : world-challenge.com
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