DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Jan Magnussen was one month shy of his 25th birthday when his Formula One career ended following a sixth-place result in the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix for the Stewart Ford team.
While he didn’t know it at the time, it set the wheels in motion for a legendary career as a sports car racing champion.
“When I first started out, for me it was all about Formula One,” he recalls. “I did spend all my time just thinking about that, so when that didn’t work out, there was a period in my life where I didn’t quite know what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life.”
Enter Panoz Motorsports. The race team founded by Dr. Don Panoz was fielding its own LMP1 race cars in a brand-new racing series also founded by Panoz: the American Le Mans Series. The team needed a driver and found one who hailed from Denmark.
“When I got the opportunity to come to the United States to drive for Panoz in the beginning, that’s the first time I even thought about sports cars,” said Magnussen. “I went out to test the Panoz with an open mind, not knowing what to expect. At that time, I hadn’t even seen the car.
“I didn’t know what to expect, so I came out here and immediately felt the biggest difference between racing in Europe and racing in the U.S. In the U.S., there’s such a warm feeling. You can feel the team really embraces you and you’re a part of something.”
It was a feeling he liked. A lot.
“In the States, what I felt and what I fell in love with immediately was this team spirit that now you’re a part of something with a bunch of other guys that want the exact same that you do,” he said. “That really brought out the best in me, and I immediately knew I had a shot at a new career after Formula One. I grabbed that immediately. After the test, I flew home, grabbed my stuff and left Denmark.”
He competed in the first full season of ALMS in 1999 for Panoz, taking his first career victory at what now is known as Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He remained with the Panoz team through the end of the 2002 season, before moving over the Prodrive Ferrari ALMS team in 2003.
Another career-defining moment came in 2004. While he didn’t compete anywhere on a full-time basis, Magnussen was busy. In the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, he was tapped to share Doran-Lista Racing’s Lexus-powered Daytona Prototype with Didier Theys, winning a sprint race at Watkins Glen and competing in five of 12 races.
He also got the call from Corvette Racing to join the team as one of its endurance drivers, alongside full-timers Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta. He only competed in two ALMS rounds, but won one of them, at Petit Le Mans.
He won another race, too, in 2004. He, Beretta and Gavin combined to take the GTS class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The next year, they did it again, this time in the GT1 class. And in 2006, they did it again.
Source : speedsport.com
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