Having won the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona and the inaugural North American Endurance Championship in 2012, Magnus Racing hit two of GRAND-AM’s three biggest targets in the same year. They can achieve the third career target this weekend if they hold onto the Rolex Series’ GT points lead and secure the title.
Indeed, the team known as much for its hilarious press releases and excellent snark – a refreshing break from the stuffiness that permeates most of racing – is all business this weekend at Lime Rock as drivers Andy Lally and John Potter enter with a four-point lead in the No. 44 Porsche GT3 Cup over Scuderia Corsa Ferrari driver Alessandro Balzan.
The deficit between the two was halved after a post-race results change following the last round at Monterey, when the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette and No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup were demoted positions for contact. That elevated Balzan, who co-drives with Leh Keen in the No. 63, to third place and within four heading to Lime Rock.
There was drama on the final lap at Lime Rock a year ago. Lally’s team miscalculated its fuel amount by a mere fraction which left that car sixth; Balzan finished third a year ago with co-driver Johannes van Overbeek. Adding fuel to the championship fire is the fact Scuderia Corsa is bringing in “JVO” as a ringer this weekend, to a second car with co-driver Paul Westphal, to aid Balzan’s title charge.
That sets the scene for the two main title protagonists. If they both manage to muck it up, Stevenson Motorsports will be there waiting and like Scuderia Corsa, it too has added a second car for this race.
Stevenson’s pair of Robin Liddell and John Edwards – the latter one of the sports car stars of the year – have won a class-high four races but the highs have been offset by four finishes of eighth or worse. As a result, the No. 57 Camaro drivers enter the weekend 11 points in arrears of Potter and Lally, and would need a win with Magnus finishing seventh or worse to eclipse that mark.
Helping Stevenson’s cause is its second car with Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, GM factory drivers in the American Le Mans Series’ Corvette C6.R program, who will be in the No. 75 Camaro this weekend.
AIM Autosport Team FXDD, the defending GT class champions with Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato, can steal the title but at 16 points back, they’d need a lot of help to do so. It’s Assentato and Anthony Lazzaro who have the shot this weekend in the No. 69 Ferrari F458 Italia, with Segal in the team’s No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Motorsport car with Alex Tagliani.
The GX class will likely be decided first; Dr. Jim Norman needs to complete the 30-minute minimum to score enough points to uphold his 11 point lead over Joel Miller. That would give the BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman driver the title in a class Mazda helped to create, and a class that will go away after this race.
GT POINTS 1. John Potter/Andy Lally, 313 2. Alessandro Balzan, 309 3. Robin Liddell/John Edwards, 302 4. Emil Assentato/Anthony Lazzaro, 297
