NAEC Champions Faced Challenges En Route to Titles

For the inaugural North American Endurance Championship teams, it’s a feel-good story all the way around. Starworks Motorsport, a third-year Daytona Prototype team that nearly captured this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, won the title as a self-described “little guy.” GT champion Magnus Racing rewrote the definition of perseverance after its No. 44 Porsche GT3 went up in flames less than a month before the July 27 deciding round at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The organizations banked $100,000 and $50,000 respectively based on point totals from the Rolex 24, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the Brickyard Grand Prix. Starworks’ Ford/Riley defeated 2011 DP champion Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates’ BMW/Riley by five points and Magnus outlasted longtime Rolex team with a six-point victory, SpeedSource’s Mazda RX-8.

Ironically, it was not the team’s season title-contending No. 8 that clinched the NAEC for the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Starworks. That honor – and the Indianapolis victory – went to the team’s No. 2 car shared by Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Popow. Popow also was proclaimed the NAEC’s driver champion.

“It’s amazing to win a major championship in my second year here,” said the Venezuelan. “That gives me confidence to keep going and I’m looking forward to a stronger run next year.”

Starworks owner Peter Baron added significant engineering staff and expertise during the off season and it paid dividends. “Being a smaller team, it officially puts us on the radar that we’ve arrived as a team,” he said.

The winning GT car was badly damaged by fire at Watkins Glen, dis-assembled for parts to send a sister Porsche to the Indy test and then rebuilt bolt-by-bolt for the Brickyard race. Magnus owner–driver John Potter and co-driver Andy Lally then proceeded to win both race and NAEC title.

“It’s unbelievable how hard they worked and it’s a perfect reward for such a great crew,” said Salt Lake City’s Potter. Lally added, “I thought the NAEC was really cool when I first heard about it. To actually win it – combining it with victories at Indianapolis and the Rolex 24 At Daytona – is really epic.”