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MAGNUSSEN: A Busy Month of May

Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen checks into Sportscar365…

Photo: IMSA

Photo: IMSA

Another weekend, another race – it is pretty rare to catch me at home on any weekend this year but the good thing is when you’re picking up trophies along the way, it certainly makes the travel worthwhile.

Three weeks ago, we kicked off the 2014 Danish Thundersports Championship and my team was in victory lane. It was a great way to start the season on home soil.

Two weeks ago at Laguna Seca, my TUDOR United SportsCar Championship assault with Antonio Garcia and Corvette Racing really hit a high note with another victory.

That was our second win in a row in 2014, our second win in a row at Laguna Seca and also our second consecutive pole position.

As far as preparation for Le Mans goes – we’re really entering June in the best possible way – heading to France via victory lane.

We know we still have a lot of work to do on the Corvette C7.R. The two long distance races at Daytona and Sebring caused us a few headaches but Long Beach and Laguna went to plan.

However, we’re under no illusion – there is a big difference between winning 100 and 120-minute races versus taking victory at Le Mans over 24 hours.

Last year in France we were really hurting for straight-line speed. The new C7.R has been designed to alleviate a lot of those problems.

From our simulations it looks good, but you never know until you get to the track – then you never really know until the green flag is waved exactly where you are in the pecking order.

The guys at Corvette Racing are certainly leaving no stone unturned and we’re really looking forward to heading back to Le Mans.

We’ll have Jordan Taylor back in the car with Antonio and I in France this year. He did a super job last year and is obviously race sharp having been right on the pace in his Corvette Daytona Prototype all season.

Last weekend, I actually wasn’t behind the wheel but I was back at the race track, this time headed to my teammate’s country Spain to see Kevin in action for McLaren.

He had an issue in qualifying that kept him out of the top ten. In the race he was really solid but the team still have some work to do to get back to where they were in Australia.

In Formula 1 the aerodynamics are being constantly developed and updated. McLaren certainly haven’t been standing still, but the entire field is full of very clever people and all the teams are developing at a dramatic rate.

The good thing is Kevin’s pace compared to Jenson Button is very good. It will be interesting at the next race in Monaco as the McLaren does seem quite strong in regards to mechanical grip.

This weekend I am back in the racecar again for the street race in Aarhus, Denmark – the second round of the championship and the biggest race of the year. Hopefully we can keep the winning streak going.
This one of the rare weekends where I need to be in two places at once as there is also a European Le Mans Series race at Imola..

From there it’s off to Le Mans for the test day, back to France the following weekend for scrutineering, then the Le Mans race, then back to Denmark aboard my Camaro then back to the U.S. for the Six Hours of Watkins Glen.

Hopefully by the time we get back to the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship we’ll really have some important silverware to bring home from France.

See you at the race track soon.

Jan Magnussen (@janmagnussen) is a four-time class winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two-time ALMS champion, driving for Corvette Racing in the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship.

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