Andy Lally's time with The Racer's Group is at an end, as the longtime driver for that squad shifts to Magnus Racing for the 2012 sports car series season.
Lally will run with Magnus team owner John Potter in the team's No. 44 Porsche GT3 Cup, replacing Craig Stanton for the full season.
Magnus, a team whose unique sense of humor is displayed in its news releases, has competed in both the Grand-Am Rolex Series and American Le Mans Series the last two seasons. It's been a full-season Rolex participant while running sporadic ALMS events.
For Lally, the opportunity is a fresh one after his sojourn into NASCAR with TRG had a rather forgettable ending. The team fell outside the top 35 in owners' points during the waning stages of the Sprint Cup Series season and Mike Bliss was drafted in to the team's No. 71 entry for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While Bliss qualified after Lally had failed to qualify for the previous race at Phoenix, Lally made sure to state during the process that he was not fired, just that there had been a difference of opinion regarding the team's future direction. TRG team officials described the situation as “fluid.”
Lally made his NASCAR debut in 2009 and won Rookie of the Year honors for 2011, largely because he was the only full-season entrant. In 30 starts this season, Lally had a best finish of 19th at Talladega, with a career best of 18th at Watkins Glen in 2010.
“It is official, for 2012 I will be racing in the Rolex Series for Magnus Racing with John Potter in the No. 44 Porsche,” Lally said in a tweet.
“I will still be attempting to do any NASCAR races that I can, especially the road course races.”