Craig Stanton Honored At Porsche Motorsport Banquet

Craig Stanton Honored At Porsche Motorsport Banquet

 

LONG BEACH, Calif., December 21, 2004 – Bringing to a close his most
successful season of professional sportscar racing, Craig Stanton was
honored by Porsche this past weekend in Weissach, Germany. Stanton was
named runner-up for one of the most coveted awards in international
motorsports, the Porsche Cup. The annual award is given to the highest
finishing, non-factory driver that has competed in a Porsche in any of a
number of international and domestic race series the world over. The
Long Beach, Calif. resident, who earned nearly $30,000 for the award,
captured 8,510 points across the three race series in which he competed,
all in variants of the Porsche 996/ 911 platform. The annual Porsche
Motorsports’ banquet, Stanton’s first, was held Saturday, December 18th
at Porsche’s motorsports facility one hour from their international
headquarters in Stuttgart. 

 

His first victory of the season came at the Grand-Am Cup season-opener
at Daytona International Speedway in January. There he co-drove with
Terry Borcheller (Gainesville, Ga.) in TheRaceSite.com Porsche 996. The
two would collect a total of three wins together before splitting.
Stanton would be joined by multi-team co-driver David Murry (Cumming,
Ga.) for three more wins and the Grand-Am Cup championship in
TheRaceSite.com entry. That championship earned Stanton a special
wristwatch given to him by Porsche at the banquet. He took a sole Grand
American Rolex Series victory in Super Grand Sport (SGS) class at
Homestead-Miami Speedway with Murry in the No. 16 AASCO Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry. 

 

Stanton added to his 2004 Porsche Cup tally by competing for Petersen
Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing for the second year. The combination
of Stanton and Petersen/ White Lightning teamed for several GT2
(formerly GT) class podiums in 2003 including a victory at the Road
America 500. In 2004, again being joined by Murry, Stanton earned six
American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT2 podium finishes driving the No. 31
Westward Ho Casino/ MMPIE/ PAWS/ Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Despite
all having the same 996 platform, the RSR is the most sophisticated and
powerful of the three Porsche’s that Stanton piloted. Although not
winning a race in the ALMS this season, Stanton finished second twice
(Mosport and Road America) and won four IMSA Cups- given to the highest
finishing privateer effort in each class- for the No. 31 Porsche.
Stanton and Murry would finish tied for fifth in ALMS GT2 driver points
at season’s end. 

 

Murry, a former Porsche factory driver at Le Mans, finished fourth in
the 2004 Porsche Cup with 7,515 markers. Though the award is open to the
hundreds of Porsche racers competing worldwide, only the top 15 are
asked to attend the banquet each December. Stéphane Ortelli was the 2004
recipient of the Porsche Cup.

 

Craig Stanton: “This was really pretty darn cool. There were people from
all over the world and it was really quite an honor just to be asked to
attend. To be singled-out twice, first for the GS class victory and then
for second in the Porsche Cup standings was really, really special to
me. To have my wife Joy there with me, and Dale, Stefan and David was
truly special. I just wish the entire Petersen/ White Lightning team and
all the guys from all the crews I raced with this year could have been
there. They made this all possible for me. This was my first time to
come to Weissach and to be a part of this; to get to sit there right
across from Roland Kussmaul (lead Porsche Motorsports engineer) and his
wife will be something that I will always, always remember.”