Spielberg, Austria (July 12, 2015)...The Krohn Racing team of owner/driver Tracy W. Krohn, Nic Jonsson and Julien Canal raced to a fifth-place finish today in Round Three of the 2015 FIA European Le Mans Series (ELMS) at the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring race. The race was the inaugural effort at the nine-turn, 2.688-mile/4.326 km circuit for the popular American race team, as well as for drivers Krohn and Jonsson.
Jonsson put the No. 40 Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2-Judd in seventh position on the starting grid in this morning's qualifying session. Krohn was elected the starting driver and ran a good stint before passing the driving efforts over to Frenchman Julien Canal, a 24 Hours of Le Mans repeat winner and current FIAWEC G-Drive Racing pilot. Canal’s extensive racing history in the Ligier JS P2 proved valuable in the cockpit. Jonsson was elected as the closing driver and aided in the ascent to the Top Five finish, along with solid pit stop performances by the Krohn Racing team.
The Houston, Texas-based Krohn Racing finish in the Top Five in the two previous ELMS four-hour races (fourth at Silverstone and fifth at Imola), with Krohn and Jonsson paired with Oswaldo (Ozz) Negri, Jr. They maintained fourth place in the LMP2 Team Championship with their top-five finish today.
TRACY W. KROHN, Krohn Racing Team Owner/Driver:
“Our timing was pretty good for the car during qualifying. I’m not quite sure where we lost it during the race. Apparently, we struggled with heat cycles on the tires through the different safety car periods and Nic’s last stint. We had some good breaks; we had some bad breaks today. P5 isn’t great, but it’s the worst we’ve finished all season. We’re still fourth in the points. We’ll go to Paul Richard and Estoril and see what it looks like. Hopefully, we’ll pick it up a little bit on the car. We were struggling a little bit with set-up today, but I think it was just really more of a heat side of a problem and just heat on the tires overall. We learned a lot, this being our first time at this track. The team did a good job getting the car prepped and I thought we were back on track with all the communications, electronics and data worked so we’re feeling a lot better going into the next race at Paul Richard.”
NIC JONSSON, Krohn Racing, Driver:
“I think the team worked really well again this weekend and had a good set up on the car for qualifying. I think the guys had the car well balanced. Tracy started the race and was running very competitive laps for a while. There were a few yellows, where we got some pick up, but then Julien got in and did a great job. It was good to have him and get a good comparison to the car he’s normally driving, so that was a good thing for us. When I got in, I went straight out on warm tires to the yellow and never really got the time to peak my whole stint. I was struggling a little today, but we came home fifth again. So far this season we haven’t finished below fifth and I think we are running fourth in the championship in points. I think with all the stuff that’s been happening here we have done a really good job recovering from Le Mans and the issues we had there. Again,a big thanks to the Krohn Racing team and the crew who have done a great job all year. I’m looking forward to Paul Richard and hoping to get our first podium for the year there.”
JULIEN CANAL, Krohn Racing, Driver:
"For this meeting (race), I discovered the racetrack with my teammates. This was a new team and very professional. Every time they put the driver in a good position and I appreciate that a lot. My teammates are very good with no mistakes in the race. We finished fifth, which is a very good result and for a new track for us. Maybe next year we could do better, but I’m very happy to be a part of this team and hopefully, I can rejoin the team again.”
HAYDEN BURVILL, Krohn Racing, Engineer:
“We probably reached very close to our full potential on the first visit to this track. None of the full time drivers or the engineering crew had been here before and only a single team had ever been here before with a JS P2, so it was any interesting challenge. With two ninety-minute sessions to set up, it’s always going to be an interesting challenge, but at a new venue with no historical data, made it a big job. We got the car decent, not fully competitive, but decent and the team did an excellent job of having zero errors. To run the race clean with no errors, one slight on-track error, where we had contact with another car, but only a small amount, and that was our full event. I’d say we’ve reached full potential on this result and P5 is a result we can all be proud of.”
The next races for Krohn Racing and on the ELMS schedule are the 4 Hours of Paul Ricard in Paul Ricard, France, September 5-6 and the 4 Hours of Estoril in Estoril, Portugal, October 17-18.
