Houston, Texas (June 30, 2015)...Krohn Racing announced today that Frenchman Julien Canal will replace ELMS regular co-driver Oswaldo (Ozz) Negri, Jr. for the Red Bull Ring round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS). Canal will join team owner/driver Tracy W. Krohn and teammate Nic Jonsson for the next ELMS round on July 11-12 in the Krohn Racing Ligier JS P2 Judd-powered LMP2 car.
Negri, who has co-driven in both the Silverstone and Imola ELMS rounds with Krohn Racing has a conflict with his regular U.S. team, Micheal Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian, who will be competing at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Mosport, Canada that same weekend, July 10-12.
“We are glad that Julien was able to step in for Ozz for the Red Bull Ring round of the ELMS with us," said team owner/driver Tracy Krohn, of Houston, Texas. “He has experience and success in the Ligier and that has proven to be a benefit for us this year with both Ozz and Joao (Barbosa) at Le Mans. Julien came recommended and that was good enough for us.”
Canal, who currently drives the G-Drive JS P2 Nissan in the FIA World Endurance Championship, won the Silverstone round in April of this year and finished on the podium in third place at the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans. His successes also include four victories last year in FIAWEC with G-Drive, two in the Morgan LM P2 Nissan (Silverstone and Spa) and two in the Ligier JS P2 Nissan (Fuji and Shanghai), finishing second in the LMP2 championship.
The Le Mans, France-born driver's earlier successes include three consecutive victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2010-2012) in the GT class with Labre Competition in the Saleen S7-R (2010 in GT1) and the Chevrolet Corvette CS-R (2011, 2012 in GTE-Am). In 2013, Julien won the FIAWEC GTE-Am championship with three victories.
"I am very happy to do my first race with Krohn Racing," said Canal, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday days after the Austria race. "The Krohn Racing team is very professional and nice. I met Tracy in 2011 when we participated in the same ILMC (International Le Mans Cup championship) and 24 hours of Le Mans. Since 2011, we have participated in same championship for these last years in the same category - GTE AM. When my team manager spoke to me about this opportunity to race with the Krohn Team, I accepted with pleasure. I think the Ligier is one of the best LMP2 cars and believe we will have a good result at Red Bull Ring."
The ELMS schedule for Red Bull Ring, Austria, July 11-12 includes two 90-minute practice sessions on July 11. Qualifying for LMP2 is on July 12 for 20 minutes followed by a four-hour race starting at 1:30 p.m. local time.
