Building on the second row position earned by Olivier Pla during Saturday’s Qualifying session, Nic Jönsson, driving the team’s Nissan-powered Ligier JS P2 prototype, slotted into a comfortable third place right from the start. In an epic triple stint behind the wheel Nic took second and kept the leader within sight, running at times as the fastest man on track. As he handed the car over to his French team-mate precious time was lost changing the rear bodywork as a rain-light had failed and this delay proved crucial in the pursuit of a podium place. Oli got his head down chasing this target but was involved in a controversial incident a few laps from the end with another competitor leaving the team to finish in fourth, mirroring the result at the first round at Silverstone back in April.
Nic Jönsson, Driver Krohn Racing: “Well, it’s very disappointing obviously, we had the pace all day, I think we showed that. We were running third from the get-go and moved up to second at the beginning of the second stint and running there very competitively, I think we were the quickest car on track for almost the last two stints. I came in and handed over to Oli but unfortunately we had to change the tail of the car, and we lost over 50 seconds, because one of the rain-lights wouldn’t function I understand. So we fell behind, down to third and the #21 car had four new tires left for the last stint and was then very, very quick and came through the field and passed us and the SMP car. Then the SMP car did something not very sporting, it brake-checked Oli up in the Chicane. Oli hit him and spun because of that. Hopefully the officials will look at that because it is not just bad sportsmanship, but it’s extremely dangerous.
But otherwise we are all thankful to Tracy who couldn’t be here this weekend, but he gave us the opportunity to race and I think we showed that Krohn Racing/Greaves Motorsport is very competitive if we stayed out of trouble and carried on without any issues.”
Olivier Pla, Driver Krohn Racing:”We had the pace of the leader, the #38 car. Lee did a fantastic job and also the team did a fantastic job. Unfortunately we had to change the rear bodywork because we had a rain-light out, that’s the rule, we had to do it and we lost a place over that. Then I was stuck behind Coletti and he just brake-tested me at the exit of the Chicane, luckily it was a slow corner but it’s not the standard of driving that we should expect at this level. It finished our chances of a podium place, I’m definitely not impressed.”
Jeff Glover, Team Manager Krohn Racing: “This was a real nail-biter for us. We ran as high as second for a good portion of the race. If it hadn’t been for a faulty tail-light, which cost us 40 seconds, we would’ve finished second but I never like to say would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. Both drivers did an outstanding job, especially Nic Jönsson on a triple stint, and Oli, on old tires. The European Le Mans Series is incredibly competitive, it is a testament to all the competition as well. We’ll prepare over the winter and look forward to next season.”
Lee Penn, Race Engineer Krohn Racing: “The pace of the car was fantastic, Nic did an amazing job, he got us into P2 with quite a lead but unfortunately we had a rain-light failure and had to change the tail. Oli jumped into the car and did an absolutely fantastic job but the stop cost us nearly a minute. We finished 30 seconds behind second place, unfortunately the stop was the difference. The team can take solace in the fact that they did an amazing job, the drivers were fantastic and it’s a very good building block for next year.”
