Indy Lights Barber Park - Krohn Finishes Ninth at Barber Motorsports Park

LEEDS, April 11 - The racing gods rolled a nine for Anders "The Viking" Krohn Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, as he finished ninth in car No. 9 and set his fastest lap on the ninth of 40 laps run in the second Firestone Indy Lights race of the year.

Krohn, a native of Stavanger, Norway who lives in Houston, got off to a great start. He started fifth in his red Belardi Auto Racing-prepared car, and Krohn, the Brownsburg, Ind.-based team and his sponsors were anxious to see if he could better his fifth-place finish in the season opener. Those sponsors include Liberty Engineering, Logi Trans Offshore Express, Trallfa, PM International Suppliers, Allied Building Products, ZAT Graphics, Eagles Canyon Raceway, OMP and Bell Helmets.

They had a lot to be happy about at the start. Krohn made a very impressive move and got by Esteban Guerrieri and Conor Daly before the first turn to vault from fifth to third. It was a position he would hold for half the race, so a possible podium finish was definitely in sight.

A few turns later on that first lap the Sam Schmidt Motorsports cars of Guerrieri, Victor Carbone and Josef Newgarden tangled behind him in Turn 6, bringing out the first of three full-course yellows.

The green flew again on lap 3 but the yellow came out again on lap 4 when Gustavo Yacaman's car lost fuel pressure and rolled to a stop in Turn 4. Krohn used that yellow to think about possible ways to get around the leader, polesitter Victor Garcia, and the second-place driver, Stefan Wilson, on the restart, but when the green flew again on lap six those two were just too strong on Sunday. Instead, Krohn concentrated on keeping a comfortable pace in third place, as he was trying to save his Firestone tires for any future assaults on his position.

Another yellow waved on lap 17 for David Ostella, who had rolled to a stop in Turn 6 of the 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course.

The turning point of the race for Krohn came shortly after that restart. When the green flew on lap 20 James Winslow got around Krohn on the inside in Turn 5 for third place. Krohn remained in fourth for one lap until Conor Daly passed him in Turn 8. Another top-five finish was still possible but then a few seconds later Daly and Winslow made contact. Winslow spun and Krohn had to run into the grass while taking evasive action, dropping from fourth to ninth in the scuffle.

The incident did not require a full-course yellow and Krohn remained in ninth the rest of the way. In the waning stages of the race he had to hold off Winslow, which he accomplished.

Garcia led the whole way to record the victory over Wilson and Peter Dempsey, while Krohn's Belardi Auto Racing teammate, Jorge Goncalvez, finished fourth despite racing with a broken leg.

Krohn's fastest lap of the race was a 1:20.347 on lap nine.

On Saturday morning Krohn qualified fifth with a time of 1:17.5993 (106.702 miles per hour), which was just 0.3200 off the time Garcia ran to win the Sunoco Pole. Krohn was immediately fast at Barber just like he was at the season opener at St. Petersburg, Fla., as he posted the second-fastest time in the first practice session with a 1:18.9953 (104.816 mph) and he topped the second practice session with a lap in 1:19.8082 (103.749 mph) on Friday.

Sunday's race was televised live on VERSUS.

On Thursday Krohn visited approximately 100 children at the Children's Hospital of Alabama in an appearance organized by Racing for Kids.

Unofficially Krohn is now seventh in the point standings heading into the third of 13 races next Sunday, April 17, on a 1.968-mile street course in Long Beach, Calif. That race will be covered live on VERSUS too. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Krohn's Web site is at anderskrohn.com. His team's is at BelardiAutoRacing.com. The series' Web site, which features live timing and scoring, is at indycar.com/fil.

Krohn's post-race quote follows:

"I'm disappointed, of course.

"The problem started on the restart. I was running comfortably in third place. I didn't have anything for the leaders, but I had a comfortable gap on fourth place and I was just trying to save my tires.

"Then came the restart. Heading down to Turn 5 James Winslow had a very late move under braking. We nearly came together but managed not to, and I lost one position.

"Because of that we slowed down, and that let Daly get all over us. Daly and Winslow got together, and I had to take evasive action. From then on we just didn't have any pace. Our tires fell off completely after I went through the grass.

"We ran P3 for awhile and a podium finish would have been fantastic, but it just wasn't to be today.

"Around the time I went off the track there was something that slowed the performance of the car down, but we haven't figured out what that was yet. We're still going over the data to see if we can find anything.

"I have to thank our guys on the Belardi Auto Racing team. This track is very challenging, and the grip levels were very different for all the different sessions we ran here. The team really showed its strength because our guys knew how to react to those changes. I just wish we could have had a podium finish for them because they worked hard and they deserved it. It makes me even more excited to see what we can do next week at Long Beach.

"I was happy to do the hospital visit. We saw over 100 patients at the Children's Hospital of Alabama. It's tough seeing that many sick children, but it was great to see their smiles when they got an autograph or a toy car. I think it's a great program and I'm proud to be one of Racing for Kids' representatives. It makes you realize how lucky you are to be able to race, and do what you love to do."