Krohn Racing Preview For Utah 250

Tooele, Sept. 9 2010: The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series will conclude the 2010 racing season at Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, Utah, on Saturday, September 11, with the Utah 250 race.

The Krohn Racing team returns to the site of their 2006 GRAND-AM Driver’s Championship. Team owner/driver Tracy W. Krohn and co-driver Nic Jönsson will pilot the No. 75 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola on a differently configured Miller Motorsports Park circuit than the Rolex Series has run in the past. Still seeking their first victory of the season, the team is prepared to push it to the limits in the finale.

Tracy W. Krohn, team owner/driver, No. 75 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: You will be returning to Miller Motorsports Park for the first time since 2008. Krohn Racing captured the Driver’s Championship there in 2006, driver Ricardo Zonta won the team’s first pole in the new Ford Proto-Auto Lola in 2008 and you had Boris Said as a standby driver that same year when you nearly missed the race after hurricane damage to your oil and gas business. Share with us your favorite memories of this race so far. “As I recall this track I really like the full track configuration. I think there are 24 turns in the full track. We’re not going to use that configuration this year. It’s a challenge as a driver to remember where to put the car.

The track is the longest on the Grand-Am circuit at 3.048-miles and 15 turns. What’s your favorite part of the track and why? And what’s your least favorite part of the track and why? “In this particularly configuration and I haven’t traced it yet. My favorite part of the track would not include straightaways.”

2010 has been an interesting and challenging year for Krohn Racing. Please share with us some of your most memorable moments. “I think we have realized that the car we have is capable of driving at every track. We have continued to improve car. The competition has improved too. We are also down on horsepower to the BMWs as far as we can see and the engineers can tell. That’s something that needs attention before next year. Any time you do a development, things happen in progression. With this configuration, we should be very competitive. At Lime Rock we got the pole. At New Jersey we were very strong until we suffered some misfortune.”

You will have competition this event from another Proto-Auto Lola, would you be happy to see this car ahead of you?

“Well, I am very happy to see that at last Multimatic have updated their chassis #1 using the kit provided by Proto-Auto back in 2008. I know that the engineers at Krohn Racing and Proto-Auto have provided full chassis set-up data to assist Dyson in getting the best from this car's early 2008 specification. I wish Dyson Racing every success. It's great to have them come and race here, but when the flag drops no driver is ever happy to see any car ahead of them!”

Nic Jönsson, driver, No. 75 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: You will be returning to Miller Motorsports Park for the first time since 2008. Krohn Racing captured the Driver’s Championship there in 2006 and driver Ricardo Zonta won the team’s first pole in the new Ford Proto-Auto Lola in 2008. Share with us your favorite memories here so far. “The most memorable race at Miller for me is when Krohn Racing captured the Driver’s Championship in 2006. That was the first year Tracy formed Krohn Racing. Previously he had been partnered with other teams. Without a doubt, to be able to capture the Championship at the last race of year is very memorable.”

The Miller track is the longest on the Grand-Am circuit. What’s your favorite part of the track and why? “We are running a different configuration this year. It is the same as ALMS is using. It’s more of a normal length track. I’ve been on some of the parts – the straightaway up to Turn 6. It’s going to be interesting to learn it for the first time. Miller is always a spectacular place to go. You never know how the grip is going to be with all the sand blowing. I compare it to Laguna in that aspect. They normally put on great events out at Miller. I’m really excited to go there and run the Proto-Auto Lola for the final race this year. It has been a fast car there and we hope to be the same this year.”

2010 has been an interesting and challenging year for Krohn Racing. Please share with us some of your most memorable moments. “In the 2010 Grand-Am Series my most memorable moment was when I took my first pole position at Lime Rock this year. It was very competitive there. We also had a good run at New Jersey. New Jersey was a turning point for Tracy and the driver line-up. Tracy and I have been driving together for quite a few years. He had to take a year off last year due to business obligations. Then it took a little bit of time to get him back to racing speed. In New Jersey he didn’t put a wheel wrong. Everything in racing really clicked again for him like in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Tracy has been very competitive since then. The New Jersey race is one of the most memorable from a performance standpoint as a team. We really had a turnaround there.”

Competition this year has been fierce in Grand-Am DP. The No. 75 Ford Proto-Auto has been a contender all season. Although winless to date, your team captured a pole at Lime Rock Park and just missed the podium step at the Rolex 24. The No. 01 Ganassi team of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas has been unstoppable with 8 victories. Looking back what would you change about this season? “I don’t think I would change a whole lot as a team. The Krohn crew done a great job and we have very minor mechanical issues. There are circumstances this year where we’ve been very competitive, got a pole and were running up front. There were also circumstances where we had bad luck, got caught out with a yellow flag, and things like that. It has been one of those years where we did not have Lady Luck looking over us. Numerous times we have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Tracy is really coming around and getting better and quicker again. We want to see through this last race of the year and see what happens moving forward. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. I think there is going to be a lot of positive coming into Krohn Racing in 2011.”

What are goals you feel the team achieved this year? “Goals we have achieved this year include up to a couple of races ago, we had completed the most laps. That’s a huge achievement if you look at preparation in a very competitive race series. We captured a pole. We haven’t quite gotten a podium yet but nearly done so. We have been doing everything we wanted to do. I think the luck will turn around and sun will shine.”

David Brown, Team Manager, Krohn Racing: Krohn Racing will be returning to Miller Motorsports Park for the first time since 2008. The team captured the Driver’s Championship there in 2006 and driver Ricardo Zonta won the team’s first pole in the new Ford Proto-Auto Lola in 2008. Share with us your favorite memories here so far. “We have had two good races here in the past since I have been with the team. In 2007 we were in a great position for a race win with Colin and Nic, but we were thwarted when the 10 car inconsiderately caught fire in the pit lane entry, spoiling our strategy! In 2008 Ricardo qualified on pole, and we had a very strong race. Also in 2006, the team won the Driver’s Championship at this event before I joined Krohn Racing. So we have always had good experiences at Miller Motorsports Park.”

How does the Miller Motorsports Park circuit suit the Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola? “As ever, more corners equal better performance, and although we are running on the more abbreviated track layout this year there are still plenty!”

2010 has been an interesting and challenging year for Krohn Racing. Please share with us some of your most memorable moments. “We had a strong race in Daytona; we had a pole in Lime Rock; we had the best car in New Jersey and good race cars at many tracks; and we had good brakes at Montreal. That's a first for us!”

What are goals you feel the Krohn Racing team achieved this year? “The team is stronger this year than before. Pit work, car preparation quality and driver changes have all improved very much during the year. The general atmosphere in the team is more cohesive and constructive. We operate more efficiently than ever before. The car has responded to some radical changes during the year and we have found a good direction which has consistently put us in a competitive position. We have learned a great deal about ourselves as a team and the car in DP racing. We are a better team with a better car than we started the season.”

The Utah 250 race from Tooele, Utah will be televised live on Saturday, September 11th, at 2:00 p.m. ET on SPEED TV. For more information, please see www.grand-am.com and www.krohnracing.net.