Houston's mission from Watkins Glen victory to Le Mans
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The team had two cars competing in the six hour race in New York State, USA - the car of Jörg Bergmeister winning the event. The drivers took a specially chartered jet from an airfield ten miles from the track direct to an airfield at Tours - a one hour drive from the French circuit. Time was tight - the Grand-Am race finished at 8.30pm on Saturday night. Following the podium ceremony and press conferences the drivers left the circuit at 10.30pm and took fifteen minutes to get to the nearby airfield. The plane touched down in Tours at 11am and the drivers arrived at the pit garage at 12.15. Taking into account the six hour time difference that was less than eight hours door-to-door. A fitting start for an epic race. The test session went as planned. Jörg took to the whel first to check the car and the rest of the time was spent for Tracy and Nic to learn the track. Final classification for the team was 41st overall, 6th in GT2 class with a best time of 4:07.778. Tracy Krohn: "The only place I've seen this track is on television and on a video game. I have to tell you it's so much better in 3D! It is much more daunting than you'd think. The first thing is when you come out of the pit lane and guys are coming up on you really quick. The whole track is so much faster than I thought it would be. It's so much fun. I'm very very excited about being here. What makes it so amazing is that we're driving a GT car fast and someone passes you doing 80mph faster. Watching those LMPs passing each other is great fun to watch. Plus I can't believe the atmosphere! There's over 100,000 people here just for practice day. I've never spectated in person - just watched it on TV so I can't imagine what it's going to be like for the race. Already it's just so much better than I imagined." Jörg Bergmeister: "We had a really good car in Watkins Glen - it was perfect and the guys did a really great job. It was a good result and I'm optimistic of more of the same over here. I'm used to switching cars so there'll be no problem jumping into the Porsche. "Right after the race we left for the airport - we got a really good shortcut and it only took 15 minutes. We ate a little and all got some sleep before landing at 11am local time - only six and a half hours flying. It was definitely the way to do it." "Once we got here I went in the car first to check it out. I only did two flying laps but it was enough. I made a small change to the car but we have plenty of time in race week to fine tune the set-up. It's more important for Tracy and Nic to get up to speed on the track." Nic Jönsson "First of all it's an enormous experience to go around Le Mans on that very first lap. I've dreamt about it, seen this race on TV and played it on the PlayStation but now finally at the age of 38 I'm here to do this race with a very very good team. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this and having Jörg and Tracy as co-drivers. With Jörg having won it before and the team having won it twice it couldn't be better. It's obviously one of the greatest spectacles in the world and I feel very excited about the whole thing. I've raced professionally for 17 years but this is one of the biggest races in the world. To go out and do those first laps is just 'WOW'. It was a great experience. It'll take a little time to build up to speed. I've driven Porsches before, in fact with this team for the first time three years ago where we got second place at Sebring, so today was about getting used to the course and the grip level in different places and so forth. I've got the next week to think about it and drive it in my head and come back prepared. Dale White, Team Manager Today was a day to let Nic and Tracy learn the track. Everything worked out good with getting them here and the plane and organising getting them to the circuit, the administrative checks and the medics wanted to check the guys over to make sure they were well rested as well as getting them to a drivers briefing. Everything ran on schedule and we started at 2pm as planned. Just let Jörg do a few laps as more of a functions test. We hardly pushed and the time was still pretty good. We just wanted to get Nic and Tracy learning the track. That was the plan and that's exactly what they did. Everything came together in the end and we'll be set for race week. Background information Official Le Mans entrant, Dale White of White Lightning Racing, two-time Le Mans GT2 class-winning effort, will be sponsored for the French event by Krohn Racing LLC, a leading sports car organization in North America. The No. 90 Porsche will be raced in a new "Krohn-Green Lightning" livery, by Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld, Germany), Nic Jönsson (a native of Sweden currently living in Buford, Georgia, USA) and Tracy Krohn (Houston, Texas, USA). This arrangement between the two racing operations gives Krohn Racing owner/driver, Tracy Krohn, a unique opportunity to race at Le Mans and, with key Krohn Racing staff in attendance, gain experience for future programs. Krohn has also provided his Krohn Racing Grand-Am team drivers Bergmeister and Jönsson who, with Krohn, secured a 5th place at the Daytona 24 Hours this year. The German and the Swede both also drive in the ALMS for Petersen/White Lightning, thus enhancing this co-operation between the two teams with excellent continuity. Krohn's funding and drivers allows White Lightning, wanting to return to Le Mans but concerned about budgetary constraints impacting their American Le Mans Series GT2 title defense, to again challenge for GT2 honors at the French classic. The arrangement also permits Krohn his first inside look at the trials of racing at the 8.6 mile Circuit de la Sarthe for 24 Hours. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR will race on Michelin tires and have the full support of Porsche Motorsports. As President and CEO of an oil and gas exploration and production company, Houston native Krohn came to auto racing only after climbing to the top of in the world of business. A graduate of the Panoz Racing School, he went on to become runner-up in the 2003 Panoz GT Pro Series. The following year he entered the 2004 American Le Mans Series as joint owner/driver of the Krohn Barbour Racing team, but the Lamborghini Murcielago proved to be too technically troublesome to produce the results required for success. In the same year, Krohn also made two Rolex Series starts and these were enough to convince him to enter the whole series in 2005. The highlight of his first career overall victory at the Six Hours of the Glen event was all the encouragement he needed to set up his own team for the Grand-Am series in 2006. As one of the most successful ALMS teams to participate at Le Mans in recent years, class winners in 2003 and 2004, the Michael Petersen-owned White Lightning team is automatically considered a top-contender in class. Its entry to the 2006 race is thanks to one of the coveted 'automatic' slots allocated by the Automobile Club de L'Ouest, by virtue of the team having won the GT2 category at the 2005 Petit Le Mans race. Having finished second last year, in a tight battle that lasted the full 24 hours, the team will be keen to regain its place on the top step of the podium. Following the official test day on June 4, the four official practice and qualifying sessions are scheduled for June 14 and 15 while the clock will start to countdown 24 hours on June 17 at 5 PM local time. For more information and high resolution images contact Philippa Neilson on pn@squashlimited.com or on telephone +44 7968 564660. - ends - To review or change the format of emails from this group, copy the following link into your browser: http://www.sportssystems.com/emformatoptions.cfm?trackingCode=BC925AA%3B61G203%20%3B0499&userEmail=submit%40theautochannel%2Ecom This email was individually sent to you, however if you wish to unsubscribe, copy the following link into your browser: http://www.sportssystems.com/unsubscribe.cfm?trackingCode=BC925AA%3B61G203%20%3B0499&userEmail=submit%40theautochannel%2Ecom