Krohn Racing: VIR GRAND-AM Post-Race Report
Krohn Racing: VIR GRAND-AM Post-Race Report The Bosch Engineering 250 at VIRginia International Raceway was a repeat finish of the previous race at Barber Motorsports Park for the No. 75 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola of Tracy W. Krohn and Nic Jönsson. Krohn qualified the car 13th on the grid and Jönsson brought it to the checkered flag in 11th place, one lap down. Jönsson suffered a cut left rear tire in the final 35 minutes of the race after being hit by a GT car and had to nurse the Proto-Auto Lola back to pit lane in order to avoid further damage. Krohn drove the first 23 laps of the race and Jönsson the final 50 laps. The race winner was the No. 01 Ganassi TELMEX BMW Riley of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. VIR was Round 4 of 12 on the 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series schedule. DRIVER QUOTES: TRACY W. KROHN, Team Owner/Driver No. 75 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: “We could have had a much better result, we just had a little bit of bad luck today. The only issue I had was that I had to go around a few cars and got offline and had an enormous amount of pick-up on the tires. I actually thought there was something wrong with the suspension because it was so bad. Through all the high speed esses and turns it felt like the car was going to roll over to one side. It was very disconcerting. I finally drove my way through it and it got better. And about that time it was time to get out of the car. It took probably 20 minutes to get all that buildup off my tires. The No. 28 GT car hit Nic coming out of Turn 17. It caused damage to the valve stem and punctured the tire. Unfortunately that was the end of our race. The car was quite good. I was disappointed that Nic didn’t get to challenge a little bit. I know he was.�?? NIC JONSSON, Driver, No. 75 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: “I got in around the 45 minute mark with fresh tires and full tank (of gas). I went out there and started to get after it. The car was very good. I think we had the fourth fastest time out there today. It started out to be a little bit loose in the very beginning but after about 10 laps the car became neutral. It was fantastic under braking. Tracy was doing a good job with this lap times. He got the lap down right before I got in but we got the lap back with some yellows. We were running pretty well. We ran a race lead pace. Unfortunately lapping a GT car coming off of Turn 17 I got clipped. He probably thought he was clear on me and tried to tuck in right behind me after I passed to get a draft on the straightaway. He tucked in a little bit too early and hit my left rear tire and cut that, probably with his splitter. I went into turn one and locked up the right front and saw the warning light for the low tire pressure. Basically, I had a flat and had to nurse it back to the pits and we lost that lap again. We weren’t able to make that back up unfortunately. We had a good run, a good car. I’m looking forward to the next race in Lime Rock.�?? DAVID BROWN, Krohn Racing Team Manager and Engineer: “The team did another excellent job this weekend. The car was prepared and ran flawlessly and serviced as quickly as possible during the race. We had good pit stops even though we had to deal with a couple of issues thrown at us with us during the race. That’s an unblemished record for the team this year. Having lost a lap just at the 45-minute stop, we then managed to regain it making a late pit stop during the first yellow. So we got a lap back, but unfortunately 10 laps later hit by the Corvette, which put us back down a lap again. It looks at that stage, when we got back on the lead lap that we were about a minute adrift of the next place car. We felt really quite positive and encouraged by that because the car was very good. We thought if we get what is likely to be a yellow in the last stint, things could look pretty good. But then of course we got a cut tire when we were hit and lost the position. Positive results didn’t happen this week, however we are testing on Tuesday in Lime Rock and we haven’t been there before. We look forward to going there and having a day of set-up basic testing for us there. Then the next race will be Lime Rock at the end of May. We think we should have a very good chance there and that the track should suit us again. At Barber we were quite encouraged by the speed of the car on a difference type of track. We were encouraged here at VIR. It looks like our window of good performance through this various circuits of the series has widened this year with the development that we’ve done. We are more able to put a car on the track which is competitive over a wider range of tracks which will stand us in good position for the rest of the season.�?? The next race for Krohn Racing will be partnered with Risi Competizione for the American Le Mans Series’ 6 Hours of Monterey on May 22 in Laguna Seca, California. Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson will pilot the No. 61 Risi-Krohn Ferrari 430 GTE. The next GRAND-AM race will be at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. on Memorial Day Monday, May 31. For more information, please see www.grand-am.com, www.krohnracing.net or www.speedtv.com. # # # 04.24.2010 If you wish to be removed from the list, please reply to this release and type “REMOVE�?? in all caps in the subject heading. Thank you. + + + Barbara J. Burns for Krohn Racing Burns Group Unlimited 833 Piedmont Avenue Suite B Atlanta, GA 30308 Ph: 404.873.0772 Fax: 404.873.0661 Cell: 770.329.7134 burnsgroup@aol.com