Krohn Racing Daytona January test summary

#76 Krohn Racing Ford Lola: Colin Braun, Nic Jonsson, Tracy Krohn, Ricardo Zonta

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

Krohn Racing brought all four drivers, Tracy W. Krohn, Nic Jönsson, Ricardo Zonta and Colin Braun to the Daytona Test Days, January 6-8 for testing in the No. 76 Krohn Racing Proto-Auto Lola in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 26-29, 2012.

TRACY W. KROHN, Team Owner/Driver No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: “I think one of my favorite memories might be from the first year I did Daytona. That year I was driving a Porsche RSR GT3 and it was raining and cold and the guy that owned the car didn’t like to drive at night or in the rain. Therefore I got about nine or ten hours of seat time. Some of it was just driving around under caution behind the safety car but it was really fun. It was especially fun because in the rain you had a chance to pass some of the DP cars in heavy rain.”

NIC JONSSON, Driver, No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: “We’ve been working on set-up this weekend and cycling all the drivers through the car. We have all driven together before and here at Daytona so that’s no big deal. We tested here in October so we are comparing notes from that test to this weekend. We are very comfortable with this Proto-Auto Lola car and ready to come back to Daytona and make a good run for the race.”

RICARDO ZONTA, Driver No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: “I’m glad to be back at Daytona, especially because it is with the Krohn Racing team again and also because it is the 50th anniversary. It is good to be part of this. I’m hoping we can prepare a good car for the race so we can fight for a win at this special edition.”

COLIN BRAUN, Driver, No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola: “It’s great to be coming here for my eighth year in the Rolex 24. I did my first year in a GT car and then all the ones after that I’ve run DP cars. It’s neat to be able to come back and have something as a reference. To have the reference of all the different fields of cars I’ve driven and the experience I’ve had to be able to compare it to every other year helps me be able to get up to speed quickly.”

“It’s very different to drive a GT car and then a Prototype or a Truck and a Nationwide car. When I was switching back and forth, it was always challenging when I’d come down the front straight and you’d have to think, ‘do I want to go straight or do I want to turn,’ depending on which vehicle you’re in. It’s neat to have different experiences and all the different feels of vehicles I’ve driven.”

JEFF HAZELL, Krohn Racing Motorsports Manager: “Grand-Am’s intention to balance the performance of the cars is really a difficult task with the tools that they presently have at their disposal. The Wind Tunnel work they conducted, of course, needs to be validated and verified on the track. If the intention was to do this during these Test Days, then that work has been made difficult with the misleading lap times of the cars either caught in traffic or compromised by the teams who are not going to show their hand in case they incur further restrictions to their car’s performance from Grand-Am. So, the lap time and lap section times that Grand-Am has, at best, are confusing and don’t give the clear data that is needed to make accurate changes between here and the race.”

“With regard to the performance of the Krohn Ford Proto-Auto Lola it should not be forgotten that before this test Grand-Am took 500 rpm from the Ford engine, which has some effect. But more importantly, and on top of that, the Lola was designed to be effective more on high down force tracks than at Daytona. And thus has inherently more drag than its rivals. Now all 2011 cars have to carry a ‘drag plate’ underneath the rear wings, which has a severe effect on the aerodynamics of the car. Add this to a high down force designed car and the additional drag adds a disproportional handicap at Daytona. Thus despite honing our mature set up during our two-day October test we simply cannot reproduce those competitive lap times at this test.”

DAVID BROWN, Krohn Racing Team Manager and Engineer: “We have had a very productive test. We’ve covered all the items on the test list. All the drivers have driven the car and driven it well, as we expected. The car has been very reliable, covered a lot of miles and we’ve made ins on some set-up and component issues. All-in-all we’ve believe we are much more ready for the race than we were three days ago.”