Krohn Racing Rolex 24 at Daytona Pre-Race Notes and Quotes 28.01.2012: The green flag drops on the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, tomorrow, Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 3:

The green flag drops on the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, tomorrow, Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. ET.



The No. 76 Krohn Racing Proto-Auto Lola Ford of team owner/driver Tracy W. Krohn, Nic Jönsson, Colin Braun and Ricardo Zonta will start from the 12th position on the grid.




TRACY W. KROHN, Team Owner/Driver No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola:

“We initially had a lot of difficulty with set-up on the car. Everything didn’t quite come together until last night. Throughout the day Thursday we were trying to get the car in the right handling position we wanted. Even through qualifying, we were still experimenting and making changes.


Some of those changes worked and some didn’t. It was continuing to get better throughout the day and then last night it got to where we are happy. We think we have a good car. We think we have a car that will do the distance. We’ve done that several times at this race.”


“The one thought about what’s going to be the biggest challenge for the race is patience. There are 20 GT cars within a second of each other. There’s another 25 that are not even close that are going to be somewhat problematic. Most of them are doing a good job but some are still out in the middle of the track. That makes it difficult to make a decision. That’s were patience comes in and what we all have to work on.”



NIC JONSSON, Driver, No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola:

“As always, the Krohn guys have done a phenomenal job prepping the car again. We’ve been working hard here the past couple of days. I think we finally got the car set-up pretty good last night in night practice. I’m looking forward to the start tomorrow because I think that we’ve got a solid driver line-up, a good solid car and a fantastic crew that are very fast at this stuff. I think it’s going to be good, fun and very exciting.”


“The key to success for the race is to stay out of trouble, be patient and make sure we keep the car untouched. The rule is you can’t have any incidents or trouble and you must conserve the car and make sure you have a good car to race with when you have just two hours to go.”



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.”
 

“I feel the biggest challenge of the race will be to avoid any uncertainty with the GT cars. With so many GT cars, they are going to be fighting each other and if you go to overtake them they might not be looking in their mirrors because they are going to be fighting for competition. We have to be very focused on that.”




COLIN BRAUN, Driver, No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Proto-Auto Lola:


“I think we’ve had a good week. With the group we have, it’s easy because we all know each other. We all know the car. So we can have you guy work on some set-up stuff, Tracy get some laps to get comfortable, get Ricardo, Nic or I some laps. But we don’t have to go out and make a ton of runs and a lot of changes.


We know this car so well so it doesn’t take us too long to get as quick as we can go and that’s where we’re at. It’s nice in that respect. We’re not out there trying to work through a huge test plan, doing a lot of things so we can really focus on getting ready for the race, preparation stuff done and everything done the right way so we’re ready to go for the race. We’re not learning anything, we’re just checking through our items and getting prepared for the race. It’s nice in that respect.”


I think for us, having an older car is going to be an advantage. Of course, if we had a newer car, I’d probably say a newer car is an advantage. I like to think in my mind the older car is going to be better because with the older car, we know what to do, how it works. We’ve run it for many, many years so we know the reliability issues and we’ve got that taken care of.


I think that’s a help. I don’t really know how the new cars are going to be speed-wise. Obviously they were fast in qualifying. Once we get in the race and start working through traffic, we’ll see and it depends. I haven’t run next to a new car yet when they’re not sandbagging, so I don’t really know. Everybody’s out there trying to play the game. “




JEFF HAZELL, Krohn Racing Motorsports Manager:


“The requirements for success in this race are perfect preparation, 100 percent reliability and constant vigilance from the drivers, the timing stand and the pit crew.”

“It cannot be just luck that has seen the winning car usually in victory circle with very little signs of any contact with any other vehicle throughout the entire race. Perhaps the key is to be extremely cautious in the pursuit to stay on the lead lap.


For example, last year (Juan Pablo) Montoya lapped our car about three hours from the end of the race. He carefully waited ten laps until he was absolutely sure he’d get a clear lap. It was exciting to watch. For Montoya, I’m sure it was very calm and a very calculated, careful move. I believe that’s how that crew (Ganassi) of drivers approaches the race. It’s a good example to everybody out there.”



•    Nic Jönsson raced in Friday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series race, finishing second in the ST Class in the No. 10 Kia Forte Koup. Teammate Andy Lally put the car on the pole and he and Jönsson fought hard, finishing just 7/100’s of a second behind the winner.


•    The new krohnracing.net website was launched today.


Barbara J. Burns-  also photo