Krohn Racing’s trio of drivers were caught between taking the positives from their third place finish in the LMGTE Am category of the Six Hours of Fuji and venting their frustrations of missing out on the victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) race.
Having qualified the team’s green and blue Ferrari 458 Italia second in class Michele Rugolo took the car for the opening stint becoming class leader before the first of four stops during the race, passing the controls to Tracy Krohn, the team’s owner as well as regular driver.
Rugolo returned to the cockpit at the second stop before Nic Jonsson completed final two hours of the race in a double stint, maintaining second place behind class winners Larbre Competition. The Corvette lead the class championship, while their second place in Japan lifted the Krohn crew back into third place. However, with the final round in Shanghai (October 28) left on the schedule they are mathematically unable to take the title.
“Second is better than third but worse than first,” said Rugolo. “It was a good weekend and a good race. We have not had many mistakes. The guys doing the pit stops have been perfect. I just think the Corvette was a bit quicker today. In Bahrain we were much quicker than them; today they were just a bit quicker than us and also they were very balanced with all three drivers. We have done our best, I think, for today. This is the way we need to do all of the championship. We should finish all the races in this position and you can fight for the championship. This year we’ve been very unlucky and not been able to do that every race.”
“Obviously it is a great result for us to be second but it’s a little bit disappointing. I was hoping for a win here today,” admitted Jonsson.
“We had a very good car, the best car. For some reason we got a lap behind in the middle of the race. I can’t quite figure out how but it was a good race and a good result for Krohn Racing. The crew guys did a phenomenal job as they always do and gave us a great car. Now we just have to move on to China and try to get that win this year because it is unacceptable to not have a win in 2012. Hopefully we can go there and wrap a win up there for us.”
Krohn himself concluded; “We’re getting closer to the top step. It was really a good day actually. Pit stops were very good. Michele and Nic were outstanding. I managed to hang in there and get one good stint, albeit a long stint. We did try a four pit stop strategy but just fell a little bit short at the end. We are going to walk away with a little crystal [trophies] this time and go to China and win.”
