Krohn pleased with job well done

Jesse Krohn says Turner Motorsport executed a flawless race on the debut of the new BMW M6 GT3 in last week’s Daytona 24 Hours.

Speaking to Racing.GT, Krohn – who set the car’s fastest lap – said that a 6^th place finish in the GTD class was the best that could reasonably be expected with an unfavourable Balance of Performance and was pleased to get through the car’s first big test unscathed.

The 97 M6 GT3 had a clean run to sixth on its debut (Halston Pitman).

“It was maximum performance level from the team, from the car, from the drivers, we stayed out of trouble for 24 hours and were pushing to the max the car could do,” said the Finn, who shared the no. 97 car with Markus Palttala Michael Marsal and Maxime Martin. “It was a flawless race from the team and the drivers, but unfortunately we couldn’t do anything about the BOP.

“Our pace wasn’t too bad at the Roar, we just didn’t expect people to have so much in their back pockets. Obviously it’s difficult for IMSA to judge when people are playing around, this time it didn’t go our way and the Lamborghini was just on another level. We knew from the beginning it would make the race difficult, so it was just a matter of staying out of trouble and trying to do the best with what we had.

“We were the only ones who couldn’t go under 1:48, which was a little bit frustrating, but finishing the race was goal number one for me and it was great that our new car was able to get us through the whole 24 hours.”

Making the finish with no reliability issues was particularly rewarding for the 25 year-old, who has been involved from the start in the M6’s development programme.

“It’s been great to have my input in the car since the beginning and that obviously made it easier for me to get up to speed at Daytona,” Krohn said. “The Continental tyre we use in IMSA is very different to what we’ve been using in our tests – the Continental is a super-hard compound and that takes a completely different driving style and setup to get it working, but other than that it was fine.

Krohn signs autographs for fans before the Rolex 24 (Halston Pitman).

“It was a nice surprise to be fastest of all as I was trying to do the 24 hour driving style, keeping it smooth and easy with no stress on the machinery, and we had the DTM stars in our cars as well.”

But perhaps the highlight of the weekend for Krohn was getting the opportunity to share a car with countryman Markus Palttala, the man Krohn credits with launching his professional career.

“Getting in the same car as Markus was the greatest thing because he’s my racing hero and the reason I’m still racing today,” he added. “I probably wouldn’t have a drive without his help opening doors for me in the past, so to share a car with him for the first time since 2011 was mega!”