July 14, 2007 - The Krohn Racing team had an adventure-filled race at the inaugural Iowa 400 under the lights at Iowa Speedway Friday night, July 13th. As expected, passing was difficult on the short and tight 1.3-mile, 9-turn tri-oval road course.
The No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley of Colin Braun and Max Papis just missed the podium, finishing in fourth place after starting from the eighth position on the grid. It was their third straight top-five finish and a total of five in nine races. The No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley of team owner/driver Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson finished just outside the Top 10, in the eleventh position, after starting from 16th in the 192-lap Daytona Prototype night race.
Braun was running third at Lap 100 when Michael Valiante made contact and sent Braun spinning. He quickly returned to action and kept the car on the lead lap. Braun went on to set his car’s fastest lap on Lap 181. There were two caution flag for a total of 13 laps in the Prototype-only race won by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the No. 01 Ganassi Lexus Riley.
The No. 01 Ganassi team continues to lead the 2007 Daytona Prototype Team points championship (unofficially) with 272 points. The No. 10 SunTrust team remains second with 252 points and the No. 99 Gainsco Racing closes in on third with 250 points. The No. 75 Krohn Racing team holds fourth place with 237 points.
Max Papis, driver, No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley:
“We had a good race. We didn’t hit it right in qualifying as well as we wanted but we recovered very well in the race. The car was very competitive. When I got out of the car I think we had the fastest lap and that time. We were just marching on. It was unfortunate that Colin got used up by Michael Valiante. Valiante prevented us from a third-place finishing position. It was a disappointment for all my guys as well. Everyone worked really well together. In the race our car was definitely the best car we ever had all week long. We made improvements. Now we need to capitalize on what we learned and start at Barber (Motorsports Park) from where we finished here.
My race was dictated in the beginning by the No. 11 car jumping the start and passing people before the start/finish line. He got right in the middle and he shuffled me on the outside. I couldn’t do much. I couldn’t improve my position at the start, which was a shame. After that, I was just in the car for 40 laps. When I came out of the car I think I was the fastest and we caught up to the field quickly. I think we did a good job to stay out of trouble.”
The next race, Round 10 of 14, will be the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park on July 19-22, 2007. The race will be televised live on SPEED TV on Sunday afternoon, July 22 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. For more information, please see www.grand-am.com and www.krohnracing.net.