“The timing seemed to work right because I didn't want to interfere with the series that we're in so there was the issue of the making the test given that we had the race at Watkins Glen on the Saturday,” Krohn continued. “We solved that by taking a private jet and flying through the night and made the afternoon session so that we could qualify. I got maybe 12 or 13 laps total which certainly wasn't enough to learn the course.”
Those laps were enough to qualify Krohn for the event however, as all drivers new to Le Mans had to complete ten laps on the test day. But after the June 4th test, the next time Krohn would step into the car was for the wet first qualifying session.
“The next time that I got in the car was in the wet,” he continued. “Still not knowing the track at night in really bad rain to get in the night qualifying laps was a very daunting experience. That was a real challenge. Not just for me but also for some really good drivers, I mean really great guys like Max Papis and Andy Wallace that told me they had problems with it too. The good news was that was the hardest it got.
“Then it was really getting to know the track in the dry and in light, and then learning in the dark and finding that I could get as good a pace at night as in the day. All the time I was building my confidence.”
After watching Bergmeister take the start of the race and move the #90 car into the battle for the GT2 class lead, Krohn got his first taste of race action four hours into the event.
“The first few laps in the race were simply amazing, taking it all in and feel comfortable with the track. And the rest of it was gaining the experience to find the times. I made a couple of mistakes and had a couple of spins but on the other hand I didn't hit anything. With more time on the track I'm sure my times would be matching some of the times up there now.”
