7-13-2007

7-13-2007 - Colin 4th after getting spun out by Valiante

Newton IA - 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.

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.

Colin Braun, driver, No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley:
"I think everyone did a great job on the Krohn team. We started out with kind of a rough weekend. We had a few engine problems to start out with and we missed the first practice session. That put us a little bit behind. But we recovered from a bumpy start and ended up having a strong weekend.

Max did a great job in the first stint and brought the car to me in I think eighth. I got in and we were quick. We were very fast. It was tough to make passes but I think we got through traffic pretty well, even on a little track like Iowa. It was just a testament to how good the car was. We got up into third place and after a restart we had contact with the19 car and spun in Turn 4. I got back going in eighth or ninth and drove it back up to fourth. We kind of got ourselves in a good position, lost it and had to do it again. It was unfortunate and I feel really bad for the crew guys but that kind of a thing happens. I guess that's racing."

Max getting out and Colin in at Iowa.

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.

Tracy W. Krohn, team owner/driver, No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley:

I think we were treated very poorly with regard to Colin by the standings caused by Michael Valiante. I think it was more than just a racing incident. I’m not sure why the rules are being so ill applied. There’s no consistency in the rules. I can’t figure it out, so I get confused as to what the real rules are because they seem to change every week. That’s a little disappointing. But nonetheless, that’s the way it worked out. I’ve spoken with race officials before and if the guy came inside and went over the curb and knocked you out of the way, then that was penalty. And now apparently it’s not. So I just don’t know what the rules are anymore. They seem to change. I’m a little bit discouraged by that fact and I don’t really know what to do about it. I think the series would stand well to have paid observers like other big series do. And I think that would clear up a lot of issues. You could put eight to ten observers out on the track that are associated with Grand-Am and who have enough experience to understand what’s going on and I think that problem would probably go away and the rules would be consistent at that point. They’ve told us they don’t use television to confirm their decisions. I think that part of it is disappointing to us. I think we would have finished on podium.

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.