BMW Aiming to “Ride the Wave” of Indy Victory into Petit

BMW M Team RLL will aim to “ride the wave” from its 1-2 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and will look to “try and build” on the progress made heading into Motul Petit Le Mans, according to Jesse Krohn.

Krohn and Philipp Eng led a 1-2 for the German brand at last month’s Battle of the Bricks, delivering a breakthrough result for the BMW M Hybrid V8 in its second year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

While the team had been awarded a win at last year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen after a penalty for Porsche Penske Motorsport, the 1-2 result spearheaded by Krohn and Eng marked the first time the Dallara-chassised LMDh car took victory on the road.

Speaking with Sportscar365, Krohn noted that the victory has led to a “very positive” feeling in the RLL camp, with the Finnish driver hoping the team will be able to carry over the momentum into Saturday’s ten-hour season finale.

“Obviously, the mood in the team is very good after the win,” Krohn said. “The guys really deserve it.

“They’ve worked super hard all year and to finally get some recognition for the work that we’ve done is super good for the mentality in the team.

“Not that it was ever massively down, but it was for sure helped the motivation for everyone to actually see that we’re moving forward and we were able to get the result when it was there to be taken.

“So a very positive feeling in the team. We had a test here as well, which was positive overall.

“So I think we’re trying to ride the wave into this weekend and try and build on what we learned at Indy.”

Krohn labeled the 1-2 at the Brickyard as a “dream” result, noting that it came as a consequence of ‘many things finally clicking together’ after earlier setbacks.

“It’s a dream that it was a 1-2 ultimately,” he said.

“We knew that we were close. We just needed things to go a little bit more our way and be there at the end in the mix, like in the position that we were in.

“We knew that we can do it ultimately when the time comes. So it was a combination of many things finally clicking together for us to be able to do it.

“Having a 1-2 was was just a dream for the whole team and for BMW as well.

“There’s a lot of eyes on this program and it’s expensive to be here. So obviously you’ve got to have something to show for all the work that’s been put in and all the money that’s been invested.

“So it’s really, really important, needless to say. But yeah, we needed it. That’s the main thing.”

BMW finished seventh and eighth at Petit Le Mans last year. Krohn noted that the team fell “a little bit short” 12 months ago, but remained hopeful that for a better result ‘having taken that next step’ at Indianapolis.

“We had good pace in qualifying last year,” Krohn said.

“In race pace, we fell a little bit short but this year with all the development that’s been done for the car, we should be more competitive here this year.

“Also at Indy, we made good steps that finally allowed us to take that next step. But obviously every other manufacturer is working just as hard as we are.

“They keep making those steps as well so we just need to see in relation how we are after qualifying.

“But so far, the feeling with the car is good. Like I said the mood is positive and everybody is looking forward to going into the race.”