Jesse Kurki-Suonio (born 3 September 1990), more commonly known as Jesse Krohn, is a Finnish professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver.
| Jesse Krohn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality |  Finnish |
| Born | 3 September 1990 Nurmijärvi (Finland) |
| Related to | Pertti Kurki-Suonio (Father) Jenni Krohn (Sister) Oskari Kurki-Suonio (Brother) |
| Italian Formula Three career | |
| Debut season | 2010 |
| Current team | RP Motorsport |
| Racing licence |  FIA Gold |
| Car number | 21 |
| Previous series | |
| 2006 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2009 | Formula Ford Finland Formula Ford UK Finnish Formula Three Formula Renault Finland Formula Renault NEZ Formula Renault Estonia Formula Renault UK |
| Championship titles | |
| 2008 2008 2008 | Formula Renault Finland Formula Renault NEZ Formula Renault Estonia |
He is notable for winning the Finnish, Northern European Zone (NEZ) and Estonian Formula Renault championships.
Krohn comes from a motorsport central family, with his father, Pertti, competing in the 1987 Finnish Formula Ford championship alongside 1998 and 1999 Formula One world champion Mika Häkkinen whilst his sister, Jenni, and brother, Oskari also compete in motorsport professionally in Finland.
Personal and early life
editJesse Krohn was born in Nurmijärvi, located in the southern Uusimaa region of Finland, during September 1990. His father, Pertti Kurki-Suonio was a racing driver, who competed in the Finnish Formula Ford championship alongside future Formula One drivers Mika Häkkinen and Mika Salo. However, despite finishing behind Salo and Häkkinen in the championship, Pertti's career never went beyond Scandinavia, excluding a one-off appearance at Brands Hatch for the Formula Ford festival.
His elder sister, Jenni, and younger brother, Oskari, are also both racing drivers both currently racing in their native Finland.
Racing career
editKrohn began his career in karts when he was six, he spent nine years karting before moving up into car racing in 2005 as a test driver for saloon cars. In 2006, he competed in a number of Formula Ford events in his home country, finishing in eighth, and also competing in the Ford Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, finishing 10th, and also in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, finishing as runner up to Brit David Mayes. The Finn entered the full UK championship the following year as well as the Finnish Formula Three championship, "I was in a '97 Dallara with a H-pattern gearbox" Krohn recalls, "my shoulders were over the cockpit".[1] In the UK championship, Krohn finished the year in 17th with 82 points whilst he had a better time in Finnish Formula Three with six wins and finishing second overall in the championship. He also re-entered the Formula Ford festival as well, performing better than the previous year finishing eighth.
2008 was Krohn's best year yet, with three championship wins in the Finnish, Northern European Zone (NEZ) and Estonian Formula Renault championships, recording ten wins in total. He also competed in the British, Italian and Northern European championships as well, but experiencing little success by comparison. With a number of successes the previous year, Krohn entered the UK Formula Renault championship for the whole season where he has so far tallied 117 points, including a win at Thruxton.
Krohn gained some notoriety during the year as well after climbing up from twenty–fifth to seventh in the wet conditions at Donington Park but soon dropped out of the point after his suspension failed and so had to complete the final three laps on three wheels, "exactly what Jan Magnussen would have done" commented Mark Burdett Motorsport engineer Andy Miller, who ran the Danish driver during his 1994 British Formula 3 campaign.[1]
2014 saw Krohn admitted into the BMW Motorsport Junior Programme in which he trained in for three years, with established works drivers like Dirk Adorf and Jörg Müller. He won the 2017–18 Asian Le Mans Series GT Drivers title with Jun San Chen in the FIST-Team AAI BMW M6 GT3, and was promoted to BMW works driver in 2018.
Racing record
editCareer summary
edit| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | European Le Mans Series - LMGTE | BMW Sports Trophy Marc VDS | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 79 | 2nd |
| 2016 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD | Turner Motorsport | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 30th |
| 2017 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD | Turner Motorsport | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 160 | 21st |
| 2017-18 | Asian Le Mans Series - GT | FIST-Team AAI | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 95 | 1st |
| 2018 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM | BMW M Team RLL | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 278 | 8th |
| 2019 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM | BMW M Team RLL | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 279 | 7th |
| 2018-19 | FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro | BMW Team MTEK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 23rd |
| 2020 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM | BMW M Team RLL | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 319 | 2nd |
| 2021 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM | BMW M Team RLL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1336 | 6th |
| 2022 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD Pro | BMW M Team RLL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 609 | 15th |
| 2024 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP | BMW M Team RLL | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2537 | 7th |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans - Hypercar | BMW M Team WRT | Reserve driver | |||||||
European Le Mans Series results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Make | Engine | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | BMW Sports Trophy Marc VDS | BMW Z4 GTE | BMW 4.4 L V8 | LMGTE | SIL 4 |
IMO 4 |
RBR 4 |
LEC 2 |
EST 1 |
2nd | 79 |
| Source:[2] | |||||||||||
IMSA SportsCar Championship results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results
edit| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 |  Turner Motorsport
|
Michael Marsal Markus Palttala Maxime Martin
|
BMW M6 GT3 | GTD | 701 | 19th | 5th |
| 2017 | Turner Motorsport
|
Justin Marks Jens Klingmann Maxime Martin
|
BMW M6 GT3 | GTD | 628 | 25th | 8th |
| 2018 | BMW Team RLL
|
 Nick Catsburg John Edwards Augusto Farfus
|
BMW M8 GTE | GTLM | 773 | 18th | 7th |
| 2019 | BMW Team RLL
|
John Edwards Chaz Mostert Alex Zanardi
|
BMW M8 GTE | GTLM | 553 | 31st | 9th |
| 2020 | BMW Team RLL
|
John Edwards Chaz Mostert Augusto Farfus
|
BMW M8 GTE | GTLM | 786 | 13th | 1st |
| 2021 | BMW Team RLL
|
John Edwards Augusto Farfus Marco Wittmann
|
BMW M8 GTE | GTLM | 769 | 13th | 3rd |
| 2022 | BMW Team RLL
|
John Edwards Augusto Farfus Connor De Phillippi
|
BMW M4 GT3 | GTD Pro | 698 | 30th | 7th |
| 2024 | BMW Team RLL
|
 Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus Dries Vanthoor
|
BMW M Hybrid V8 | GTP | 776 | 8th | 8th |
| Source:[2] | |||||||
Asian Le Mans Series results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Make | Engine | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | FIST-Team AAI | BMW M6 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | GT | ZHU 1 |
FUJ 2 |
BUR 1 |
SEP 1 |
1st | 95 |
| Source:[2] | ||||||||||
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | BMW Team MTEK | LMGTE Pro | BMW M8 GTE | BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8 | SPA | LMS | SIL | FUJ | SHA | SEB | SPA | LMS 6 |
23rd | 12 |
| Sources:[2][11] | ||||||||||||||
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
edit| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | BMW Team MTEK
|
 António Félix da Costa Augusto Farfus
|
BMW M8 GTE | GTE Pro |
335 | 30th | 10th |
| Sources:[2][12] | |||||||
References
edit- ^ a b "Introducing: Jesse Krohn". Autosport. Vol. 196, no. 11. June 2009. p. 59.
- ^ a b c d e f "Jesse Krohn Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2016 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2017 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2018 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2019 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2020 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2021 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2022 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn – 2024 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn". FIA World Endurance Championship. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Jesse Krohn". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
External links
edit- Official website
- Jesse Krohn career summary at DriverDB.com