Barbosa reunited with Krohn Racing, has extra incentive in LM P2 car

Joao Barbosa is running at Le Mans for the ninth time, joining Krohn Racing for the second straight year as he co-drives the No. 40 Nissan Ligier JS P2 with Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson. This year, he has an extra incentive.

“I especially wanted to do it again this year, because next year in the WeatherTech Championship we’re going to race cars similar to this one,” Barbosa said. “So it gives me a little bit of a jump start to feel how the current P2 cars feel and get some extra laps in them.”

A year ago, Barbosa placed 12th with Krohn Racing in the LM P2 class. He best finish was third in 2011 with Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut in LM P2, and he also placed fourth overall in 2007 in LM P1 and fifth in 2006 in LM P2, running with Rollcentre Racing.

“I think we have a good package,” said Barbosa, the two-time defending WeatherTech Championship Prototype champion for Action Express Racing. “Last year was a learning curve for me with that car and with Krohn Racing, and this year I think their whole package will be a little better.”

With the exception of his debut with Rollcentre in 2004, when he did not finish in a Judd-powered Dallara, Barbosa has been running at the finish in every year at Le Mans, scoring six top-10 finishes.

“I’ve always raced there in Prototypes,” said the Florida-based driver, whose plans were to spend time in his native Portugal both before and after the event. “It’s always very special to race there. It’s one of the biggest races in the world, and it’s always a goal to go there and race. It’s a great race and hopefully we can get a good result.”

IMSA