Jesse Kurki-Suonio (born 3 September 1990), more commonly known as Jesse Krohn, is a Finnish professional racing driver, and

BMW Motorsport BMW M Motorsport (formerly BMW Motorsport) is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sports car racing, motorcycle racing. The current organisation is a ...

works driver, currently competing in the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

for BMW M Team RLL. He is notable for winning the Finnish, Northern European Zone (NEZ) and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to auto racing, motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before mov ...

championships. Krohn comes from a motorsport central family, with his father, Pertti, competing in the 1987 Finnish

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

championship alongside 1998 and 1999 Formula One world champion

Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968) is a Finnish former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Flying Finn", Häkkinen won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with M ...

whilst his sister, Jenni, and brother, Oskari also compete in motorsport professionally in Finland.

Personal and early life

Jesse Krohn was born in

Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Nurmijärvi is situated in the Uusimaa region. The population of Nurmijärvi is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, mun ...

, located in the southern

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, alo ...

region of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, during September 1990. His father, Pertti Kurki-Suonio was a racing driver, who competed in the Finnish

championship alongside future

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

drivers

and

Mika Salo Mika Juhani Salo (born 30 November 1966) is a Finnish former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999, when he stood in for the injured Michael Schumach ...

. 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 Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

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

Krohn began his career in

kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance ...

s 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

events in his home country, finishing in eighth, and also competing in the Ford Ford Festival at

, finishing 10th, and also in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, finishing as runner up to

Brit Brit most commonly refers to: * Briton, a British person Brit, Brits or BRIT may also refer to: People Nicknames * Brit Hume (born 1943), American TV journalist * Brit Selby (born 1945), Canadian ice-hockey player * Brit Smith (born 1985), ...

David Mayes. The Finn entered the full UK championship the following year as well as the Finnish

Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

championship, "I was in a '97

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

with a H-pattern gearbox" Krohn recalls, "my shoulders were over the cockpit". 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

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 Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

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 Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Champ Car, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA ...

would have done" commented Mark Burdett Motorsport engineer Andy Miller, who ran the Danish driver during his 1994

British Formula 3 The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single sea ...

campaign.

Jesse Krohn during endurance race at the 2023 Grand Prix of Slovakia

2014 saw Krohn admitted into the

Junior Programme in which he trained in for three years, with established works drivers like Dirk Adorf and

Jörg Müller Jörg Müller (, ; born 3 September 1969) is a Dutch-born German BMW factory driver. Racing career Born in Kerkrade, Netherlands, Müller won the titles in 1989 German Formula Opel Lotus Challenge and in 1989 European Formula Ford 1600. Th ...

. He won the

2017–18 Asian Le Mans Series The 2017–18 Asian Le Mans Series was the sixth season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Asian Le Mans Series. It is the fourth 24 Hours of Le Mans-based series created by the ACO, following the American Le Mans Series (since merged with the Ro ...

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

Career summary

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 NEC results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

European Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Asian Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krohn, Jesse 1990 births Living people People from Nurmijärvi Finnish racing drivers Formula Ford drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Finland Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Sweden Formula Renault 2.0 drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEZ drivers Italian Formula Three Championship drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers European Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Racing drivers from Uusimaa International GT Open drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers BMW M drivers CRS Racing drivers Rowe Racing drivers RP Motorsport drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers Mark Burdett Motorsport drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers W Racing Team drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers