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 and Formula E. The current orga ...

works driver. He is notable for winning the Finnish, Northern European Zone (NEZ) and

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

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

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 form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

championship alongside 1998 and 1999 Formula One world champion

Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three For ...

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 the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...

, located in the southern

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; 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, He ...

region of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

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

championship alongside future

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

drivers

and

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

. 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 host ...

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 Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ful ...

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

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as 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 driv ...

championship, "I was in a '97

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created "D ...

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 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, still owned b ...

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 Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula O ...

would have done" commented

Mark Burdett Motorsport Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

engineer Andy Miller, who ran the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

driver during his 1994 British Formula 3 campaign. 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. The 199 ...

. 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

IMSA SportsCar Championship series results

^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

Official website

Krohn's entry at Driver Database
{{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 Sportspeople 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