Gounon ‘Smiling But Crying at Same Time’ After Second Place

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

Jules Gounon has described his range of emotions after coming less than three seconds away from what would have been a history-making fourth consecutive Repco Bathurst 12 Hour victory, admitting post-race that he’s “smiling but also crying at the same time.”

The Andorran driver teamed with Luca Stolz and SunEnergy1 Racing team owner/driver Kenny Habul to finish second in Sunday’s Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener, admitting that their Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was no match for the outright pace for the winning No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Gounon, who first won the race in 2020 with Bentley Team M-Sport before repeat victories with Habul’s squad in 2022 and 2023, was unable to take the fight to Matt Campbell on the race’s final restart with 30 minutes to go.

“At the end, to be standing on the podium again, in four years with three wins and a second place is surreal,” Gounon told Sportscar365.

“I should be smiling more but it’s so frustrating when I’m seeing the Porsche and I cannot do anything.

“I just wanted to give it everything and I couldn’t, to enter Bathurst history as no one has ever won four times consecutive in a major endurance race.

“I’m smiling but also crying in the same time.

“I think Kenny can be super proud. Three years, two wins, one second place, it’s crazy. I had a fantastic weekend with Luca; he’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. He made no mistakes and never complained.

“I’m still very happy with the performance we did.”

Gounon’s No. 75 Mercedes-AMG fought its way up to a podium position after a challenging race for all of the Mercedes-AMGs, which unlike the Porsches, BMW M4 GT3s and Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs, did not receive any pre-race weight breaks following two waves of mid-event Balance of Performance adjustments.

While not directly addressing the BoP, Gounon admitted they didn’t have the pace. He also questioned some of the driving standards during the rain-soaked portion of the race.

“During the race when it was raining I was seeing guys taking so much risk,” he said “On the radio, I asked Nico, my engineer, I said, ‘How long to go?’ He said, ‘Like four hours.’

“I’m like, ‘That’s insane.’ This race is won in the last one-and-a-half hours.

“I let one car [pass me] and then I was fighting but always trying to keep a little margin of 1 percent to not crash, which was very close because the weather was crazy up the mountain with a lot of aquaplaning and so-on.

“At the end, it’s always the last one-hour and 30 and once I was in the car, it was 100 [percent push]. Then you had a lot of moments and so-on.

“Today we really gave everything and in life when you give everything, you can’t be disappointed.”

Habul: SunEnergy1 Did the “Best We Could With What We Had”

While missing out on his third consecutive overall Bathurst crown, Habul said they made the most of out a challenging situation when it came to the performance of the Porsche.

“You can come here your whole life and not be [on the podium]. So to win two in in a row [was incredible],” he said.

“Everybody here, all week, everywhere I went, was like, ‘You’re going to do three [in a row], right?’

“If you understand statistically how difficult that, so to be honest, for us, we’re really happy to [finish second].

“The Porsche was really fast today. They got a lot of help and we never thought we were competitive.

“We did the best we could with what we had.

“I was happy with my stint. It was really difficult with rocks, grass and mud and oil and all sorts of things going on when I was out there and I was doing [two-minute] fives.

“We had a little problem with the gearbox overheating early. I couldn’t drive the way I wanted to and had to use less shifts and being a little cautious in general. But I brought it back in one piece.

“A big thank you to Luca and Jules because they kept they kept [pushing]. The car never had the speed really, to be honest, to overtake like last year or the year before. We didn’t have that.

“It was always uphill. Everything was an uphill battle and they drove amazing.

“We could have had a perfect race and finished sixth or seventh or eighth. So to be here, we’re very thankful.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John