Habul Back to Racing as 75 Express Operation Debuts

Kenny Habul described his return to the cockpit of the SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for the first time since June as “so far so good”, also revealing that the Lenovo Gulf 12 Hours is the debut event for his new in-house operation 75 Express.

In Abu Dhabi, the Australian Bronze-rated driver returns to action for his first race since suffering back injuries when his Mercedes-AMG hit a concrete wall at Raidillon in Pre-Qualifying for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Habul was diagnosed with a broken lumbar vertebrae and was out of action for five months, missing the Indianapolis 8 Hour in October.

“Unfortunately, you’ve got to go through surgery and recovering from the surgery [is] very difficult,” Habul told Sportscar365.

“It’s very slow. Can’t do much. I tried training early and couldn’t really train much. It’s five months now, so it’s better, it’s strong enough, and it’s still got a little bit of improving to do.

“No one really knows how quickly bones heal, and they can’t tell you. It’s different for everybody.”

Habul recalled that driver error on cold tires is what ultimately led to the crash, after which a replacement chassis was sourced in which Nicky Catsburg, Martin Konrad, Chaz Mostert and late stand-in Adam Osieka went on to score a Pro-Am class win.

“The car was very difficult,” he said. “The guys were unhappy. I said, ‘Let me go out and see what’s wrong.’

“It was loose, very loose in the rear. I was frustrated. The tires were cold, they had some pickup from La Source when I went wide around a Lamborghini.

“Of course I tried to go through Eau Rouge flat, and [the tires] just wouldn’t hold.

“When it started to break away, in my mind I thought, ‘Keep it away from the right,’ because most bad accidents are when you stop on the track and you get hit.

“So I purposely sort of put it to the left and then unfortunately just missed the tires and hit the piece of concrete wall that should never be there.

“[That] should never be [an] exposed concrete wall. So anyway, I’m back and things are better.”

Habul teams up in Abu Dhabi with Konrad, Dominik Baumann and Mercedes-AMG factory driver Philip Ellis aboard the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG, which Habul revealed is being run by his own 75 Express operation for the first time.

In the past, SunEnergy1 relied on operational partners to compete in races around the globe, which includes the likes of SPS Automotive Performance and Haupt Racing Team.

“It’s difficult because sometimes they can help you and sometimes they can’t,” said Habul.

“The races in Australia, races in South Africa, it was just too difficult for me and it’s not how I run my business back in the U.S.

“We own everything, we control everything and that’s how we’ve been successful. So, it’s the same here. Now we own everything.

“We have our employees and I don’t have to worry about whether we can get to a race on the other side of the world.”

Habul further explained that the new operation is based out of Germany.

“It took all year to start putting it together,” he said. “We [have] a workshop in Munich, a new hauler and a new truck and all the equipment and everything.

“Three cars. So obviously, one’s here [in Abu Dhabi] and this one will go to Daytona after here. One’s going to Australia for Bathurst.

“It’s a big job, but we always sort of had a small race team in the U.S. and then had to rely on other teams around the world. I just got sick of that.”