SunEnergy1 Car Brought Out of Retirement for Three-Peat Quest

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

SunEnergy1 Racing’s winning Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo from last year’s Bathurst 12 Hour has been brought out of retirement in the Kenny Habul-owned team’s quest of a third consecutive overall win in the Australian enduro.

Habul revealed to Sportscar365 that the chassis, which won in the hands of the U.S.-based Australian, Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz, had to be craned out of his sixth floor museum in Connecticut and shipped back Down Under to do battle this weekend.

“This is last year’s winning car,” Habul said. “We love this car. A lot of time and effort went into this car.

“It was in my museum, which is on the sixth floor of a building. We craned it in there, so we had to crane it back out and take it out.

“We couldn’t get any new cars right now from AMG. There’s a shortage of cars and engines and I didn’t really want to use it.

“We took it out but you know, it won last year, so I’m happy to use it. It’s special to me. We’ll see.”

The chassis, which made its competition debut in last year’s race, is undefeated, as Habul retired the car after his, Gounon and Stolz’s second consecutive overall Bathurst win.

“We had good memories with this chassis,” Gounon told Sportscar365. “It’s was brand new last year so it’s very good.

“The car was fantastic last year so it’s good that Kenny took it out of his museum to put it back again on the track.”

Gounon, who is pursuing a record fourth consecutive Bathurst 12 Hour win dating back to Bentley Team M-Sport’s triumph in 2020, said he’s “not thinking about” the implications of extending his streak.

“It’s the same every year. This mountain, you need to respect it,” he explained.

“I’m not even thinking about the record. I’m here to enjoy with Kenny and Luca. Every year we had together was fantastic.

“I think this place, you really need to come with a different approach. [It’s not about] the record. It’s us against the mountain, which we need on our side.

“The mountain was very kind to us the last few years. We’re going to continue to respect it and do a good race.”

Habul, meanwhile, said that this year’s level of competition will give them a good fight, in the first Bathurst run completely in-house by his recently formed Munich-based 75 Express operation.

“It’s more difficult this year,” he said. “There’s very, very stiff competition and a lot of drivers and a lot of teams, probably the most competitive ever.

“But we’ve done it twice, we have a good team. We have the best [and] same drivers and everybody’s happy.

“More than speed, this race is about staying out of trouble and being careful. It’s really hard at night [at the start] and there’s lots of accidents and very, very fast across the top.

“I’ve raced all over the world and I think it’s the most difficult piece of race track. These are much faster than a V8 Supercar. You don’t have time to react and you don’t have any room.

“You’re right up against the walls at very high speed, 220, 240 km/h everywhere across the top.

“That’s difficult, especially for people that is their first time, even if they’re a pro. I’ve seen every pro come here and struggle the first time.

“It’s really about staying out of trouble. I hope at the end that the car’s in one piece with an hour to go and Jules on the lead lap and he can cut it loose and drive the balls off it.”

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