Habul: Overall Win Possible in ‘Incredible’ Independent Cup Title

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Kenny Habul believes that overall victory in Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS could have been possible for 75 Express had the race stayed green until the end and his car not received a late-race penalty.

Habul won Intercontinental GT Challenge Independent Cup title with an eventual sixth place overall finish in Saturday’s weather-impacted Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, in a race that saw co-driver Chaz Mostert make a late challenge for the win.

The Australian Supercars star was installed into the No. 75 SunEnergy1-sponsored Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo on the car’s final stop with 65 minutes to go and made an impressive charge to fourth after two green flag laps of racing following a two-and-a-half hour red flag period and nearly one hour of running behind the safety car due to weather.

However, the stalled No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jules Gounon at pit-in brought out a yellow with 37 minutes to go, with the race ultimately not restarting due to track conditions.

Mostert crossed the line in fourth but was demoted to sixth after a 30-second post-race penalty for unauthorized work in the pit lane during the lengthy red flag was applied.

“It was very stressful,” Habul told Sportscar365. “We just wanted to run because we were fast. To be honest with you, if that race restarted, Chaz had a chance of winning.

“This car was so fast in the rain, he did an incredible job. Unfortunately we got a little penalty there but if it wasn’t for that and it restarted, he might have won the race.

“I’m very thankful to Will and Chaz, incredible drives by both. My stint was good too. I’m just really happy.”

Mostert said the turning point in the team’s race came shortly before the mid-race red flag when he was able to stay ahead of the overall leader Raffaele Marciello to critically remain on the lead lap.

“Today was pretty tough when the rain came,” he told Sportscar365. “Me and Will put our heads down and tried to stay on the lead lap before the weather came.

“I think that really set our race up today.

“It wad good to get on the lead lap. I was pretty surprised when they actually said we were fourth outright there before we got that silly penalty.”

The penalty, which Mostert said was for a ‘rag on the car’s windshield’ during the red flag, ultimately cost the trio a fourth place result.

“We were pretty gutted for that because a fourth outright would have been a really cool story,” he said.

“The guys did a mega job on the car all weekend. I had two superstar teammates.

“Kenny had one goal coming into this weekend and was it was to win that Independent Cup. It was me and Will’s job to make sure it happened.

“I’m glad he got what he deserved.”

Habul became the first-ever five-time IGTC champion, following his Pro-Am/Bronze class titles achieved in 2018, 2019 2021 and 2022.

Mostert Praises Race Control for “Safe Enough” Race

Despite losing out on a chance for the overall win, Mostert said he felt race control made the right calls in remaining under yellow for the rest of the race amid worsening track conditions.

“It was funny,” he said. “I know they were really focused on the speedway on the front straight. But the last 10-15 minutes the speedway on the back was really quite bad.

“Then funny enough, on the in-lap, we come in and the speedway just cleared up again.

“The guys did an amazing job. I think when we raced we were safe enough. When it stopped again it wasn’t safe enough. It’s pretty amazing the guys in race control could work that out.”

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