Gounon: ASP Was “Pretty Much Nowhere” Before Podium

Akkodis ASP Team’s second place in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa showed the strengths of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo according to Jules Gounon, who said the No. 88 crew was “pretty much nowhere” for much of the race.

Gounon, Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy scored a podium finish in the Belgian endurance classic, finishing only behind winners ROWE Racing.

Last year’s race-winning team started the race from outside the top 20, but battled through what Gounon described as a lack of race pace to finish on the podium for the second year in a row.

Despite the struggles, the Frenchman said that the result also showcased the Mercedes’ low tire degradation, which became a factor on Sunday morning.

“When we see the lap time it was pretty obvious to see that we were missing a second over a lap,” Gounon told Sportscar365.

“But I think it showed how good our car [is] because the tire degradation is always a help for us and I think we were pretty much nowhere the whole race, circulating between P20 and P5.

“Suddenly in the morning when the [temperature] went higher, I think it really helped us because the Porsche lost a lot of pace and the BMW a bit also and the Audi also.

“For us the track went our way. I think that’s how we got the P2. Lello and Timur did a great job, Akkodis also.

“Even if I’m a bit sad not to win, to do P1 last year and P2 this year is quite good.”

Gounon took the No. 88 Mercedes to the finish, fending off a late-race challenge from the No. 17 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in the hands of Nicki Thiim.

“We were tight on fuel at the end of the race,” said Gounon. “We got the alarm one lap earlier than we expected, so the last two laps I had to fuel save a bit.

“Also when I was driving in the last stint against Nicki, I was already thinking if he came close I could do one track limit to get away with it.

“I asked my engineer how much track limits I have and he said, ‘Last warning.’ So I said, ‘OK I cannot use that one.’

“The rest went smooth. Every pit stop was amazing from Akkodis. The car ran amazingly.”

Gounon and co-driver Marciello tackled the bulk of the driving time, with Silver-rated Boguslavskiy spending comparatively less time behind the wheel.

The Frenchman admitted that the long driving time took its physical toll, but said the fight for the overall podium kept him motivated.

“I was really dead,” said Gounon. “I don’t know how much I drove, maybe ten hours and 40 minutes or something like this and Lello maybe the same.

“We both drove a lot. In the end, when pressure comes to the party, you’re fighting for an overall podium, you don’t want to screw up.

“At the end the tiredness. You suddenly get a bit more energy because you know you’re fighting for it. We just went for it.

Akkodis ASP’s podium was made possible thanks in large part to a late-race undercut that saw Marciello vault ahead of the No. 17 Audi and into second position behind eventual winners ROWE Racing.

Gounon said that the aggressive pit strategy was a deliberate decision to try and gain positions through alternative means as opposed to fighting on track.

“For sure because we couldn’t pass today,” he said.

“We were definitely the slowest in the straights, so we had to do something and the engineer of Akkodis and AMG did a brilliant move with this because we knew once we got in the front, if you don’t do a mistake, it was very difficult to pass.

“That’s what we delivered today. Honestly when I see what we did today with the performance we had, I think it’s a really, really great job from AMG and Akkodis and we can all be proud of it.”

John Dagys contributed to this report