Gounon Ruled Out of Valencia Sprint Finale With Back Injury

Jules Gounon has been ruled out of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup finale at Valencia, having been diagnosed with a back injury that will take him out of action for at least two weeks.

The recent TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa winner revealed in a post on social media that he had been suffering from back issues since an off-track moment during the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.

Initial checks at a local hospital revealed no injuries and Gounon subsequently competed at last weekend’s GTWC Europe Endurance Cup round alongside Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello.

It wasn’t until after the Hockenheim event that an MRI scan revealed a pair of fractures in the D4 and D5 vertebrae.

“It is very difficult news for me as racing is my life and it definitely will be a very hard time sitting at home healing,” Gounon wrote.

“Thank you for your support and can’t wait to be back on track.”

Gounon told Sportscar365 that the injury will prevent him from contesting both this weekend’s Intelligent Money British GT Championship round at Brands Hatch as well as the final round of the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup at Valencia, meaning he is out of action for at least two weeks.

He expressed hope to return to the Endurance Cup finale at Barcelona as well as the penultimate round of the ADAC GT Masters season at the Sachsenring.

The Mercedes-AMG factory driver currently leads the Endurance Cup standings alongside Akkodis ASP teammates Marciello and Juncadella, maintaining an 11-point lead over the No. 71 Iron Lynx Ferrari trio of Davide Rigon, Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon.