SunEnergy1 Mercedes has gone back to back at the Bathurst 12 hour, in an incredible finish at The Mountain. Jules Gounon held off both Maro Engel in the GruppeM Mercedes, then Matt Campbell in the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche, while on double-stinted tyres to take a third consecutive victory for Gounon, and a double for Stolz and Habul.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Habul after the race. “Luca and Jules drove the balls off this car and I’m so proud of them.
“I wanted to win outright, I drove really well, and I’m proud of myself… I’m really proud, proud of everyone, proud of the team.”
“The last hour was really hard in the pits,” said Luca Stolz. “Outstanding job by Jules. We went full risk, but we made it.”
“We are destroyed!” said Jules Gounon. “Kenny did a great job this morning. I’m out of words. Thanks to Akkodis, Kenny, everyone!”
The final stint was blown wide open when the leading GruppeM Mercedes was required to change the transmitter modem for the SRO data logger, slashing a 30 second margin to the Manthey EMA Porsche down to only 8 seconds. SunEnergy1 pounced on the opportunity, pitting a lap later, double stinting tyres, and popping out 4 seconds ahead of the race.
Jules Gounon then had to hold off Maro Engel on fresh tyres, as Engel pulled the gap down. After a few looks at the Chase, Engel had a big dive. Gounon closed the door, and the cars made contact, spinning the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes but luckily not damaging either car.
Engel makes a move on Gounon and there’s contact!!
Gounon goes off at The Chase and the incident is under investigation #B12hr pic.twitter.com/6IqKyjMkPs
— Bathurst 12 Hour (@Bathurst12hour) February 5, 2023
Engel was handed a Pit Lane Drive Through Penalty, dropping him from the lead, while Gounon was able to continue, albeit with the 12 second gap reduced to only 5 seconds.
Matt Campbell in the #912 Manthey EMA Porsche then pulled the gap down to the recovering Gounon, but struggled once the gap reached 1 second. Maro Engel, recovering from his pit lane penalty, was a second a lap faster in chasing down the lead battle.
Campbell brushed the wall under the tree while pursuing Gounon with only a lap left, bringing Engel right onto the rear of the lead battle. But Gounon held on to win by 0.9267, the third closest finish in Bathurst 12 Hour History.
The #32 WRT BMW of Van der Linde, Vanthoor and Weerts finished fourth and the last car on the lead lap, with the #888 Supercheap Auto Mercedes AMG completing the top 10.
The Pro-Am class was won by the #65 Sportsbet Audi of Liam Talbot, Fraser Ross, and Chaz Mostert, after they gained the lead in the pit stops with an hour left. The #777 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi held the lead heading into the last stops, but a brake change to rectify a long brake pedal saw them spend almost 4 minutes in the pits, dropping them to second place.
Silver cup was won by the #10 MYLAND TEAM IMS Audi with Andrew Fawcett, Daniel Gaunt and Dylan O’Keeffe, who lead much of the day after the demise of the #44 Valmont Mercedes. They finished in 12th overall.
Invitational honours were taken by the #111 MRA Motorsport MARC I Mazda with Darren Currie, Grant Donaldson, and Geoff Taunton, finishing 17th overall.
