Weekend Recap: SunEnergy1 Wins Big on The Mountain
Catch up on the action from last weekend's Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour...
Jules Gounon held off Matt Campbell and Maro Engel in a nail-biting conclusion to win the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for Mercedes-AMG squad SunEnergy1 Racing, which claimed back-to-back victories in the Australian enduro.
Gounon, who shared the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul, beat Campbell’s Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R to the line by just 0.9 seconds at the end of a record-breaking green flag run that lasted almost five hours.
Mercedes-AMG GruppeM Racing driver Engel chased Campbell to the checkered flag, as the top three finishers crossed the line within one-and-a-half seconds of each other.
Engel was on a recovery charge from a drive-through penalty after he spun fellow Mercedes-AMG factory driver Gounon into the Chase grass with less than 50 minutes to go.
Gounon assumed the lead at that point but faced pressure from Campbell, who in turn was being hunted down by Engel to set up a grandstand finish.
By holding off his two nearest pursuers, Gounon became the first driver to win three Bathurst 12 Hour races, which all have come in consecutive editions.
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Habul: Gounon “Made the Difference” for Bathurst 12H Win
Kenny Habul believes Jules Gounon “made the difference” in his closing double stint that delivered back-to-back overall Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour victories to SunEnergy1 Racing.
Habul, Gounon and Luca Stolz came out on top following a frantic conclusion to the Australian enduro that saw late-race contact between Gounon and the No. 999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maro Engel while battling for the lead.
The Andorran driver recovered from the spin to re-take the lead as Engel was served a drive-through penalty, and held off a challenge from the No. 912 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R of Matt Campbell for the historic win.
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Engel on Late-Race Incident: “I Had to Make a Move Quickly”
Maro Engel said that he knew he “had to make a move quickly” on Jules Gounon for the lead of the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, which resulted in the Mercedes-AMG pair colliding.
Engel was hounding Gounon with 50 minutes to go when he made an inside lunge at the Chase and tagged the SunEnergy1 Racing driver into a spin.
After taking the lead, Engel was handed a drive-through penalty for the contact which dropped his Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing entry to third where it finished.
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