Among the wide range of official drivers in the Mercedes-AMG ‘Customer Racing’ programme, Kenny Habul had Jules Gounon between his eyebrows. Even if the brand had to replace the Frenchman in the Sprint Cup, the owner and driver of SunEnergy1 Racing wanted the Frenchman at Mount Panorama. And seen what was seen, it was not a whim and a winning bet. SunEnergy1’s #75 Mercedes has achieved victory in the 12 Hours of Bathurst. Jules Gounon, Luca Stolz, Kenny Habul and Martin Konrad They have surpassed the Mercedes #91 -of Dani Juncadella- and #888 to achieve this success.
from the pole, the Audi #65 successfully led the first phase of the race. Despite the dense fog that did not allow to see neither the pianos nor the walls, Chaz Mostert managed to keep Kelvin Van der Linde’s #74 Audi under control before handing over the car to Liam Talbot. By then, the race had already had its first Safety Car due to the accident of one of the Ford Mustang MARC II V8. A second neutralization served to compact the race again. Yasser Shahin received a Drive Through for Audi #777 for overtaking under Safety Car.
The exit of the track of the Porsche #4 of Grove Racing caused the third Safety Car and allowed drivers to pit for rain tires. The Audi #17 of Team BRM was one of the first cars to use wet tires, which was enough for him to climb to the lead, all after starting the race in 17th place. With Nick Percat at the controls, neutralizations on the sidelines, andl Audi #17 carried the weight of the race until Audi #777, recovered from its sanction in a complex scenario, took the lead provisionally with Ricardo Feller at his command.
A stop of the #777 Audi away from normal dynamics allowed Nick Percat’s #15 Audi to be back at the front of the race, a position he held for more than 30 laps. Behind was the Hallmarc Audi #9, followed by the Audi #777 and the Audi #74 in a very favorable race scenario for the brand, since three of the Mercedes-AMG GT3s were already out of the race and the Mercedes #75 had given ground for two Drive Through that he received for irregular maneuvers by Kenny Habul.
Nevertheless, the situation when the halfway point of the race was reached was very different. Craft-Bamboo’s #91 Mercedes managed to move to the front of the race after starting on the last row of the grid with an aggressive strategy to make its nine limited time pit stops as soon as possible. Squaring these 120-second stops into Safety Car moments, Dani Juncadella’s car was in the lead with 40 seconds ahead of Jules Gounon’s #75 Mercedes. In this phase of the race, the #65 Audi said goodbye to the fight for victory.
The Audi #74 led by Kelvin Van der Linde later took the lead, but Team Valvoline’s GT3 received a Drive Through for an excess of the maximum driving time of Brad Schumacher, by exceeding the 80 minutes per stint that a ‘Bronze’ pilot could carry out. The penalty and a subsequent stop to change drivers took the #74 Audi off the lead lap and placed the #75 Mercedes in front. Not even the neutralizations, which allow to recover lost laps, were going to face the #74 when this procedure was canceled due to the difficult conditions.
In addition to the #74 penalty, the Audi #777 was out of the fight for victory after suffering a puncture and damage the suspension. In this point, the race became a duel between the Mercedes #75, #91 and #888. With the #75 drivers controlling the race, the last round of pit stops was reached with just over an hour to go. All three teams were running slicks, so there was no room for change. The #75 Mercedes with Jules Gounon at the controls took victory at Mount Panorama with a margin of 8.7 seconds.
After starting in the last row, with a very risky strategy and dealing perfectly with the rain and fog, the Mercedes #91 of Maro Engel, Dani Juncadella and Kevin Tse took second position, while the Mercedes #888 finished third. The Audi #74 had to settle for fourth position, while the ‘top 5’ was completed by the Wall Racing Lamborghini #6. The Amateur crew that achieved victory in this category was that of the Supabarn Audi #47, all after starting the race with a replacement chassis. Finally, the victory in the ‘cup’ class went to Porsche #222.
2022 IGTC RACE RESULTS AT THE 12 HOURS OF BATHURST
Photos: Intercontinental GT Challenge