Mercedes star Jules Gounon is the reigning Daytona 24 Hours, Bathurst 12 Hour and Spa 24 Hours race winner. But he had to clear numerous hurdles to reach stardom in GT3 racing. Feature:
So hectic was Mercedes factory driver Jules Gounon’s racing schedule in February that he only spent one day at home.
“I said it’s not necessary to start in the low categories, then you come to the higher one, you have no money,” recalls Gounon Sr, who famously wore gardening gloves for his first karting race, not to mention a borrowed motorcycle helmet and overalls from one of his father’s workshop employees and kick-boxing shoes.
“I’m really thankful to my dad to bring me in that mode because it’s still something that keeps the fire in me and that really helps me to go and hunt big races. I have a hungriness, my feet are always against the ground to just go and give the best all the time.” The advice worked a treat. Gounon won in his second season in the French Rotax Cup in 2011, and claimed the IAME X30 karting title the following year.
“I started to work in my dad’s dealership with him and washing cars, it was a very hard moment of my life,” he says. But a lifeline appeared in the form of a scholarship for the 2015 French Porsche Carrera Cup. But a visit to the SRO’s Balance of Performance tests at Paul Ricard in early 2016 changed his life. In the mistaken belief that he was a truckie, Gounon struck up conversation with Callaway Competition team co-owner Ernst Wohr. After some time chewing the fat and admiring the new all-carbon Corvette C7 at Wohr’s side, his father arrived and set him to rights – but Wohr was compelled to invite Gounon to a try-out at Hockenheim.
“To be respected as yourself is something that I was very proud of. Since a few years back, I think since Spa [2017], people have changed really their mind”After a patchy opening to the season at Oschersleben, Gounon and Keilwitz delivered a fairytale victory on Ciccone’s 60th birthday at the Sachsenring – the race Gounon had expected to be his last.
That was despite the Sainteloc car he shared with Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Haase losing a lap when a wheel wasn’t fastened properly as Gounon exited the pits. Combined with his successful GT Masters title tilt and some impressive Blancpain GT Sprint Cup outings in ASP-run Mercedes fielded by an old rival of his father’s, Jerome Policand, it’s not surprising he had three factory offers for 2018. Bentley paid the best, Gounon admits, but it also had the added appeal of a new car in the second iteration of the Continental GT3 and two experienced team-mates in Guy Smith and Steven Kane who he could learn from.
“The Merc is such a good all-round car,” says Gounon, who believes he’s a “a more accomplished, all-around driver” than in his first stint with ASP in 2017 with “more confidence on your driving and you get to trust yourself a bit more”.
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