Gounon angry at DTM race control: “Same person unfair for two years”

– Pole-sitter Jules Gounon was furious after the DTM Sunday race at the Nürburgring, which he finished in 14th place following a penalty lap penalty for speeding at the pit exit. “I can’t say what I’m thinking because I represent a good brand that pays me. But I strongly disagree with the penalties that some people get – and others don’t,” he said in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com.

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Is there a double standard in the DTM? “My parents taught me to always be fair in my life – and for two years now I have seen many decisions from the same person that are not fair,” the son of former Formula 1 driver Jean-Marc Gounon fired at the race management – apparently referring to race director Sven Stoppe.

“I am really disappointed for the team because they did a very good job today,” said the Winward Mercedes driver. “They gave me a great car. I have no problem losing on track – against stronger competition. But when you get robbed, that’s not sport. But it is what it is.”

Gounon bites his tongue: “Doesn’t want to get a fine”

But what exactly does the 31-year-old Mercedes-AMG factory driver mean? “I can’t say what I want to say,” he replied upset. “I don’t want to get a fine.” He also does not want to talk about the penalty lap penalty that was imposed on the leading Gounon after the first mandatory stop because he was allegedly four km/h too fast at the pit exit according to race management.

“It’s better if I say nothing,” said the teammate of DTM leader Maro Engel. However, a day later Gounon spoke out about the incident at the pit exit via Instagram. “I am still trying to fully understand the decision because I felt that I left the ‘Pit Exit’ (button; editor’s note) as usual.”

The situation was extremely unfortunate because before the stop, leader Gounon had about a three-second lead over Emil Frey Ferrari driver Matteo Cairoli – and he was serviced by his Winward crew in a quick 6.7 seconds. So it would not have been necessary to risk anything at the pit exit, even though Gounon claims he did not do so.

Did Saturday winner Cairoli get away with a jump start?

In addition, the safety car was sent out anyway afterwards because McLaren driver Ben Dörr, who had stopped one lap before Gounon, slid into the gravel trap in the first corner due to a not properly tightened central nut on the front right.

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When Gounon was informed about his penalty on the radio, he exploded. “It’s really a joke. Yesterday the guy made a jump start – no penalty!” he raged. Gounon apparently did not mean Schubert BMW driver Kelvin van der Linde, who had to go through the penalty zone once due to a false start, but pole-sitter Matteo Cairoli!

As heard in the paddock, the Italian, who celebrated his third DTM victory, allegedly accelerated too early. However, this was not penalized by race management.

Did Gounon serve the penalty lap too late?

Interestingly, not only Gounon criticized the penalty policy in the DTM, but after the race voices were raised that the Frenchman himself did not serve his penalty lap in time. According to the regulations, the driver must drive through the penalty lap zone in the lap after the announcement on the race control monitor. And that was still during the safety car phase.

However, since the penalty lap sign with the number 48 was not shown to Gounon at the start-finish line from the starter tower in time as intended, Gounon was allowed to serve the penalty one lap after the restart. The penalty cannot be served during the safety car phase anyway.

After passing through the penalty lap zone, Gounon dropped back to sixth place – and was then pushed back to 14th place. It certainly also played a role that he had the oldest tires in the field in the last stint.

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