– Was this the much-needed breakthrough for Mercedes-AMG factory driver Jules Gounon? The Frenchman, who is only 13th in the overall DTM standings while Winward teammate Maro Engel is fighting for the title as DTM leader, is having a year to forget. However, at the past weekend of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Series, he secured pole position and victory in the 2-Seas Mercedes under the flag of Verstappen Racing.
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“It’s great for me,” Gounon said already on Saturday at the home race in Magny-Cours, France, after his second consecutive pole. “I struggled a lot in other championships where some people doubted me and asked if I still had what it takes.”
After the victory he achieved at the night race together with 2-Seas teammate Daniel Juncadella, an emotional statement followed on Instagram. “People only remember who wins. They rarely see what it costs to get there,” Gounon writes. “The last few months have been some of the toughest we’ve ever gone through.”
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Already in February at Bathurst, luck was not on the side of the 31-year-old Frenchman when he attacked leader Kelvin van der Linde at the restart and a collision destroyed his race. “We lost the win 40 minutes before the end,” he writes.
“Then we were leading the 24 Hours of Nürburgring with a dream lineup, only to lose the win three hours before the end,” he refers to the technical bad luck during the Winward entry with Max Verstappen.
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“Accidents, technical defects, retirements … missed opportunities. A DTM season where week after week nothing seems to work. The end of an incredible chapter with Alpine … and much more,” he lists the setbacks of recent months and also mentions the end of Alpine’s Hypercar program, in which he is involved, at the end of the season.
“From the outside, it’s easy to say he doesn’t have it anymore”
Gounon hints that all this has indeed affected him, but in the end, it is always a shared success or a shared defeat. “It’s easy to judge from the outside,” he writes. “Simply to say: ‘He doesn’t have it anymore.’ Simply to think there are only excuses. But to win at this level, it never depends on just one driver. It’s about every single person behind the scenes.”
Because in his opinion, everyone on the team “gives everything for a result that only a few people really understand. That’s the part nobody sees.” A compliment for the strong performance at the home race of the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) comes from DTM stable rival Engel, who together with Winward teammate Lucas Auer finished fourth on Saturday. “Well done, Julio,” he writes. “Absolutely deserved and about time.”
While things seem to be going better for Gounon in the GTWCE, the DTM weekend in Oschersleben a week ago brought another setback: On Saturday, Gounon first did not put together a proper qualifying lap and started from fifth place, then was pushed off by McLaren driver Ben Dörr and retired early due to the consequential damage. On Sunday, he finished ninth after starting from tenth.
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