Jules Gounon

1994–2015: Youth in karting, single-seaters and Porsche Carrera Cup

Gounon started karting in 2010 at the age of 15. He was crowned Rotax National French Champion in 2011.^[8] In the year after, he clinched the X30 world title.^[9] He was promoted to single-seaters, joining the French F4 Championship for the 2013 season and finished second with six wins.^[10] He competed one year in Formula Renault 2.0, but failed to impress as he "could not get on well with the team". As his career seemed to be in a deadlock after a difficult 2014 season, with him being forced to work as a car cleaner for a time, Gounon took part in the "Espoir Porsche Carrera Cup France 2015" scholarship thanks to a €1,500 gift from his grandfather; he ended up winning the shootout to take part in Porsche Carrera Cup France for the next season with a grant of €30,000.^[11][12] He scored his maiden win in the championship in Val de Vienne^[13] and finished sixth in the final standings.^{[citation needed]}

2016–2017: Success in German GT and win in the 24 Hours of Spa

In 2016, Gounon joined Callaway Competition in ADAC GT Masters, the German championship of GT.^[14] He drove a brand new Corvette C7 GT3-R with his teammate Daniel Keilwitz.^[14] Callaway ran three Corvette for this season. He won three times and put himself in title contention for the last event. However, Jules Gounon suffered a big crash at Hockenheim, staying conscious and alert, but with an injured (although not broken) left leg.^[15] Finally he stood third in the final standings while developing his new car during the year. Callaway Competition decided to run only the car of Gounon and Keilwitz for the 2017 season.^[16] He scored his first win of the season in Red Bull Ring.^[17] After this round, his teammate Keilwitz got injured and was replaced by Renger van der Zande who won with Gounon in Zandvoort, letting the Frenchman take alone the championship's lead.^[18] He then had two difficult weekends without podium with Albert Costa and van der Zende. However, he won his third race of the season in Hockenheim after the return of Keilwitz to competition.^[19] This last win let him seal the title in the last event.^[19] He also clinched the Junior title for drivers under 25.^[20]

Also engaged with Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Nico Bastian in Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup (Pro-Am Cup), Gounon took two podiums. He was recruited by Audi Sport Team Saintéloc for the 2017 24 Hours of Spa, the greatest race of GT, teaming up with Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock.^[21] Despite running one lap down in the first half of the race because of a mis-threaded wheel, Gounon and his teammates came back in front. He battled with a Bentley in the last hours and created an 11-second gap with it to win the biggest victory in his career.^[22][23] This 2017 edition was very tight as six cars arrived in the same lap as the leader.^{[citation needed]}

2018–2020: Official factory driver for Bentley

In 2018, Gounon, at the age of 23, was signed by Bentley M-Sport as an official factory driver for Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and Intercontinental GT Challenge, replacing Oliver Jarvis.^[24] With Steven Kane and Guy Smith, the Frenchman had to develop the new Bentley Continental GT3 which replaced the former generation.^[24] In Paul Ricard, he scored his maiden podium with Bentley finishing second.^[25] He missed the win because of a bonnet problem.^[26] For the 2018 24 Hours of Spa, he had to leave the race after some braking problems. He also did a one-off in Super GT for the Fuji 500-mile race.^[27] He finished thirteenth which represented the best result of the team that season in the Japanese championship. Gounon said about that 2018 season: "I have progressed and learnt a lot. [...] I had to get used with a new car. The target was to have a good car at the end of the season. Unfortunately, we had a lack of speed in straight lines. With this new Continental GT3, Bentley started again from the beginning. 2018 was a season of development. After more than two years of work with German people, I discovered another vision of motorsport with a different way of working. The Bentley Continental GT3 will have a say in 2019".^[28]

For the centenary of Bentley in 2019, Gounon was engaged in Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and Intercontinental GT Challenge with Steven Kane and Jordan Pepper. After two complicated races, he set the fastest time of the qualifying session in Paul Ricard, faster than his teammates and than his rivals.^[29] Battling with the Ferrari 488 GT3 of Miguel Molina, Jules Gounon and Bentley won their first race of the year and also their first win since the introduction of their new car back in 2018.^[30] Two weeks later, Gounon participated in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans with Risi Competizione, teaming up with Oliver Jarvis and Pipo Derani on a Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.^[31] They qualified 17th in the category LMGTE Pro, and finished 11th in this category and 40th overall, despite a mechanical problem in the last hours of the race.^[32]

2021–present: GT World Challenge success with Mercedes

2022

Gounon teamed up with Juncadella and Marciello once more at the rebranded AKKodis ASP Team for the 2022 season of the Endurance Cup.^[34] Having taken the overall victory at the 24 Hours of Spa, the Frenchman and his teammates ended up winning the championship at the end of the year, beating out Antonio Fuoco by a mere two points.^[35][36][37]

During the same year, Gounon raced in the ADAC GT Masters alongside junior driver Fabian Schiller.^[38] The pair finished third in the standings, amassing four wins and a further podium.^[39]

2023

Having switched to an Andorran racing license at the start of 2023, Gounon began the campaign in fine style, grabbing a class victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona and following that up by winning the Bathurst 12 Hour race outright for a record-breaking third year in a row, despite racing alongside an amateur driver in the form of Kenny Habul.^{[40][41][42][43][44]} Gounon later apologised to fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel, with whom he had collided merely half an hour before the finish.^[45]

The season would contain campaigns in three championships: the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup, where Gounon and Marciello would attempt to defend their title alongside Timur Boguslavskiy, the GTD Pro class in IMSA, which the Frenchman contested alongside Juncadella for WeatherTech Racing, and the British GT Championship as Ian Loggie's teammate.^[46][47][48] Despite a retirement in the Endurance Cup season opener at Monza, Gounon would be able to retain the title, with wins at Le Castellet and the Nürburgring sandwiching a runner-up finish at the 24 Hours of Spa.^{[49][50][51][52]} Over in America, Gounon, together with Juncadella, Maro Engel and Cooper MacNeil, won the 24 Hours of Daytona at the start of the year.^[53] Gounon and Juncadella combined for a further three victories that season, including a triumph at the season-ending Petit Le Mans race, which earned them second in the drivers' standings and the title in the Michelin Endurance Cup.^[54] The British series proved to be less fruitful, as the Gounon scored a lone win at Oulton Park and finished sixth in the drivers' championship, having missed one race.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout the year, Gounon took part in the full calendar of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. With a victory at Bathurst, third places at Kyalami and Abu Dhabi and runner-up finishes in Spa and Indianapolis, Gounon would clinch the title, having completed a podium sweep whilst racing with four different Mercedes-affiliated teams.^[55][56]

Racing career summary

^* Season still in progress.

Complete French F4 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 NEC results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Porsche Carrera Cup France results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete ADAC GT Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Super GT results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; small number denotes the finishing position)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Ovr. Pos.	Cla. Pos.
2018	M-Sport	Guy Smith Steven Kane	Bentley Continental GT3 (2015)	Pro	265	16th	6th
2019	M-Sport	Steven Kane Jordan Pepper	Bentley Continental GT3 (2018)	Pro	311	8th	8th
2020	M-Sport	Jordan Pepper Maxime Soulet	Bentley Continental GT3 (2018)	Pro	314	1st	1st
2022	SunEnergy1 Racing / Triple Eight Race Engineering	Kenny Habul Martin Konrad Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Pro-Am	291	1st	1st
2023	SunEnergy1 Racing / AKKodis ASP Team	Kenny Habul Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Pro	323	1st	1st
2024	SunEnergy1 Racing	Kenny Habul Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Pro	275	2nd	2nd
2025	75 Express	Kenny Habul Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Pro	306	3rd	3rd
2026	75 Express	Kenny Habul Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Pro	262	7th	5th

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Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2019	Risi Competizione	Oliver Jarvis Pipo Derani	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Pro	329	40th	11th
2020	Risi Competizione	Sébastien Bourdais Olivier Pla	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Pro	339	23rd	4th
2025	Alpine Endurance Team	Frédéric Makowiecki Mick Schumacher	Alpine A424	Hypercar	384	10th	10th
2026	Alpine Endurance Team	Frédéric Makowiecki Victor Martins	Alpine A424	Hypercar	379	10th	10th

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Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2020	Phoenix Racing	Michele Beretta Kim-Luis Schramm Frank Stippler	Audi R8 LMS Evo	SP9	65	DNF	DNF
2021	Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed	Dirk Müller Fabian Schiller Matthieu Vaxivière	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	SP9	59	7th	7th
2022	Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed BWT	Maro Engel Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	SP9 Pro	159	3rd	3rd
2023	Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed	Maro Engel Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	SP9 Pro	49	DNF	DNF
2024	Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed	Adam Christodoulou Maro Engel Fabian Schiller	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	SP9 Pro	34	DNF	DNF

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Complete British GT Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed 90% race distance.

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

• ^1 – Ineligible for points having failed to meet minimum drive time.

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^* Season still in progress.