Jules Gounon will have a three-fold debut at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari this weekend, when the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship 2024 is to be run.
The French driver will replace Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg for Alpine Endurance Team, since Habsburg is still recovering from the back injury, that he sustained during an Alpine test at Motorland Aragon, at the end of March.
Not only has Gounon never raced in the FIA WEC before, he has never raced a Hypercar, nor has he raced for the Alpine outfit.
Photo: Alpine
Gounon, who switched to a racing license from Andorra a couple of years ago, has been q Mercedes works driver for several seasons, so it came as a bit of a surprise, when he was announced as a reserve driver in the Alpine A424 in February this year.
He has thankfully been a part of the testing programme, and has already had several days in the car, so he knows all the buttons. But one thing is testing – racing is something completely different, with 36 competitors on track at the same time, including 18 LMGT3 cars, which is the car type that he usually races.
He was a Bentley Boy for a couple of years prior to the Mercedes contract, until the British marque shut down that programme. His international breakthrough came in the ADAC GT Masters, where he raced and won the title with Callaway Competition in 2017.
Jules Gounon will be sharing car #35 with Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin.
The 6 Hours of Imola will be run this Sunday 21 April 2024, with race start at 13.00 CET.
