Gounon returns to Hypercar at Fuji: “Learn step by step”

Jules, how do you feel about being here in Fuji for your third race of the season with Alpine ?

I am very happy to be back with the team and in Hypercar. It is a category that makes you dream, it is the F1 de l 'Endurance with so many manufacturers, fans, exposure, etc. It's a category that every professional driver wants to be in. I'm lucky to be here thanks to Alpine.

Was your presence in the race this weekend agreed in advance with the team?

Yes, it was planned in our contract agreements at the beginning of the year with Alpine, with Mercedes-AMG and myself. It was agreed that after Le Mans, since the priority was for the drivers to prepare as best they could for this event, if there was no championship objective for the drivers, I would have a chance to participate in one of the events that followed the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Interlagos was close to Le Mans, Austin was not necessarily suitable for it, so Fuji was the ideal place to “start” the Hypercar project (the participations in Imola and Spa were not planned and resulted from Ferdinand Habsburg’s injury. Ed.). What was also complicated was that I had date conflicts with the other races. Thanks to Mercedes-AMG for letting me do it, Alpine to give me my chance and to Paul-Loup to let me gain experience on this race.

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

I hope to continue learning. I have a lot of experience in Endurance, but I have only done two prototype races in my life at the beginning of the year. It is a category that has nothing to do with it. Even if I have not driven much (two fifty-minute races. Editor's note), in particular because of the circumstances of the race, I have learned. I have not driven since Spa, so it has been six months since I set foot in a prototype. My goal is to learn step by step with a learning curve to follow to allow me to get closer to what I can do in GT. It is something that will really come with time and experience. I hope to gradually trust myself for this.

Will you need time to readapt?

To go fast, you have to understand the car and be one with it. I did a day of testing in Barcelona, ​​another at Motorland (Aragon. Ed.), both races while the other drivers in the team have, for some, two or three years of Hypercar, the development of last year as well as this season. I did a few laps at Paul-Ricard before Le Mans in case Ferdinand did not feel fit for Le Mans, but only six. That's quite a dry spell, but I've driven quite a lot with Mercedes-AMG in between, so it's not like I haven't done anything.

What differences do you see between the GT and the Hypercar?

There are similarities between GT and Hypercar, but the former is more comfortable than the latter in slow corners. I could see that at Spa and Imola. On the other hand, the Hypercar has much more power and goes much faster in a straight line and in fast corners.

What is the most difficult thing to understand, the hybrid management or the lack of ABS?

Each category has its own specificity. The most complicated thing in a Hypercar is that you have to think a lot. The team has few data channels while driving, so we have to inform them about what parameters we are on, etc. You have to be able to think at the same time as driving at 330 km/h. ABS is especially important for me, who comes from GT, because most of the drivers come from LM P2 and don't have this difference. It has always been one of my qualities to be able to adapt very quickly, I also tend to think too much in a car. I almost want to say that I have more fun than in GT where we drive at 110% to look for the last tenth, whereas in Hypercar, there is a much wider spectrum of settings with all the parameters that we can influence as a driver.

This must have given you some revision after these last few months...

Yes, there are 70 pages of manual! Just yesterday (Wednesday) evening, Michelle (Gatting, his partner, Iron Dames driver in GT3. Editor's note) asked me to stop reading it. I had the chance to do a bit of simulator before coming here in order to review some parameters. The simulator being based in Paris, we found a session while I was driving at Magny-Cours one weekend in GT World Challenge (August 22-25. Editor's note). After the race (pole position, fastest lap in the race, third. Editor's note) and the podium, it was 16:20 p.m. At 16:30 p.m., I had left for AO Tech. I arrived at 19:00 p.m. and I did simulator on Fuji until 23:00 p.m. before the team left for Austin (Texas). This allowed me to get back into the swing of things, especially with the procedures.

Is there any chance we'll see you again this season with Alpine ?

It's not up to me to decide, but I'll try to keep doing my job and I hope to have the chance to drive the car again in the future. I hope the team appreciates the work I can do with a different vision, because all the other drivers in the team are more prototype-oriented compared to me. I try to bring something extra with my humble GT experience.

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