Mercedes-AMG facilitates Jules Gounon's move to Alpine for Imola

In an age of individualism, it's worth noting Mercedes-AMG's decision to let one of its drivers make his debut in the Hypercar category of the World Endurance Championship. When Jules Gounon signed up as Alpine's reserve driver, he certainly didn't expect to be racing in the second meeting of the season at the 6H of Imola (Italy) this weekend.

Starting a program following a driver's injury isn't what you'd want, but that's the way life is. Jules Gounon, the official Mercedes-AMG driver, will be the official driver of the Alpine A424, along with Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi.

At the inaugural GTWC Europe round at Paul Ricard, where Jules Gounon was driving for GetSpeed, the German manufacturer told us that it had no objection to the Andorran-licensed driver taking up the position.  "As a reserve driver for the Alpine Endurance Team, Jules' part also include to step in if one of the regular drivers is not able to take part in a race", said Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing. "As Jules is contesting the season as a Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver, the final decision to release him is on us."

Jules Gounon should have been at GTWC Asia this weekend in a Mercedes-AMG GT3/Climax Racing shared with Chinese driver Wang Zhongwei in Pro-Am. In the end, it was Ralf Aron (Gold FIA) who took over in the #22 Mercedes in Sepang (Malaysia).

"However, this is a huge opportunity for Jules, from which we can also benefit in GT racing", said Wendl. "That's why we have decided together with our customer team Climax to release him for the WEC race in Imola and to provide a suitable replacement for the GT World Challenge Asia. We wish Jules every success in this task and Ferdinand von Habsburg a speedy recovery at this point."

In Imola, Jules Gounon will be reunited in the paddock with his former 2023 colleagues, Akkodis ASP, Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy.