MERCEDES reigned supreme in Sunday's Bathurst 12 Hour as Jules Gounon led home a podium clean sweep at Mount Panorama, marking the first time a manufacturer has locked out the top three race positions in the GT3 era.
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Gounon held his nerve behind the wheel of his SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to see off the challenge from Craft-Bamboo Racing's Maro Engel by just under nine seconds.
Triple Eight Race Engineering's Shane van Gisbergen was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap, coming across the finish line a further one minutes and 27 seconds behind.
In the process Gounon wrote his name into the history books by becoming the first person to win back-to-back editions of the 12 Hour by driving for different manufacturers, after being victorious in 2020 with Bentley.
The Frenchman celebrated his latest victory alongside co-drivers Kenny Habul, Martin Konrad and Luca Stolz.
Gounon said he and his teammates went into Sunday's race feeling inspired by the efforts of one of Mount Panorama's most legendary figures.
"It's amazing. I'm so happy we came here. I think Kenny was watching Peter Brock on the podium back in the day, and now we are all standing that podium," Gounon said.
"A few days ago and I was reading the story of Peter Brock in the bath and I thought 'Let's try and win another one like him'."
It was looking like a day where Audi could reign supreme at the Mount after they locked out the front row on the starting grid, but the #65 CoinSpot Racing Team and #74 Audi Sport Team Valvoline entries each struck trouble in different fashion.
The pole-sitting #65 came to a stop on Mountain Straight near the mid point of the race with Liam Talbot at the wheel, and even though the team got the car going again their mechanical issues would eventually force their retirement.
Bathurst driver Brad Schumacher had helped put the #74 entry into a dominant position and co-driver Kelvin van der Linde would soon take the car into the lead with just over four hours to go.
However, Schumacher had exceeded his driving time limit and the team were hit with a two minute penalty, which put them a lap behind and it would lead to a fourth place finish.
The three Mercedes entries of Gounon, Engel and van Gisbergen then remained the only entries on the lead lap.
Van Gisbergen didn't have the pace to reel back the minute's gap between himself and Engel, leaving the last hour as a battle of two cars.
The gap between the pair hovered between seven to nine seconds but Gounon remained cool under pressure.
Gounon said the duel with Engel in the final stint was a different experience from his success with Bentley two years ago.
"In 2020 I was in the position of the hunter. That's a position that you like because you're pushing while you're seeing the car in front, so you've got a target," he said.
"This position is difficult because your engineer is telling you every lap '8.3, 8.2, 8.4, 8.3' and you're always pushing, pushing, pushing but at the end I'm really happy.
"Yesterday we didn't expect this but we didn't make any mistakes."
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