Jules Gounon becomes first driver to win three straight Bathurst 12 Hour races, wins 2023 event with Luza Stolz, Kenny Habul

The Frenchman became the first driver to win three successive editions of the Bathurst 12 Hour with one of the all-time defensive efforts across the span of a dramatic and enthralling conclusion at Mount Panorama on Sunday.

Over the course of final hour Gounon, driving on older tyres, had to fend off challenges from both Maro Engel and Matt Campbell before he could stand atop the podium once again.

Gounon along with his SunEnergy1 team of Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul successfully defended their 2022 title in their Mercedes AMG GT3, while the Frenchman added to the 2020 race he won with Bentley Team M-Sport.

Gounon, Campbell and Engel would cross the finish line in that order within 1.5 seconds of each other in a conclusion that is certain to go down in Mount Panorama folklore as one of the most exciting conclusions to a Bathurst endurance event.

The most dramatic moment of the Sunday's final hour of racing came during a tense battle for the lead between recent 24 Hours of Daytona class-winning teammates Gounon and Engel.

Engel made a dive for lead down the inside of the Chase and contacted Gounon, sending the SunEnergy1 entry off the track.

Gounon rejoined the track nearly seven seconds behind Engel but the GruppeM driver would find himself back in third place after being forced to serve a drive through penalty for the incident.

The pressure continued to be applied to Gounon as he then had to survive the challenge from a new rival - Campbell - over a prolonged battle across the final half hour.

The Frenchman prevailed and wrote his name into the history books in the process.

"I want to apologise to Maro because last week we won one of the biggest races in the world and this week we fought hard [against each other] to win a race and unfortunately we had contact," Gounon said.

"It's never nice, because I consider him a friend, but for a win at Bathurst we're both very competitive. I threw everything I had at it. I really struggled in the last stint with double-stint tyres. It was hard but in the end we won.

"I wasn't feeling good in the car yesterday, and this makes you feel humble. That's what we love about this place. You've got to respect the track and it's history.

"When you're driving flat out what Maro Engel and Matty Campbell hunting you it's not a good feeling."

Gounon admitted he had his concerns when he saw how quickly Campbell closed down on him towards the end of the race but backed both himself and the car to see the job through.

"I was not confident at all because he got really close to me really quick," he said.

"But I knew that with the GT3 closing is something, but being behind with the aero wash is something else. I hunted him down during the stint before, so I saw his strengths and he saw my strengths."

The race was trending towards a being a race of three with more than a quarter the race to go, but it truly became a three-way tussle for the ages after the last round of pit stops.

Engel, behind the wheel of the pole-sitting GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3, was leading the race by a little over half a minute with the final pit stop looming.

However, an issue with the car's datalogger meant the team had to replace that component of the car, which the team estimated would take around 30 seconds.

Engel's team performed well under the high pressure situation to hold a small advantage over Campbell's Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R.

Gounon, now with the race lead, pitted on the next lap and the team made the choice not to fit the car with new tyres, in order to hold onto track position.

That gave Gounon and his Mercedes a seven second gap over Engel with just over an hour to go.

Those seven seconds were quickly eaten away in just a few laps, and it put Engel within distance to make the potential winning overtake.

With 50 minutes left on the clock he bailed out of a passing move at the Chase, but on the next lap he went for it.

That led to the incident that would ultimately see Engel penalised and Campbell surge up the road within a second of Gounon.

Campbell threw everything he had at trying to get by Gounon, even brushing the wall at Reid Park inside the final 10 minutes, but the SunEnergy1 driver would not be passed again.

After finding himself behind by more than 15 seconds after serving his penalty, Engel peeled off fast sectors to finish just half a second away from runner-up Campbell at the finish.

Campbell shared the runner-up spot with co-drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Thomas Preining while Engel's third place was earned alongside Mikael Grenier and Raffaele Marciello.

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