Jules Gounon, Raffaele Marciello and Daniel Juncadella will once again form a driver pairing. They compete in the 12 Hours of Abu Dhabi in the #89 Mercedes-AMG GT3 fielded by GruppeM Racing.
After the controversial events at the ADAC GT Masters in Hockenheim, the successful trio of the 24 Hours of Spa will now meet again at the Gulf 12 Hours. They form the final of the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC).
The trio’s goal is to make Juncadella a champion. The Catalan leads the IGTC standings with 68 points after three out of four races. It also means that Gounon and Marciello can no longer become champions. The closest pursuer is Luca Stolz with 43 points. A single point is enough for Juncadella to win the title. In the event of a tie on points, Stolz would be crowned champion, starting in a Getspeed Mercedes with Al Faisal Al Zubair and Fabian Schiller.
The Frenchman sat on a different car at the Indianapolis 8 Hours as Juncadella and Gounon (with Daniel Morad) won. Marciello was not present when Juncadella and Gounon (along with Kenny Habul and Martin Konrad) won the Bathurst season opener because he was competing in the GT World Challenge (GTWC) Europe at the same time.
The trio forms the spearhead of an armada of nine Mercedes-AMG GT3. Another winning pairing is Lucas Auer, Maximilian Götz and Maro Engel in the second group M-Mercedes with the #98.
Juncadella can crown a perfect year
“Jules, Raffaele and I are now a well-rehearsed team, which we have proven several times this year. With their support, I firmly believe in success,” says Juncadella. He has already won the GTWC Endurance Cup title with Gounon and Marciello – his first title win since the 2012 Formula 3 European Championship.
He speaks of the “fulfilment of a dream” if he wins the IGTC title: “After this successful season, I can’t wait for the next IGTC race. In view of the course of the season, two wins and a second place would be anything but the drivers’ championship a disappointment for me.”
Mercedes-AMG is riding a wave of success in the IGTC. They’ve already won the manufacturers’ title, and Habul and Konrad are already crowned Pro-Am champions. So far, the V8 cars have won all four races in 2022. The 9 Hours of Kyalami were still part of the 2021 season. In Abu Dhabi, Mercedes-AMG will dare to attack the “Whitewash” to go unbeaten from the season.
Gounon and Juncadella got in each other’s way at the season finale of the ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring. Marciello, who shared the car with Juncadella, then called Gounon a fake friend. The collision overshadowed the championship celebration for the Italo-Swiss.
Gounon, on the other hand, saw things more casually and spoke of having had worse moments in his career. Juncadella played diplomatic, assuring that Marciello didn’t feel that way about Gounon. It had already been expected that the trio would compete again despite these events. Most recently, Marciello emphasized that “everything is fine” between him and Gounon. Both had spoken about the situation in Hockenheim.