2023 Bathurst 12 Hour winner Jules Gounon has said sorry to rival Maro Engel after the pair came together in an intense battle for the race lead.

In the closing stages of the race, Gounon was on older tyres with GruppeM’s Engel – who set a new lap record yesterday to claim pole position for the race – showing faster pace and making several attempts to pass the #75 Sun Energy1 Racing Mercedes.

“First of I think I want to say sorry to Maro for the contact – last week we won an amazing race and this week we had to fight to win a race and unfortunately we had contact  – so it’s never nice, because I consider  him a friend, and for a win at Bathurst … I threw everything  at it.”

The contact resulted in a drive-through penalty for Engel in car #999, which dropped him from the race lead to third position. It set up a chase from second-place Matt Campbell in the Manthey EMA Motorsport Porsche, who closed on the Gounon but could not get close enough to mount a serious threat to the race-winning Mercedes.

“I respect the decision,” said a downbeat Engel post-race.