Habul: Bathurst “Means Everything” to Us

Photo: SRO

Bathurst “means everything” to Kenny Habul and his SunEnergy1 Racing crew according to the team owner/driver, who along with Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz are seeking their third overall win as a team in the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour this weekend.

Habul, a four-time Intercontinental GT Challenge class champion, has brought his Munich-based 75 Express squad back to Mount Panorama for another bid in what he considers to be his biggest race of the year.

The Australian, who owns property on Conrod Straight, grew up working for the legendary Peter Brock, and pursued a driving career of his own before having to put it on hold and later create one the world’s largest solar development companies, SunEnergy1.

Habul became an official ambassador of Bathurst last year.

“I grew up here and I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid, working on race cars,” he told Sportscar365. “I love to race here. This means everything to us.

“This has been a good car. It was a little short last year. The Porsche had too much power but I think they’ve adjusted that. We don’t know.

“We’ll see. But there’s a lot of good competition.

“Chaz [Mostert] in the Ferrari, there’s an Audi that’s fast and there’s a bunch of AMGs that are fast. Matt Campbell is always there.

“We’ll know in the last 30 minutes of the race.”

While having come up short to the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R last year, Habul has brought back his trusty Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which only has two races under its belt — the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Bathurst 12 Hour.

The U.S.-based Australian craned the car out from his museum in the sixth floor building in Connecticut last year, although it has remained based in the team’s headquarters in Munich since last year’s race.

“This car is quite special because this car has only ever drove in Bathurst,” said Mercedes-AMG factory driver Gounon. “The car has 5,000 kms [on it]. It won in 2023, we ran it last year and now it’s back.

“It’s quite a luxury car. The only race track in the world that she [the car] knows is Bathurst. And the only result she knows is a win and a second place. It’s a good car.”

Habul said the team is looking to take a similar approach to this year’s race, again racing in the Pro class in order to fight for overall honors.

“Everything’s the same,” he said. “I’ll probably do a double stint. Everything’s the same as before. I think it should be a dry race. We’ll see.

“I think this car will still have enough mileage left in it for next year and then that will be it.”

Gounon and Stolz, who arrived late into Australia due to a delayed flight from last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, joined Habul for their spiritual walk at the top of the mountain on Thursday evening.

“We went to Kenny’s house at 11 p.m. and we went through the mountain, like every year, we always stop by Brock’s Skyline, give a kiss to the wall, say hi to the legend Peter Brock,” Gounon said.

“It’s just fantastic. You’re looking at the stars… There’s something about this place that there’s a soul in at Bathurst. And every year it’s amazing to be back.

“I’m just happy to be back and we have to see how the race goes to us. Every year it’s been quite nice to us so far, so let’s hope it continues.”

While Habul and Stolz seek their third overall win on Mount Panorama, Gounon will be looking for his fourth in the last five editions, dating back to his triumph for Bentley Team M-Sport in 2020.