Alpine reserve rider Jules Gounon will replace Paul-Loup Chatin on the Signatech team for the 6 Hours of Fuji on the UCI Endurance World Championships.
Alpine made the announcement on Friday ahead of next week's race, explaining that plans for Gounon had been drawn up before the season and the team's sole motive was to offer the 29-year-old Frenchman more experience.
“Jules Gounon will exceptionally take over the wheel from Paul-Loup Chatin and join Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg for #6HFuji,” the team said in an announcement posted on social media.
“The change, agreed before the beginning of the season, gives the team’s reserve driver the chance to proceed training within the Hypercar.
“Paul-Loup Chatin will naturally return to the No. 35 for the 8 Hours of Bahrain.”
Gounon has been racing within the GT class since 2016, so has less experience in sportscar racing, although his only full-time season in IMSA was a successful one.
Last 12 months’s event was held within the GTD Pro class in a Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo run by WeatherTech Racing, with Gounon and team-mate Dani Juncadella ending second within the championship.
Furthermore, Gounon has already taken part in two WEC races for Alpine this 12 months, replacing the injured Ferdinand Habsburg at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps after the Austrian broke two vertebrae in a testing crash.
#35 Alpine A424 Endurance Team: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi
Photo: JEP / Motorsport Images
Team Alpine achieved its best results of the 2024 WEC season thus far last weekend at Circuit of The Americas, with the No. 35 automotive of Chatin, Milesi and Habsburg ending fifth.
Meanwhile, sister automotive A424 finished ninth under the chequered flag, with Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere recording only their second points results of the 12 months.
“It was a surprisingly positive weekend considering all the other teams tested in Austin,” Habsburg said after the race in Austin. “Despite our inexperience, the drivers and engineers communicated well, which allowed us to make some good decisions on strategy and set-up.”
“There are a lot of positives to take from fifth place in such a tough field, but there is still a lot of work to do if we want to win,” Chatin added. “Let’s enjoy the moment and not forget our future goals.”
