Jules Gounon: "You are always chasing the perfect lap"

RAM Racing’s Jules Gounon said his record-smashing pole position for the second Intelligent Money British GT Championship race at Oulton Park this weekend ‘wasn’t perfect, [but] it was a really good lap’ as he praised the old-school nature of the Cheshire circuit.

The Frenchman, who is making his debut in British GT this season having been selected to partner Ian Loggie as the Scot targets the championship, got his career in Britain off to the best possible start as he dominated qualifying for the second of the one-hour races on Monday.

He went more than six-tenths under the previous record set by Phil Keen four years ago, and was comfortably ahead of Balfe Motorsport’s Adam Carroll who will be joining him on the outside of the front-row.

For Gounon, the lap wasn’t quite perfect, but it was pretty close. He said: “You are always chasing the perfect lap, it is really difficult. This wasn’t perfect, it was a really good lap – the car was amazing, thanks for my engineer Mark and all the mechanics at RAM that worked on the detail. I break their balls to have everything in line, and at the end it was good.

“Now, the only thing we need to do is analyse what happened to Ian because Ian had the potential to be on pole for sure and I think he ran into pickup on the out-lap and that meant quali was really messy for him. But, we are here to make the championship for Ian so we are going to give everything and try to come back in race one, and now eyes forward for the race.

“It was a good quali, a mega feeling to be on low fuel and new tyres around Oulton Park.”

It’s his first time at Oulton Park, which is one of the more challenging circuits on the British GT calendar – long, fast straights married to tight, twisting sections with limited run-off.

Having raced on more open European circuits in recent years, with more run-off which allow some mistakes, the opportunity to get to tackle the Cheshire circuit was one that Gounon has enjoyed.

“This is how race tracks should be. The last few years we have seen so many modifications of tracks with run off, but it is getting worse because people forget the risk because they just go flat and they just open up the steering and go on the run off. Whereas here you have to respect the place, respect the track, you get to the limit closer and closer but slowly step-by-step and that’s where you can make the difference. For me, this is how motorsport should be.”

The first British GT race gets underway at 11.20am UK time (12.20pm CEST) and you can watch it all here.

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