- Bentley Motorsport adds Jules Gounon for the 2018 season
- 22-year old Frenchman to race alongside Guy Smith and Steven Kane
- 2017 championship contenders Soulet, Soucek and Abril continue competing together
Bentley Motorsport today announces that it has retained five of its six works drivers for the 2018 season, adding Total 24 Hours of Spa race-winner Jules Gounon (FR) to long-standing Bentley Boys Guy Smith (GB), Steven Kane (GB), Andy Soucek (ES), Maxime Soulet (BE) and Vince Abril (MC).
The six drivers will contest the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup for Bentley’s fifth season with two brand new second generation Bentley Team M-Sport Continental GT3s, and will also complete the entire Intercontinental GT Challenge for the first time.
Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, comments: “Consistency is key for endurance racing so to have five of our drivers back to continue their long-standing relationships with us allows us to get stronger year-on-year and is testament to the loyalty within our team. Jules Gounon has shown that he has the pace and maturity to fit in to a leading team, despite only being 22 years old, and we’re looking forward to supporting him as he develops his career. We’re all looking forward to arriving in Bathurst in February and getting 2018 underway.”
The 2018 season kick starts with Bathurst 12 Hours and, for homologation reasons, will be completed in the current-spec Continental GT3. The all-new Continental GT3, based on the new Continental GT road car, will make its debut in Monza for the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series and will used to complete the Intercontinental GT Challenge races at Spa-Francorchamps, Laguna Seca and Suzuka.
Press release & photocredits : Bentley Motorsport