Habul Left “Completely Shocked” by Grove Accident

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

Kenny Habul said he was left “completely shocked” after an incident with Stephen Grove that resulted in the Grove Racing team owner/driver taken to the hospital with a back injury.

The SunEnergy1 Racing team owner/driver made side-to-side contact with Grove’s No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the third hour of Sunday’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, which sent Grove’s car into the wall before taking flight at Skyline.

Grove initially climbed from the wreckage under his own power but was transported to a hospital in nearby Orange, where he was diagnosed with “damage to his back” according to a team statement.

He has since been transferred to a hospital in Sydney for further evaluation and treatment.

Race control, meanwhile, determined no further action on the incident, which Habul said he regretted.

“My thoughts are with Steve Grove,” he said in the post-race press conference. “He’s a super guy. I’m completely shocked with what happened.

“He pulled over, he braked really early. We get along good. I went down the inside and I couldn’t even see his car when we touched.

“I don’t want that for anybody, and that sort of dramatic accident, he could have gone over the wall.

“I want to go see him and try and help him out a little bit. But I’m sorry for that.

“I certainly didn’t know what happened and it was not intentional in any way for anybody.

“I just feel really bad for him.”

Habul, who suffered back injuries of his own in a qualifying accident at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa in 2023, described the race as “very difficult” for him and his 75 Express-run team.

While scoring a third place finish in the race, Habul fought a slow puncture while on used tires during his double stint in the early morning hours.

“They said I had to use Luca [Stolz’s] tires and then there was a puncture on one of them and then it stabilized,” he explained.

“They came on a radio and said, ‘Can you do a triple stint on the tires?’

“I’m like, ‘I’m 51 years old. I drive three or four times a year. You want me to triple stint and one of them is at 40 degrees and another is at 70 [degrees] and you want me to triple stint.

“I’m glad I got through it and did the best I could to keep it off the walls, in the end.”

The U.S.-based Australian gave praise to Mercedes-AMG factory driver Stolz, as well as Jules Gounon, who both again did the lion’s share of driving in the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG that took the trio to their fourth consecutive Bathurst 12H podium finish.

“I’m really thankful to Luca,” said Habul. “Luca is the quiet achiever. He just punches in the times, gets out of the car, no sweat, no nothing.

“It’ the same with Jules. They just kept pounding and pounding.

“For sure, our car didn’t have the speed today. We tried everything. It was very unstable across the top all week.

“We did the best we could.”