'Shocked' Habul's remorse over Grove crash

Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour podium finisher Kenny Habul has pledged to help Stephen Grove following their dramatic accident in Sunday's race.

Habul claimed his fourth consecutive Bathurst 12 Hour podium alongside Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz, but it wasn’t without incident.

Veteran racer and Supercars team owner Grove’s race came to a scary end after a collision with Habul, with the former’s Mercedes-AMG sent into the wall at Skyline.

Later revealed in a Grove Racing statement, Grove was transferred to hospital, with the full extent of his back injuries yet to be determined amid further scans and consultation.

Speaking after Sunday’s race, Habul — the 2022 and 2023 winner — made a point of sending his well wishes to Grove.

“The first thing I want to say is that my thoughts are with Stephen Grove,” Habul said after Sunday’s race.

“He’s a super guy and 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.

“You 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 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 hailed Gounon and Stolz’s efforts, adding: “I’m really thankful to Luca. Luca is a quiet achiever, just punches in the times, gets out of the car, no sweat, no nothing.

"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 and we didn’t the best we could. I’m just happy to be here.

“I’ve got a house here. My favourite shops are here: fish and chip shop, my favourite bakery, so I’m glad I get to come here once a year. I love the place.”