There was drama for Winward Mercedes driver Jules Gounon in Saturday's season-opening DTM race at the Red Bull Ring.

The Frenchman was chasing race leader leader Thomas Preining and was even closing in on the “Grello” Porsche when, five laps from the end, a spectacular plume of smoke suddenly appeared from the right-rear wheel, forcing him out of the race - and leaving him extremely frustrated.

“It's just annoying me because the last few years I didn't have much luck," he said. "I don't believe in luck, but I worked super hard during the winter. I made a lot of decisions in my life that were difficult to take.

And indeed, victory was within reach for the 'Mamba' driver. “All the effort, all the sacrifices you make over winter, they are finally unfolding together.

“Then I exited the last corner, the steering was to the left, and I was like, 'OK, I'm pretty sure it's done'.”

Gounon pointed to a suspension issue as the cause for his stoppage at Turn 1.

“The day was amazing and then I had a suspension failure," he revealed. "So, five laps to the end. I don't know, sometimes it's just terrible.”

It was not the first time a Mercedes-AMG GT3 suffered a suspension-related failure at Spielberg. Last year, Lucas Auer also stopped during free practice with smoke coming out of his car. The cause back then was a defect in the wheel carrier.

A full analysis of Gounon’s problem was not possible until after 5pm on Saturday due to parc ferme regulations. Afterward, the team found that, as suspected, a suspension component had broken.

While the 31-year-old did not have an optimal qualifying in the morning and started only from sixth place, his Mercedes colleagues Maro Engel and Auer qualified on pole and third respectively.

However, Gounon benefited from a strong start that brought him up to fourth, a mediocre pit stops for his Mercedes team-mates, as well as the timing of own pitstop, and suddenly found himself within striking distance of the lead.

“The strategy was great, everything was mega," he said.

“I was feeling good, I was even closing a bit on Thomas. I was saving for the end to try to attack.”

But what changes did Gounon make over the winter? According to Motorsport.com's sister title Motorsport-Total.com, he received new mechanics at Winward.

Gounon, who showed his speed repeatedly in his first DTM season last year but is still chasing his first win, lamented the loss of 20 points.

"It’s always about two or three points in the end," he saud.

“So, yeah, 20 points, it's like this. I can't change now.”

"When you see last year, every year, it's fighting for two, three points at the end of the championship. So when you lose 20 like that, it hurts.”

DTM Red Bull Ring: Thomas Preining beats Maro Engel to win opener

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