GT1 – Hexis Racing was nevertheless capable of it

Hexis Racing seemed to be able to achieve a very good result at the Nürburgring, which would have put it back in the Drivers and Teams standings at one meeting at the end of the season (Donington). By signing the second consecutive pole after that of Grégoire Demoustier and Alvaro Parente in Moscow, Frédéric Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp showed renewed hope. Everything started to go wrong when the McLaren MP4-12C of Stef Dusseldorp who was leading the qualifying race retired following a suspension problem, leaving victory to the Reiter Engineering Lamborghini LP600 of Peter Kox and Stefan Rosina.

The rest was not more glorious since the #2 McLaren of Demoustier-Parente in fifth position on the grid of the Championship Race retired on the first lap after being caught in a collision. Having started from 12th place, Frédéric Makowiecki was able to climb to sixth place before coming up against the Mercedes Dominik Baumann's SLS AMG Heico Motorsport from the GT3 field. The Frenchman was given a drive-through for having spun the competitor from the lower discipline who was nevertheless able to maintain his position. His race ultimately ended with a technical failure.

The title hopes for Frédéric Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp were dashed after this new goalless score. The Hexis crew still has a mathematical chance but it would take an exceptional combination of circumstances at Donington for the feat to be achieved with an imperative double in both races. Philippe Dumas, the team manager of the French team, can only accept the situation with frustration given the capabilities of the MP4-12C. “Too bad, we had the performance to get the podium starting from afar. As for Greg, he didn't have much to do with it, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After eight races out of nine, we have three clean results for n°1, it's too many but it's part of the game. We will still fight to win in England, we would like to finish the season with the record of victories... Count Given the FIA ​​GT1/GT3 mix, a collision was not improbable. What was, on the other hand, was this drive through which I would describe as surreal. This will remain anecdotal anyway since the car broke down shortly after. »

Discover the report from the FIA ​​GT1 World at the Nürburgring in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and on newsstands from Wednesday.