Hexis Racing takes on a challenge in Azerbaijan

And no, after finishing vice-champion FIA GT1 2012 and dominating the final round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, Hexis Racing is not on vacation. And for good reason, the Nîmes team will hire two McLaren MP4-12C at City Challenge next week. But what is the City Challenge? The City Challenge is an event taking place on the streets of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. No less than 24 GTs and internationally renowned drivers are expected on the starting grid. On the manufacturer side, note the presence of BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Mercedes, Porsche et donc McLaren. Côté pilotes, on attend Jacques Villeneuve, Bernd Schneider, Jos Verstappen, Mike Parisy, etc.

Hexis Racing therefore chose to participate in the party, as its team manager Philippe Dumas explains. “The organization has been asking us for a long time, underlines the latter. I explained to them that it might be difficult given the World Championship schedule, but the situation has evolved. They came back with a very good proposal, which we discussed with McLaren. They wanted to invite Hexis as much as McLaren. I think it could be interesting to be part of the City Challenge adventure from the start. A complete championship with events of this style, always in the city center, would represent a great project. Our two cars leave this Friday (today. Editor’s note) to Frankfurt from where they will be transported by plane. As for the team, it will fly to Baku on Tuesday. The layout seems quite basic, it will be a big show, a concept quite different from what we know. We go there to discover, but with top pilots! »

Philippe Dumas has decided to trust for this meeting his duo Frédéric Makowiecki-Stef Dusseldorp, FIA GT1 world vice-champion this year, and a pair composed entirely of official McLaren drivers associating the Portuguese Alvaro Parente with the Briton Rob Bell . The format of the meeting will be quite unusual. Each driver will compete in a timed practice session, then a 30-minute qualifying sprint race. The combination of the two races will give the starting grid for the final. This will last 60 minutes, and will be the scene of tire and driver changes between the 30th and 37th minutes. The departure will be…stopped (as in Formula 1) and not launched, as is usually the case in Grand Touring events.

Note that the Hexis Racing team has significant experience of city races, since it entered a Porsche in the 2006 Pau Grand Prix, two Aston Martin GT3 in Bucharest in 2007 then at the Norisring in 2008. The Nîmes will therefore once again be one to watch very closely, especially since they have been in an extremely positive spiral for some time. With two victories during the final round of the FIA ​​GT1 World Championship at Donington (qualifying race + championship race) and another during the closing meeting of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Navarra last weekend, Hexis and the duo Makowiecki-Dusseldorp (supported by Parente in Spain) remain on three consecutive successes.

Here is the list of entrants to the City Challenge:

6? Bernd Schneider / Serhey Afanasiev (Mercedes SLS Heico Motorsport)
7? Maximilian Buhk / Mike Parisy (Mercedes SLS Heico Motorsport)
8? Mark J. Thomas / Nick Tandy (Porsche 911 GT3 R Mühlner Motorsport)
9? tba / tba (Porsche 911 GT3 R Mühlner Motorsport)
11? Eduard Leganov / Remo Friberg (Lamborghini Gallardo Rhino's Leipert Motorsport)
12? Marcel Leipert / Florian Spengler (Lamborghini Gallardo Rhino's Leipert Motorsport)
14? Elia Erhart / Philipp Eng (Porsche 911 Molitor Racing)
15? Felipe Fernandez / Tim Tews (Porsche 911 Molitor Racing)
17? Stef Dusseldorp / Frédérix Makowiecki (McLaren MP4-12C Hexis Racing)
18? Rob Bell / Alvaro Parente (McLaren MP4-12C Hexis Racing)
20? Christian Engelhardt / Michael Kristensen (Porsche 911 Konrad Motorsport)
21? Franz Konrad / Thomas Pivoda (Porsche 911 Konrad Motorsport)
27? Gerd Biesel / Mith Mitländer (Corvette Z06 RWT Racing Team)
28? Jürgen Bender / Jürg Aeberhard (Corvette Z06 RWT Racing Team)
33? Mathias Lauda / Frank Kechele (BMW Z4 Vita4One)
34? Jacques Villeneuve / Jos Verstappen (BMW Z4 Vita4One)
35? Yelmer Buurman / Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof (BMW Z4 Vita40ne)
36? Fabio Monschino / tba (Ferrari 458 Easy Race)
57? Greg Franchi / Enzo Ide (Ferrari 458 Vita4One Italy)
58? Louis Machiels / Alessandro Pier-Guidi (Ferrari 458 Vita4One Italy)
66? Timo Rumpfkeil / tba (Porsche 911 Motopark)
88? Nicki Thiim / Philipp Frommenwiler (Porsche 991 Attempto Racing)
99? Arkin Aka / tba (Porsche 911 Attempto Racing)
98? Gottfried Grasser / Daniel Bohr (Lamborghini Gallardo GRT Grasser Racing Team)