Even if it was difficult to repeat the splendid Navarra result, Hexis Racing left the Slovakia circuit on 10 June having bagged a brilliant 2nd place. Yet, this fourth round of the FIA GT1 World Championship was by no means a pushover, far from it. After securing the best times in the trials, the two cars of the team supported by Motul, driven by Fred Makowiecki / Stef Dusseldorp (no.1) and Greg Dumoustier / Alvaro Parente (no. 2), experienced a difficult qualifying race: mechanical problems forced no. 2 to abandon while no. 1 just managed to cross the arrival line in 9th position.
The following day, the race produced mixed results. Dumoustier/Parente's car again suffered technical trouble wiping out any hope, despite the best race lap by the Portuguese driver. No. 1 remained in the race and Fred Makowiecki took the lead until the pit stop. Unfortunately, when Stef Dusseldorp started off again he had to brake to allow a Porsche to pass as it was stopping in front of the adjacent pit. The Dutch driver got going again 6 seconds behind the BMW Vita4One of 2010 World Champion Michael Cartels, then reduced this gap by half to mount with his French team-mate the second step of the podium.
'The global result of no. 1 is excellent and of course I'm disappointed for no. 2.' concluded team manager Philippe Dumas. 'We're strong and have good performance even in difficulty. We've slept very little since Wednesday and that explains some things.'
Hexis Racing remains 2nd in the team standings of the FIA GT1 World Championship. All the teams will meet again in a month's time, on 6-8 July, at the Algarve circuit, Portugal.
Team Standings
01// All-Inkling Munich Motor sport - Mercedes - 104 pts
02// Hexis Racing - McLaren - 91 pts
03// Belgian Audi Club Team WRT - Audi - 90 pts
Photo Credits: David Reygondeau
