For Hexis Racing, the Slovakia race in mid-August was particularly disappointing. The Moscow race on 1 and 2 September has erased the affront with a brilliant success: the McLaren MP4-12Cs of the team supported by Motul brilliantly won the first two places, which puts the team back on track to winning the title, especially in the drivers standings. For this first round of a FIA world championship in Russian territory, Hexis Racing's two cars secured the best times in the trials, but dominated the scene less in the qualifying where Grégoire Dumoustier's car was collided into by a Ferrari. The two McLarens regained all their ferocity in the championship race which took place in rainy conditions: Alvaro Parente and Fred Makowiecki took the lead again with authority before passing the relay to Greg Demoustier and Stef Dusseldorp. The latter took the lead 20 minutes from the arrival and kept it all the way through. Struck once again by a Ferrari, Greg Demoustier managed to cross the arrival line second.
'The Slovakian disillusionment naturally put a certain amount of pressure on the team,' recalled Philippe Dumas, team manager. So we worked hand in hand with McLaren to get back on track.' The team also made a success of the car tuning and tyre choice, rather tricky because of intermediary adherence conditions. Impeccable pit stops did the rest.
For the penultimate round, the GT1s will be back on a traditional circuit, the Nürburgring one, from 21 to 23 September.
Team standings
01// All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport - Mercedes - 207 pts
02// Vita4One - BMW - 173 pts
03// Belgian Audi Club Team WRT - Audi - 165 pts
04// Hexis Racing - McLaren - 154 pts - Motul
Driver standings
01// Yelmer Buurman/Michael Bartels, 127pts
02// Markus Winkelhock/Marc Basseng, 121pts
03// Fred Makowiecki/Stef Dusseldorp, 110pts - Motul
Photo credits: Antonin Grenier
