The Navarra round brings McLaren and Hexis Racing their best results till date in the 2012 GT1 World Championship. Hexis Racing made a huge commitment when it fielded the as yet unproven MP4-12C GT3 in favour of the Aston Martin DBRS9 they raced last year. The bets are off now, Hexis Racing took 1st and 2nd place in the Qualifying Race and then again came out victorious in the Championship Race today!
The No.1 McLaren MP4-12C of Fred Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp led home their stablemates Alvaro Parente and Gregoire Demoustier in the No.2 car.
Makowiecki, who started from 16th on the grid after technical issues during the morning’s Qualifying session, said: “This is a great result for the whole team after all the troubles we have had. Everybody has been working really hard to make the car reliable and competitive.To finish first and second is a really nice feeling and hopefully we can continue in the same way for tomorrow’s Championship Race.”
Greogoire Demoustier, Alvaro Parente, Fred Makowiecki, Stef Dusseldorp, Hexis Racing team after the Qualifying Race of the GT1 World Championship 2012 Round 3 Navarra Spain 07
Makowiecki got just what he hoped as he and Stef Dusseldorp in the Hexis Racing McLaren MP4-12C crossed the finish line 12 seconds ahead of Marc Basseng / Marcus Winkelhock duo in the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, nailing a double success at Navarra. The double race win pushes Makowiecki and Dusseldorp to the top of the drivers’ championship.
Alvaro Parente and Gregoire Demoustier managed a 4th, which is still a fantastic result for the team. Nicky Pastorelli / Thomas Jäger finished third in their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.
Hexis team boss Philippe Dumas was delighted with the result after a difficult start to the season. “It is great for the team to win both races this weekend,” he said. “We have had problems but we have fought hard to get to this point and everybody involved with the team deserves this result. My young daughter asked me to bring home the trophy and I am very happy to do it.”
Parente, who has been involved in a lot of the development of the McLaren MP4-12C, said: “Navarra is where we have been doing all our development and testing with the car as a team so it is a good place to get our first victory.
Michael Bartels / Yelmer Buurman and Mathias Lauda / Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof driving the Vita4One BMW E89 Z4 cars finished 5th and sixth and the Peter Kox / Darryl O Young who qualified fastest driving their Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 managed a seventh position finish.