2002-2012: the World Champions return to the scene of their early exploits

Hexis Racing’s motor sporting adventure began ten years and 7 days ago during the ‘Coupes de Pâques’ on the Nogaro circuit. Today, the team is the reigning FIA GT1 World Champion, and the first round of the 2012 title battle will take place this coming weekend on the Paul Armagnac circuit. Makowiecki-Dusseldorp and Parente-Demoustier in the French team’s new McLaren MP4-12 GT3s are determined to celebrate this anniversary with a flourish!

The team has come a long way since Saturday 30th March 2002, the date of the Hexis Racing’s squad’s first qualifying session – and its first pole position set by the current team manager, Philippe Dumas! In the race itself, he confirmed the squad’s potential by finishing second. Dumas tells us about this memory and other key moments in his career with the Gers department as the common thread:

“I’ve got quite a lot of good memories from Nogaro starting with my debut in motor sport. The circuit isn’t too far from where I come from, and the first time I drove a car after racing karts was here in the driving school single-seater. In 2000, I started in my first race in Formula France in the ‘Coupes de Pâques’ event. My first meeting with Hexis Racing two years later has remained engraved in my memory. As team manager, I haven’t forgotten the fact that we scored our first international victory here at Nogaro with the Aston Martin in October 2008. So coming back here is obviously quite an emotional experience as today we’re the world champions and we’re representing McLaren. It’s great to see that this fantastic championship is part of the ‘Coupes de Pâques’ meeting that always attracts a big crowd. I know what they expect from us, but it has to be pointed out that we still have a lot of development work to do on the car. I feel pretty good as we’re moving towards our main aim, but achieving a miracle here at Nogaro seems a bit unlikely at the moment!”