The Grid

Hexis Racing wrapped up what can only be described as a splendid 2008 campaign with a superb second place finish in the last race in Dubai, where the favourites were out in force, clinching 2nd spot in the European FIA GT3 Championship in the process. With their performance in Dubai, youngsters Thomas Accary and Pierre-Brice Mena both moved up a spot in the drivers' standings to finish the season, like their team, as European vice-champions!

The French team's Aston Martins lined up this season with the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, Morgan, Jaguar, Dodge, Ascari, Lamborghini, Ford and Corvette. It soon became clear that the Ford GTs and Corvette Z06s were a notch above the rest of the field in terms of performance. So Hexis Racing can be proud of having blooded its DBRS9 cars in the arena as the titans of America fought for supremacy and what's more to have disturbed the natural order by knocking one of them off the No. 2 spot!

In the drivers' championship, the same players took the Top 3 placings but this time in the reverse order, with Hexis Racing's rookie pairing coming home behind the best Corvette but ahead of all the Ford GT crews, despite the latter having convincing arguments, both in terms of speed and experience. Here too the team's prowess in coaching its way to success paid dividends, as its young drivers moved rapidly from being outsiders to regulars on the podium. In fact, they were European title contenders right up to the final lap of the last race!

Two teams were competing with Aston Martins this season. Except in two instances, the best-placed DBRS9 was always one in Hexis Racing livery, and all three crews shared this honour at least once in the season. Pierre-Brice Mena and Thomas Accary lifted the Aston Martin Manufacturers Cup. They were ex-aqueo on points with Fred Makowiecki and Jean-Claude Lagniez, but came out on top because they notched more victories than their team-mates. Julien and Manu Rodrigues came next, ahead of Italian team Brixia Racing's crews.

Hexis Racing is also to be congratulated on keeping the same six drivers together for the entire season, which is more than can be said for some other teams! This driver loyalty extends over more than one season, as Jean-Claude Lagniez, Frédéric Makowiecki, Julien and Manu Rodrigues, were already there in 2007.

It all adds up - In six meetings and eleven races, Hexis Racing clocked the fastest time in open practice on no fewer than seven occasions, qualified six times on the front row of the grid, including two poles, and won points on thirteen different occasions, with five podiums (one race win as well as four second place finishes).

The team's successes in the European Championship should not make us forget the team's 3rd place in the final ADAC GT Masters team standings. If we include the team's harvest of trophies from the German championship, which was uncharted territory for the team, the statistics for the 2008 season tot up to 10 podiums with two outright victories and four pole positions. Racing in both the German and European competitions was a significant challenge, but it has given Hexis a true international dimension.

Clément and Philippe's verdict…On their return from Dubai, the Hexis Racing managers gave us their final verdict on the meeting and the season as a whole…

Clément Mateu (development manager): "Up until Nogaro, which we came to after the final round of the German championship, the momentum in the team was palpable, and we stood to either win or lose a lot in the final two European rounds. We had a few doubts going into Nogaro regarding the performance of our cars, but they all went incredibly well. In Dubai it was rather the reverse that happened. We were competitive, but coming on the back of Nogaro and given our achievements on this track in 2007, there’s no point hiding we were hoping to do rather better. Of course all the teams were well prepared for this final, notably the Corvettes and Ford GTs. What I retain from our season, is that all our drivers played their part in achieving our fine runners-up team result. Both in Germany and Europe, they took it in turns to provide the thrills. Our results are the reward for a great all-round team effort, from drivers, mechanics, race engineers, not forgetting our team manager, of course, or the sponsors and technical partners who have supported us throughout the year. In 2009 we have to turn all this into success on the track. We need to further improve on both the human and engineering fronts, to be ever more professional. We are going to do everything we can to strengthen our ties with the people from Prodrive (editor's note: who build the competition Aston Martins) so that we have higher performance, more reliability and improved drivability."

Philippe Dumas (team-manager): "This year’s FIA GT3 racing was a lot more competitive than in 2007. The final provided some superb racing in Dubai with all the championship leaders filling the top places. We were well worthy of our European No. 2 crown as in the end we hold a comfortable margin over our pursuers. Our rookies were lying third going into the Dubai meeting and they came away second. We have two crews in the final Top 10. Naturally, we dropped a few points along the way but I think overall this season we could hardly have hoped for more considering the competition we were up against. Thomas Accary and Pierre-Brice Mena were total newcomers to GT racing when they started a few months ago, so their success is all the more rewarding for us. They had no technical problems to contend with. Frédéric Makowiecki and Jean-Claude Lagniez, however, were not so lucky, and they also suffered on several occasions when the safety car came out. Not to mention the torrential rain that led to the cancellation of Race 2 in Dubai, after Fred - for the fourth time this season - had qualified for the front row of the grid. Julien and Manu Rodrigues made good progress compared with 2007. From Oschersleben onwards they were regularly in the running to make it into the Top 8. They had their fair share of bad luck as well, but were nevertheless in the points on three occasions. Our goal is to come back stronger to do even better in 2009."

Like Hexis Racing, Côme comes good!- Throughout the year Hexis Racing has been keeping a close eye on young Côme Ledogar's motor racing debut. Winner of an Auto Hebdo-Automobile Club de l'Ouest Scholarship prize, Côme has been driving in the Formul’Academy Euro Series. He also worked as a mechanic for Hexis Racing whenever his school and racing commitments allowed. Comparing Côme's progress with that of Hexis Racing we can see that they both followed an upward curve and finished the season in the runner-up spot! At the beginning of October, the parallel was even more striking. Côme won Race 1 and finished Race 2 in 4th place, while Hexis Racing got precisely the same result at the same time in Nogaro! Côme went into the final round with 2nd place on the final podium firmly in his sights. He didn't hang around at Snetterton, winning both races. "He made them all sick" said Philippe Dumas who, with his connoisseur’s eye, was delighted to witness his protégé doing so well on British soil.

After savouring success in the French and German championships, Hexis Racing achieved an historic first European victory in Nogaro. The team's two youngest drivers, Thomas Accary and Pierre-Brice Mena, drove a peerless Race 1, handing the squad from Gard a result that bodes well for their title hopes. Of course, two titles would be better than one, so Dubai in December is firmly in the team's sights, too!

"We weren't expecting it to be easy," said team-manager Philippe Dumas after the French leg of the European FIA championship. "I must admit I would have gladly settled for a Top 5 spot," he added. "We raced here twice in the French championship and realised that the Aston Martin didn't particularly enjoy this circuit, with its bumpy road surface, tight turns and sharp braking at the end of the main straight. But we ended up with valuable set of results. As in Brno, all six drivers were in the points. Our youngsters were irresistible on the Saturday and followed up with a 4^th place on the Sunday. Manu and Julien Rodrigues had their best outing of the season, coming 6^th in Race 1 after twice clocking the 8^th fastest time during qualifying. Fred Makowiecki and Jean-Claude Lagniez could easily have been on the podium on Sunday. Fred clocked a mind-boggling time in qualifying, just 8 thousandths of a second short of James Ruffier's Corvette. In Race 2 he was one of a group of three who opened up a 15-second gap over the rest of the field, only to see the lead absorbed when the safety car came out."

Hexis Racing have already claimed the Aston Martin Cup, which rewards the leading user of the British cars. But the hardest is still to come. "It's looking good for the team runners-up spot which, in my estimation, will already be a victory because the Ford GT is really pushing the limit of what a GT3 car should be," said Philippe Dumas. "As for finishing top of the team standings, I'd say since it's impossible let's go for it! On the other hand, I'd say we can definitely win the European driver's championship with Pierre-Brice and Thomas in Dubai. Everyone is up for it. We already proved in 2007 that this circuit suits us. That time Fred was in pole, and until 20 minutes from the end of the race the car held a comfortable 40-second lead. The dynamics are good, we have three weeks in which to prepare and get the cars ready for the big day. Let's get to work!

FIA GT3 European Championship (Brno) / ADAC GT Masters (Lausitzring & Sachsenring)

Hexis Racing's Aston Martins, in their sleek silver livery, have just completed a three-week campaign that saw them pick up several second places before sweeping in to the team's first outright victory of the 2008 season.

Winning at the Sachsenring puts the French team in third position in the final team standings in it’s first season in the ADAC GT Masters. Building on the double podium places it won in the Czech Republic, the team now hopes to do even better, this time on the European stage at Nogaro

The 2008 ADAC GT Masters seasons drew to a close with meetings in Lausitzring and Sachsenring. The series is open to GT3 cars and attracts international-class teams and drivers with six different manufacturers represented.

Hexis Racing therefore can but feel proud about their 3^rd place in the team standings after what has been a superb end to the season. At the Lausitzring, Christian Hohenadel picked up one pole position and then twice shared second step of the podium with team-manager Philippe Dumas.

Two weeks later at Sachsenring the team took a splendid victory with Frédéric Makowiecki and Christian Hohenadel. It turned out to be quite a day for the German driver Frédéric, not only was it his 32nd birthday but he also got his ADAC GT Masters career off to a champagne start with pole followed by second place in Race 2. Not bad considering they had to race with a 60 kilo weight handicap after their two second places at the Lausitzring.

Meanwhile, in the other car, Manu and Julien Rodrigues continued to pocket points, taking an 8^th place in Lausitzring and a 5^th spot in Sachsenring.

Summing up, team-manager and stand-in driver Philippe Dumas had this to say: "Lausitzring is not an especially good track for us because of the large number of hard-braking 'stop and go' sequences the cars have to go through. Given that, our weekend was just perfect, or would have been had I not made the mistake that cost us victory in Race 1! I did my best to make amends the following day, though. In the end Christian came 6^th and me 10^th in the final ranking, neither of us having taken part in all the races. The team came 3^rd in a good quality field, which just goes to show we were right when we decided to race in Germany, despite the challenge of not knowing most of the circuits. Our cars proved to be reliable and the hard work put in by the whole staff has paid dividends. The team spirit has been fabulous. I don't think anyone is likely to forget the tremendous three weeks we've spent together, finishing six races on the podium, including one victory. I'd like to give warm thanks to all the drivers who have been with us in the ADAC GT Masters adventure; that's Manu and Julien, Christian, Pierre-Brice, Michel, Thomas and Fred."

Hexis Racing hogged the 2nd step on the Czech podium in Brno. First Makowiecki and Lagniez and then Mena and Accary occupied the space echoing the team's current standing in the European GT3 championship. What's more, the team’s cars are currently 1-2-3 in the Aston Martin Cup.

Clément Mateu had this to say about recent events and what will be happening next: "it feels a bit strange to be home after all these miles full of thrills! Getting a series of top class results like this is all down to team effort. Everyone, staff and drivers alike, played their part to the full. It's a great feeling! All three cars were amongst the points in Brno, after they had all come safely through qualifying group 2 - the toughest! - in the Top 8. As things stand, we have two crews in the top seven places in the drivers’ championship and Hexis is second in the team standings. Of course the season is not over yet, but we have picked up momentum and our minimum objective now is to finish in the top three in the two European standings. There are still two meetings to go, in other words four races and a third of the season. We know Nogaro probably won't be as easy as Dubaï, but all three cars have the potential to finish in the top five on merit alone.”

Meanwhile Hexis Racing's young prodigy Côme Ledogar, who races in the Formul’Academy Euro Series, emulated the performance of his senior team-mates in Brno. The team's Aston Martin DBRS9 cars were on the podium twice in the Czech Republic and so was he! Côme's copycat performance, coming on top of the useful point he picked up for a pole-winning lap during the first session of qualifying, saw him continue to climb through the standings. He's now 3^rd with still two meetings to go before the season ends. Côme will be racing in Le Mans during the first week-end of October, but sadly we'll have to cheer him on from afar, because the meeting falls on the same date as the one in Nogaro.

Hexis Racing's DBRS9 cars came out on top in the match against the home-based Brixia Racing. Team manager Philippe Dumas will settle for nothjing less than outright victory but he was relatively pleased with the way his cars performed in what were difficult conditions.

"This car is known to run better with higher track temperatures but so far this season in Europe we have had mostly cool or changeable weather conditions. In Monza we were among the front runners and I'd say that at the moment we are probably about the third best in Europe, behind the Ford GTs and the Corvettes."

Thanks to a massive 24-place climb through the field, rookies Thomas Accary and Pierre-Brice Mena managed to pick up their first points of the European championship season by finishing 5th in race one.

They were also the best-placed Aston Martin in the Saturday's racing. With their excellent race strategy, Jean-Claude Lagniez and Fredéric Makowiecki might have legitimately felt that they were in the running for victory, as Philippe Dumas explained: "There was a safety car procedure at the beginning of the driver change slot, so we took advantage of it to bring Jean-Claude into the pits. Unfortunately, after Fred took over, the race officials handed him a stop and go penalty for coming out of the pit lane three-tenths of a second too soon! After that he got stuck in the pack and could do no better than 9th in the race. Strangely enough, the next day two other crews were sanctioned for the same type of incident but they didn't bother with the stop and go. Normally that would have earned them a black flag and disqualification. Instead, all that happened was they were given an additional time penalty after the race, which is a lot easier to live with. As far as I can see it's best not to stop if you pick up a stop and go!"

Despite the honour of third and a place on the podium plus the satisfaction of being the best placed Aston Martin in the race, Jean-Claude and Fred lost a slot in the overall standings thanks to this somewhat curious interpretation of the rule book. They are now lying 4th.

"We were a bit choked about that but given that the conditions were not in our favour the race result was nevertheless positive. I am happy for Jean-Claude because he drove his best race since joining the team," said Philippe Dumas in conclusion. Clément Mateu added "we got the points counter working in Italy, which is important at this point in the season. The times we clocked when the track was dry also augur very well for the summer races. Now we are looking forward with great anticipation to the improvements promised by Aston Martin Racing. Once we have them we should continue our progress."

Hexis Racing, which has been competitive since the day it entered the ADAC GT Masters, welcomed two new drivers for the second round in Nürburgring. Swiss driver Michel Frey (34) flirted with Formula 3 in his home country's championship and in the German Recaro Cup before going on to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup. The crew comprising him and in-form Julien Rodrigues were well in the running for a podium place in Race 1 until the Swiss driver paid an impromptu visit to the gravel trap.

Julien put in a strong finish to take Aston Martin No.29 past the flag in 7th place. The Franco-Swiss team was going for a Top 3 spot again on the Sunday but this time a tyre burst put them out of the race.

The other Aston Martin entered by the team was driven by Manu Rodrigues and Christian Hohenadel, a 31-year old German driver who made a name for himself in the fast and furious Alfa 147 and Seat Leon single-make tin-top categories. Like many of his fellow Germans, Christian cut his GT teeth racing a Porsche.

If it hadn't been for a driver changeover sanctioned by a stop and go for being a few tenths of a second too quick, Christian would not have had to wait until the Sunday to win his first two points.

Manu took his third Top 8 placing in four outings, adding to the 8th and 5th places he achieved partnering Philippe Dumas in Oschersleben.

Clément Mateu had the final word: "It was a great pleasure to welcome these new drivers. They soon got used to the car, which is encouraging for the future. We have two important meetings coming up, and our crews will be looking to pick up as many points as they can in both the series in which we are taking part this season."

Coming up: is the Norisring meeting, team-manager Philippe Dumas will, as in Oschersleben, be paired with Manu Rodrigues. The other car will be crewed by Christian Hohenadel and Julien Rodrigues. Nüremberg will play host to races in the ADAC GT Masters, DTM and F3 Euro Series categories. The meeting is expected to attract a crowd of over 140,000. This unusual 2.3km town circuit is famous for its three hard braking sections, including the tricky Gründig hairpin, which sees the cars slow from 250kph to 50kph. The GT3 cars will probably be lapping in barely 50 seconds!

For three consecutive weekends the Hexis Racing team went back and forth between Germany and Italy. Gautier, the team's trucker told us about his adventures on the road to Monza: "The shortest road from Oschersleben to Milan goes through Switzerland," he said. "On the way in we filled out the customs forms with no problem. But we got stuck at the border between Switzerland and Italy, which is little more than 50 km from Monza. The Italians didn't want to let us in! Apparently the Swiss customs officer had made such a cock up of the paperwork that we weren't allowed to enter Italy, France or Austria, or even to return to Germany! Net result: we were stuck in Switzerland [note: this is not a lot of fun in a country with no race track when you have three Aston Martins in your trailer!] After talking it over with Anthony, who was with me, we decided to make for the French border, figuring that we'd have a better chance of convincing them that we were Frenchmen wanting to get back into France. There was nobody at the border crossing when we got there, so we drove straight through with no problem. But that Swiss blunder cost us 16 hours and an extra 1000 kms on the trip counter! We took no chances on the way back from Monza - we went through Austria instead!"

Hexis Racing came away from its first outing in the German GT3 championship with a podium place. It also put two of its Aston Martin cars among the points in both races - a real morale booster going into the second European meeting at Monza this weekend!

"We had a great weekend over in Oschersleben" admitted Clément Mateu. “The ADAC GT Masters is a top flight championship with good drivers and works-affiliated teams who are also our rivals in the European Championship."

After a short period of familiarisation with the twisty East German circuit, Hexis Racing started to move up through the field. From 6^th on the grid, Thomas Accary and Julien Rodrigues managed 3rd place at the first attempt! Manu Rodrigues and Philippe Dumas also put in a remarkable performance, slicing through the field from 16^th to 5^th before technical trouble made them lose three places in sight of the finishing line. The next day both crews were in the points again. Philippe and Manu came home 5^th, while Julien and Thomas took 8^th place.

As Thomas Accary said, "this podium place is reward for the whole team, because there were lots of competitive cars out there on the grid. Our set-ups were fine right from the word go, and Julien drove brilliantly. For my part, it was important to get a feel for this circuit, which is also on the European calendar."

Julien Rodrigues said "Saturday's podium did the whole team a power of good. Now we are looking forward to going to Monza, which is a track that Manu and I both love." Manu Rodrigues added "we were treated like princes here! Philippe and I have been wanting to race together for a long time now, so we jumped at the chance to do so here! Philippe Dumas was in great form and drove a big and beautiful race. Finishing 5^th against opposition such as the ADAC GT Masters field is a great result."

Two questions were put to Philippe Dumas - Proud father of little Lily born just the previous week, the team's 'driver/manager' had only started one race since 2003 (the Nogaro FIA GT at the wheel of a Ferrari 550 last autumn). Oschersleben was also the first time he had raced in an Aston Martin DBRS9.

1.What sort of reception did you get in Germany? "We received a warm welcome here, even from the sun, which had us in shorts for four days running! We had established contacts following the announcement of our participation in the ADAC GT Masters. We have been in contact with German and Swiss drivers and it is not impossible that we will be entering our third car this summer."

2. What were your objectives? "First of all, to get some experience under our belt and to prove that our team is strong and competitive. The cars went very well and we picked up our first podium spot, which is highly motivating. We hope to carry on in the same vein in the European Championship in Monza. Apart from that, it was good to try Manu and Julien in two different cars and to allow Thomas to familiarise himself with the track ahead of the FIA race. There was no great pressure on anyone; it gave them the chance to enjoy themselves."

Already lying 3^rd in the team standings after this race, Hexis Racing will be back in the ADAC GT Masters next May 24-25 in Nürburgring. But this week-end all eyes will be on Monza for the FIA GT3 European championship meeting!

FIA GT3 European Championship

Rounds 1 & 2, Silverstone April 19-20 2008
Promising start to the European season for Hexis Racing

Hexis Racing’s Aston Martins took part in the opening rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship on their ‘home’ ground. The Ledenon-based squad had an eventful week-end, but after setting the pace in both free practice sessions, they clocked second time in qualifying as well as in Race Two and claimed an Aston Martin Manufacturers Cup class win on the Sunday.

Qualifying: 25 minutes before qualifying, the Race Director informed the competitors that fuel could not be added in the pitlane between the two sessions. It was too late for Hexis Racing to refuel the three cars before the beginning of the first session, and the drivers of the number 8 and 10 entries were forced to limit their qualifying mileage. In the first session, young Thomas Accary set a superb 5th time, despite stopping early in the session to save fuel for his teammate Pierre-Brice Mena. Then it was Frédéric Makowiecki’s turn to shine in the second session, and he managed to qualify the #10 DBRS9 on the outside of the first row of the grid in only three flying laps.

Race One: Thomas Accary made an amazing start to run second in early stages, then dropped back to 4th under changeable conditions. Going into the pitlane for driver change, he forgot to start the clock watch so the team couldn’t estimate the right time to rejoin the race. Pierre-Brice Mena restarted too early, and the car was given a stop and go penalty. The Hexis Racing Rookie pair dropped back to 14th on the line just behind the No.10 and 9 sister cars driven by Lagniez/Makowiecki and Manu/Julien Rodrigues, who had recovered from 32th and 26th on the grid respectively.

Race Two: Hexis Racing lost one of their cars at the start when Pierre-Brice was forced to run sideways on the grass to avoid contact with a car spinning just in front of him. The No.8 Aston Martin was collected by a Morganin the process and retired. Fred ‘Mako’ was fighting among the leading pack with a Ford GT, a Ferrari, a Corvette, a Morgan and a Porsche. He was 4th when he pitted for driver change. Julien Rodrigues pushed hard to make it to 12th from 18th on the grid, but uncle Manu was hampered by clutch problems and the Rodrigues family duo had to be content with 17th. Jean-Claude Lagniez drove the second surviving Hexis Racing Aston Martin home in 9th position, and took a well-deserved Manufacturers Cup win.

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