Philippe Dumas, team principle of the reigning FIA GT1 World teams’ champions, Hexis, is confident that his squad’s partnership with McLaren, will signal the start of long and fruitful working relationship. France-based privateer Hexis created a huge buzz last November when it announced an agreement with the iconic British manufacturer to field a pair of its McLaren MP4-12Cs in the 2012 GT1 series, a decision which, says Dumas, was a straightforward one.
“When the plans for the new regulations in 2012 – with all cars running to GT3 spec – became clear, we immediately set out to find the best possible car and manufacturer to work with for the season ahead,” he said. “The reason why we chose McLaren was simple – because we work well together. It was the only choice for me.”
Hexis clinched the 2011 GT1 World Championship teams’ title running the Aston Martin DB9 in a thrilling final Championship Race in San Luis, Argentina, and although retention of the crown in 2012 is very much on Dumas’ agenda, he is also looking further ahead to the future.
He said: “Of course the immediate aim for this season is to perform strongly and win the Championship again. However, the final result in 2012 is not the absolute key for me – rather, I prefer to think about the future, about the 2013 season and beyond. Our main goal is to have a long and successful relationship with McLaren, and stay in their family for a long time.”
The French outfit extend the entente cordiale for the forthcoming season having run the Aston Martin DB9 in 2010 and 2011 – their world championship-winning year.
Speaking after taking delivery of the first of the Hexis McLarens in England this week, Dumas thinks his team will easily make the switch from Aston to McLaren in 2012. He added: “I don’t think it will be a huge change – after all, a car is still a car with a steering wheel and four wheels. I think the main change will be the fact that this season we’ll be the only team representing the brand, whereas previously the manufacturers were represented by two separate teams.
“However, we will have fantastic support from McLaren on the customer side, so I’m really confident about our relationship going forward.”
Besides Hexis, four other teams have already committed to entry in the 2012 series.
All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport will be swapping the Italian horsepower of the Lamborghini Murcielago which they used in last year’s Championship for some home-grown German engineering: a pair of Mercedes SLS AMG GT3s, while Michael Bartels’ Vita4One team – which ran the Maserati MC12 to a teams’ and drivers’ championship double victory in 2010 under the Vitaphone Racing moniker – have confirmed they will be running BMW Z4s in 2012.
The big three of German car manufacturing is rounded off by the participation of Audi, with Belgian privateer Team WRT competing in the new Audi R8 LMS Ultra, while Young Driver AMR, who finished third in 2011’s Championship, will again be running a pair of Aston Martin DB9s.
The driver line-ups for the announced teams, as well as details of remaining team entries for the season ahead, are due to be made public within the coming weeks.
GT1TV: Hexis take delivery of the McLaren MP4
Fonte : http://www.gt1world.com