Hexis McLaren completes Navarra double
The Hexis McLaren of Fred Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp completed a perfect weekend at Navarra, winning the main race of the GT1 World Championship weekend
After carving through to win the qualifying race from the back of the grid, Makowiecki started the championship race from pole, and promptly pulled away to take an emphatic victory.
There was a small panic when the McLaren failed to start after handing over to Dusseldorp at the pitstop, but their lead was enough to ensure they emerged in first place.
The second McLaren of Gregoire Demoustier was running second for the opening half of the race, but fantastic pitstops from the All Inkl team meant that the McLaren was jumped by both Mercedes, and despite having better pace, Alvaro Parente could not find a way past the Thomas Jager/Nicky Pastorelli car for third.
After winning the Nurburgring 24 Hours the previous weekend, Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock continued their form to finish second in their Mercedes SLS.
In the opening laps, Michael Bartels suffered a clutch problem in his Vita4One BMW, dropping him down to 15th place, but when Yelmer Buurman took over the Dutchman was able to climb up to fifth position, setting the fastest lap of the race and finishing just ahead of the sister car piloted by Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof and Mathias Lauda.
Peter Kox and Darryl O'Young were unable to capitalise on the Lamborghini's strong pace, finishing in seventh, albeit comfortably ahead of the first WRT Audi of Oliver Jarvis and Frank Stippler.
Filip Salaquarda held off Laurens Vanthoor at the line to take ninth position for AF Corse, with Vanthoor and Stephane Ortelli (WRT Audi) having to settle for one point in 10th.
Results - 36 laps: Pos Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Makowiecki/Dusseldorp Hexis McLaren 1h01m26.742s 2. Basseng/Winkelhock Munnich Mercedes + 12.108s 3. Pastorelli/Jager Munnich Mercedes + 13.426s 4. Demoustier/Parente Hexis McLaren + 14.406s 5. Bartels/Buurman Vita4One BMW + 16.372s 6. Lauda/Mayr-Melnhof Vita4One BMW + 22.634s 7. Kox/O'Young Reiter Lamborghini + 36.270s 8. Jarvis/Stippler WRT Audi + 43.197s 9. Vilander/Salaquarda AF Corse Ferrari + 44.686s 10. Ortelli/Vanthoor WRT Audi + 44.999s 11. Castellacci/Ide AF Corse Ferrari + 46.474s 12. Halliday/Parisy Exim Porsche + 50.580s 13. Zuber/Afanasiev Valmon Aston + 1 lap 14. Enge/von Thurn und Taxis Reiter Lamborghini + 1 lap 15. Lariche/Lunardi Exim Porsche + 2 laps Retirements: Martin/Machitski Valmon Aston 19 laps Cressoni/Pavlovic Sunred Ford 3 laps
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