FIA GT: Piccione joins Hexis AMR

Clivio Piccione will make his GT racing debut in the new FIA GT1 World Championship this season.

The Monegasque driver has joined Hexis Racing and will drive one of the French squad’s Aston Martin DBR9s in the new 10-round championship which kicks off in Abu Dhabi next month.

The 26-year-old has no prior GT or sportscar racing experience, having concentrated on single-seaters since his graduation from karting in 2001. Last season he represented Monaco in A1GP and has also raced in Euroseries 3000, World Series by Renault, GP2 and British F3.

“Driving a GT is a first for me,” Piccione said. “This is a big shift and is a challenge. I met (Hexis AMR team manager) Philippe Dumas when we heard about the FIA GT1 World Championship a few months ago.

“Back then we had in mind to create a common structure between Hexis AMR and Team Monaco, but unfortunately Team Monaco couldn’t gather enough financial means to take part in this new championship and the project fell through.

“Despite everything, I maintained good relations with Philippe and expressed my interest in joining Hexis AMR. I am on good terms with the team and we share a mutual trust. I had the chance to meet them at Ledenon during a test and saw them in action at the Paul Ricard test day. I’m really proud to be part of the team.

“I think this championship has a bright future and that it will become the queen GT category in the coming years.”

Hexis AMR has already announced that Jean-Denis Deletraz and Frederic Makowiecki will share one of its two DBR9s this season, with a fourth driver to join Piccione in the second car set to be revealed shortly.


Andy Wilkinson