Bertrand Baguette

Bertrand Baguette
Baguette in May 2010.
Nationality	Belgian
Born	(1986-02-23) 23 February 1986 Verviers, Belgium
Super GT (GT500) career
Debut season	2014
Current team	Nakajima Racing
Car no.	64
Previous series
2013 2010-11 2008 2008 2008 2007–09 2005–06 2005–06 2004	FIA WEC IndyCar Series FIA GT Championship Superleague Formula Belgian Touring Cars S1 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Formula Renault Eurocup French Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 1.6 Belgium
Championship titles
2013 2009	FIA WEC LMP2 class Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Bertrand Baguette (born 23 February 1986) is a Belgian professional racing driver. Since 2000, he has competed in various motorsport formulae. He currently competes in Super GT for Nakajima Racing. In 2013 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class^[1] and the 2013 FIA WEC World Champion LMP2 class for drivers and teams.^[2]

Career

Karting

Aged 14, Baguette began karting in his inter-provincial championship, driving "Blue" class karts, in which he finished fifth. He then moved up to junior level for 2001, competing again in the inter-provincial championship but also competed in the national championship for the first time. He finished third in the provincial level championship, but was four places lower in the national. Baguette competed in four different Intercontinental A class championships in 2002, with a runner-up position at the provincial level, despite competing in only certain events, due to prior higher-ranked commitments in the Belgian, French or European championships. He then completed in a fourth year of karting, winning the Belgian Championship and again finished runner-up in a partial campaign in the provincial championship. He also won a scholarship to give him a drive in 1600cc Formula Renault Belgium.

Formula Renault

Baguette moved into 1600cc Formula Renault cars and into the Belgian series, as part of his scholarship win. He finished a strong third in the championship, amassing three wins and four poles during the season. He finished well behind the Boutsen Racing duo of Pieter Belmans and champion Maxime Soulet. Baguette moved to the Championnat de France Formula Renault 2.0 for 2005, with a campaign in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 also, for Epsilon Euskadi. He finished eleventh in the French championship, including a second place at Pau. He ranked four places higher in the pan-European championship, including a fastest lap at the Bugatti Circuit. He continued in both series in 2006, and again ranked higher in the European championship. He finished fourth with five podiums including a win at Le Mans, finishing just 11 points behind championship winner Filipe Albuquerque. He finished in a lowly eighth in the French championship, again for Epsilon Euskadi.

In 2007, Baguette moved up 1500cc to the 3.5-litre Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the eponymous Kurt Mollekens-run KTR team, in which he took two podium finishes. He continued in the category in 2008, driving for the Italian team Draco. After finishing seventh in the championship, including a win at Spa, Baguette continued with Draco for the 2009 season.

A steady start, with four podiums left Baguette tied on points with Marcos Martínez before the Silverstone meeting. Seven top-fives in eight races, including three wins left Baguette with an unassailable 34-point championship lead with a round to go. Despite the pressure being off, Baguette won both races at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón, thus winning the championship by 57 points from Fairuz Fauzy.

As a prize for his championship win, he was given the opportunity to test a Renault R29 Formula One car at Jerez on 1 December 2009 and a BMW Sauber F1.09 car on 3 December.^[3]

IndyCar Series

Baquette at the 2010 Honda Indy Toronto

On 22 March 2010, Conquest Racing announced that Baguette would drive their second car in the IndyCar Series, starting with the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on 11 April.^[4]

Baguette qualified 24th for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 and finished 22nd after losing several laps in the pits to replace a rear-view mirror that had fallen off. He was actually leading late in the race thanks to his pace and a strategy gamble from his team, but ultimately he had to stop again for fuel. His season-best finish was 10th at Kentucky, after qualifying 6th. Baguette passed Danica Patrick in lap 189 and took the lead of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 but had to pit three laps before the end of the race and finished 7th, his best finish of his career.

Formula One

Baguette tested for Renault F1 at Jerez on 1 December 2009 and for BMW Sauber two days later. Baguette was favourite to become Robert Kubica's team mate at Renault after many favourites such as Timo Glock, Heikki Kovalainen, Romain Grosjean, Takuma Sato, Nick Heidfeld, Christian Klien and Jacques Villeneuve dropped out but the seat was eventually filled by Vitaly Petrov.

FIA World Endurance Championship

Martin Plowman, Baguette's co-driver at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans

2013

For 2013, Baguette was hired by OAK Racing to drive Morgan-Nissans in the LMP2 class on the FIA World Endurance Championship. Baguette shares the number 35 entry with co-drivers Ricardo González and Martin Plowman.

The 2013 season started at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the OAK Racing Morgan LMP2-Nissan No. 35 finished in fourth place (twelfth overall) to get their first 10 points for the World Championship.^[5]

On the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, González, Baguette and Plowman finished in third position (for cars registered for points in the FIA World Endurance Championship), of LMP2 class (eleventh overall).^[6]

In 2013 Baguette and his co-drivers Ricardo González and Martin Plowman from OAK Racing Morgan LMP2-Nissan team, won 81st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 class (seventh overall). Their Morgan LMP2 covered a total of 329 laps in the Circuit de la Sarthe, the race was run in very difficult weather conditions and several serious accidents bringing out a record of twelve safety car caution periods.^[1][7][8]

The 6 Hours of São Paulo were held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, on 30 August–1 September. González, Baguette and Plowman got the second place of LMP2 category, only behind Oreca 03-Nissan team (Rusinov, Martin and Conway). With this result the Belgian driver got his second podium of the year.^[9]

In the fifth round of 2013 season were the 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on 20–22 September. González, Baguette and Plowman obtained the seventh place of LMP2 category (eleventh overall).^[10]

On 18–20 October, in the 6 hours of Fuji, following a two-hour delay the race was restarted once more under the safety car, lapping another eight circuits before officials stopped the race again and eventually called an end to the event. The No. 35 OAK Morgan-Nissan (Baguette, González and Plowman), started in the pole position and was declared the race winner of LMP2 class (fourth overall), in the same position they started. Due to difficult weather conditions half points will be awarded for all the teams and drivers in the event.^[11][12][13]

During the 6 Hours of Shanghai on 8–9 November, the No. 35 OAK Morgan-Nissan trio (Baguette, González and Plowman), qualified in fourth position and finished in third place (7th overall). With this new podium the French team extend their lead on 15 points to the final race of the championship.^[14][15][16]

On the last race of the season the 6 Hours of Bahrain on 29–30 November, González, Baguette and Plowman qualified in sixth place and finished in fourth position (sixth overall). Therefore, the Belgian Bertrand Baguette won the 2013 FIA WEC World Championship for drivers and teams in LMP2 class.^[2][16][17]

Super GT

SInce 2014, Baguette is competing in the Super GT championship for Epson Nakajima Racing in the GT500 class, co-driving with Daisuke Nakajima.

Super Formula

Together with Super GT, Baguette also took part to the very high-level Super Formula championship since 2015, again with Nakajima Racing.

Baguette behind the wheel

• 

  Baguette in the cockpit of a Formula Renault 3.5 Series car, 2007.

• 

  Baguette driving for KTR at the Donington Park round of the 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season.

• 

  Baguette driving for Draco Racing at the Silverstone round of the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season.

Racing record

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Superleague Formula

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

IndyCar Series results

(key)

Indianapolis 500

Complete GT1 World Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2012	OAK Racing	Franck Montagny Dominik Kraihamer	OAK Pescarolo 01 Evo-Judd	LMP1	219	DNF	DNF
2013	OAK Racing	Martin Plowman Ricardo González	OAK Morgan LMP2 Nissan	LMP2	329	7th	1st

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete Super GT results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Super Formula results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bertrand Baguette.

• Official website
• IndyCar Driver Page
• Official fanclub
• Interview with Baguette for IndyCar