Bertrand Baguette

Bertrand Baguette (born 23 February 1986) is a Belgian professional racing driver. He currently competes in Super GT for Honda with the Keihin Real Racing team. In 2013 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class and the FIA WEC LMP2 class title. In 2017 he won the final running of the Suzuka 1000km.

Bertrand Baguette
Nationality Belgian
Born (1986-02-23) 23 February 1986
Verviers, Belgium
Super GT (GT500) career
Debut season2014
Current teamReal Racing
Car number17
Former teamsNakajima Racing
Previous series
20152016
2013
2010-11
2008
2008
2008
200709
200506
2005–06
2004
Super Formula Championship
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

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 single seater racing in 2004. He entered in the Belgian Formula Renault 1600cc with Marc Goossens Motorsport that year, as part of his scholarship win. He finished a strong third in the championship, amassing three wins and four poles during the season.

The next season, Baguette moved to both Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and French Formula Renault 2.0 championships with Epsilon Euskadi. He finished eighth (tied on points with seventh Junior Strous) in the European championship and eleventh in the French one, including a second place at Pau. He continued in both series in 2006 with a fourth place overall in the Eurocup, including five podiums and a win at Le Mans, finishing just 11 points behind championship winner Filipe Albuquerque. He finished in eighth in the French championship, again for Epsilon Euskadi.

In 2007, Baguette entered the 3.5-litre Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the eponymous Kurt Mollekens-run KTR team, in which he took two podium finishes in his first season. He was close to win his first race in this category at Autodromo Nazionale Monza before a blown tyre. He continued in the category in 2008, driving for the Italian team Draco with which he scored his first win at Spa and ended seventh in the championship.

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. During the second half of the season, Baguette raised his rhythm to put himself with an unassailable 34-point championship lead with a round to go. Baguette eventually won both races of the last meeting of the season at Ciudad del Motor de Aragón, thus winning the championship by 57 points from Fairuz Fauzy. During his 2009 campaign, Baguette scored fives wins and ten podiums.

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

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.[2]

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.

With some strong performances throughout the season, especially on ovals, he manage a best finish of 10th at Kentucky, after qualifying 6th.

Due to a lack of budget, Baguette couldn't get a full-time seat for the 2011 IndyCar Series. However, he could find a deal with Bobby Rahal's team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to enter the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with the n°30 car. After showing an impressive pace during practice, Baguette qualified on the fifth row for his second Indy 500. During the race, he was constantly positioned within the first half of the field and on lap 189, manage a pass on Danica Patrick to take the lead of the 2011 Indianapolis 500. The n° 30 race engineer gambled on the race strategy by extending his time out on track, hoping for a late yellow flag that would certainly have given the car a good shot for the win, but this didn't happen and low on fuel, Baguette had to pit three laps before the end of the race. He finished 7th, still his best result 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

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.[3]

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).[4]

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.[5][6][7]

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.[8]

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).[9]

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.[10][11][12]

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.[13][14][15]

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.[16][15][17]

Super GT

In 2014, Baguette became a factory driver for Honda.

Since then, he is competing in the Super GT championship in Japan. He first drove for the Epson Nakajima Racing in the GT500 class, co-driving with Daisuke Nakajima from 2014 to 2016 and then Kosuke Matsuura during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

During these years, the team was running a Honda NSX-GT equipped with Dunlop Tyres. Baguette scored his first podium during his first season in the series in the 5th round at Fuji Speedway.

In 2017, the pair Baguette - Mastuura drove the Epson Nakajima Racing Honda to victory during the 1000km of Suzuka, considered as the biggest race in Japan. Moreover, 2017 would be the last year this race would be part of the Super GT 500 class calendar.

For the 2019 season, Baguette was officially announced in the n°17 Keihin Real Racing Honda NSX-GT, where he will partner with Japanese driver Koudai Tsukakoshi.

Super Formula

Together with Super GT, Baguette also took part to the very high-level Super Formula championship in 2015 and in 2016, again with Nakajima Racing.

Racing record

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points
2007 KTR MNZ
1

18
MNZ
2

Ret
NÜR
1

11
NÜR
2

Ret
MON
1

12
HUN
1

Ret
HUN
2

17
SPA
1

5
SPA
2

Ret
DON
1

3
DON
2

Ret
MAG
1

Ret
MAG
2

13
EST
1

20
EST
2

Ret
CAT
1

8
CAT
2

2
17th 34
2008 Draco Racing MNZ
1

Ret
MNZ
2

Ret
SPA
1

1
SPA
2

11
MON
1

5
SIL
1

6
SIL
2

16
HUN
1

4
HUN
2

4
NÜR
1

5
NÜR
2

5
BUG
1

Ret
BUG
2

16
EST
1

Ret
EST
2

4
CAT
1

Ret
CAT
2

4
7th 69
2009 Draco Racing CAT
1

2
CAT
2

Ret
SPA
1

2
SPA
2

2
MON
1

5
HUN
1

3
HUN
2

6
SIL
1

8
SIL
2

5
BUG
1

1
BUG
2

1
ALG
1

2
ALG
2

5
NÜR
1

1
NÜR
2

5
ALC
1

1
ALC
2

1
1st 155

Superleague Formula

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

Year Team Operator 1 2 3 4 5 6 Position Points
2008 Al Ain Azerti Motorsport DON NÜR ZOL EST VAL JER 12th 244
11 10 10 7

IndyCar Series results

(key)

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Rank Points
2010 Conquest Racing Dallara
IR-05
Honda SAO STP ALA
20
LBH
24
KAN
20
INDY
22
TXS
22
IOW
17
WGL
18
TOR
16
EDM
14
MDO
11
SNM
23
CHI
12
KTY
10
MOT
25
HMS
15
22nd 213
2011 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing STP ALA LBH SAO INDY
7
TXS TXS MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO NHM SNM BAL MOT KTY LVS 39th 30
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums
(Non-win)
Top 10s
(Non-podium)
Indianapolis 500
Wins
Championships
2 2 16 0 0 0 2 0 0

Indianapolis 500

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team
2010 Dallara Honda 24 22 Conquest Racing
2011 Dallara Honda 14 7 RLL Racing

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points
2011 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT1 ABU
QR
ABU
CR
ZOL
QR
ZOL
CR
ALG
QR
ALG
CR
SAC
QR
SAC
CR
SIL
QR
SIL
CR
NAV
QR

3
NAV
CR

4
PRI
QR
PRI
CR
ORD
QR
ORD
CR
BEI
QR

Ret
BEI
CR

4
SAN
QR
SAN
CR
17th 28

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Year Team Class Car Engine 1 2 3 Rank Points
2012 OAK Racing LMP2 Morgan LMP2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 CAS DON
1
ATL
2
2nd 71

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

Year Team Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points
2012 OAK Racing LMP1 OAK Pescarolo 01 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 SEB
25
SPA
Ret
LMS
Ret
71st 2
LMP2 Morgan LMP2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL
14
SÃO
Ret
BHR
Ret
LMP1 OAK Pescarolo 01 Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8 FUJ
16
SHA
14
2013 OAK Racing LMP2 Morgan LMP2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL
4
SPA
3
LMS
1
SÃO
2
COA
7
FUJ
1
SHA
3
BHR
4
1st 141.5

Complete Super GT results

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

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points
2014 Epson Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
15
FUJ
Ret
AUT
10
SUG
13
FUJ
3
SUZ
12
BUR
Ret
MOT
14
17th 12
2015 Epson Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
Ret
FUJ
12
CHA
11
FUJ
11
SUZ
9
SUG
Ret
AUT
10
MOT
13
15th 4
2016 Epson Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
14
FUJ
10
SUG
12
FUJ
11
SUZ
11
CHA
5
MOT
13
MOT
14
18th 7
2017 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
12
FUJ
13
AUT
12
SUG
8
FUJ
12
SUZ
1
CHA
8
MOT
10
11th 32
2018 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
15
FUJ
Ret
SUZ
10
CHA
9
FUJ
13
SUG
13
AUT
10
MOT
12
19th 4
2019 Keihin Real Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA
14
FUJ
5
SUZ
Ret
CHA
13
FUJ
8
AUT
2
SUG
5
MOT
5
6th 39
2020 Keihin Real Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 FUJ
Ret
FUJ
1
SUZ
8
MOT
1
FUJ
10
SUZ
10
MOT
5
FUJ
4
3rd 59

Complete Super Formula results

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points
2015 Nakajima Racing SUZ
10
OKA
11
FUJ
Ret
MOT
15
AUT
16
SUG
18
SUZ
11
SUZ
Ret
18th 0
2016 Nakajima Racing SUZ
8
OKA
14
FUJ
14
MOT
Ret
OKA
14
OKA
18
SUG
9
SUZ
6
SUZ
5
15th 4.5

References

  1. Elizalde, Pablo (11 November 2009). "Baguette to test for Renault at Jerez". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  2. English, Steven (22 March 2010). "Baguette joins IndyCar with Conquest". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Race — Final Classification" (PDF). Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 23 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  6. "Statistiques 24ème Heure / 24th Hour Statistics" (PDF). Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 23 June 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  7. Autosport. 23 June 2013 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108252. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Watkins, Gary (20 October 2013). "Fuji WEC: Toyota gets victory as rain ends race". Autosport.com. Haymarket Press. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. Autosport. 20 October 2013 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110760. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. Autosport. 9 November 2013 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111211. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. Autosport. 30 November 2013 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111672. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Giedo van der Garde
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Champion

2009
Succeeded by
Mikhail Aleshin
Preceded by
Inaugural
FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers
2013
With: Martin Plowman & Ricardo González
Succeeded by
Sergey Zlobin
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