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Catalunya: Bertrand Baguette weekend summary

Bertrand Baguette ends the season within reach of the podium! For the final time this season the World Series by Renault set up camp, and this time around the circuit of Catalunya that once again welcomed the final round, generally well ...

Bertrand Baguette ends the season within reach of the podium!

For the final time this season the World Series by Renault set up camp, and this time around the circuit of Catalunya that once again welcomed the final round, generally well suited to Bertrand Baguette. And as per usual tradition the young Belgian driving for the Draco team outshone on Friday during the two collective test sessions, ending the first official day at the top of the rankings! A great omen for the future, even though Bertrand did not want to get carried away, seeing matters often become more complicated on the Saturday.

This time around the qualifying session, held in very wet conditions, went well with a 3rd best time for Baguette. And seeing that the Super Pole had been annulled due to unfavourable climatic conditions, the Draco driver knew that he would be starting off from the 6th and 3rd places respectively on the two starting grids. A top 6 which Bertrand retained in the first heat, held on the Saturday afternoon on a dry track. However pretty soon the Safety Car came on to the track and with the restart there was a heavy entanglement on the Catalan track.. "Guerrieri, who was leading the group experienced a problem, and all the drivers following on went off in all directions in order to avoid him ", Baguette explained."The Russian driver Afanasiev, who was in front of me slammed on the brakes...and I was unable to avoid him, hitting him with my front aileron! Nevertheless I was able to carry on the race and all in all the handling of the single-seater was pretty good. To such an extent that I climbed up into 4th spot. And then out of the blue the steering broke and I landed up in a sand trap..."

A further disillusionment on a black background for Bertrand, quite clearly one of the fastest of the pack, but also the most unlucky... "What can I say, apart from the fact that we appear to be collecting the weirdest problems ", a disheartened Bertrand continued."Something different seems to happen at each race, but the outcome is always the same. I was in Jousse's wake when I was forced to retire, and the Frenchman won the race. Really frustrating!"

This Sunday Bertrand Baguette was fully determined to make the most of his 3rd place on the start grid, knowing that he would be avoiding the traditional nudges in the pack behind. Salvador Duran was obliged to take the start from the pitlane, and Baguette attempted to surprise Esteban Guerrieri at the start, without success. The Draco driver built up attack upon attack with a view to destabilising the Argentinean, and on three occasions he even tried to take the outside line at the end of the straight, but to no avail. After the compulsory pit stop of the main leaders, Bertrand was up in 4th place, breathing down on Walker, Guerrieri and Wickens. "I was quite clearly faster than Guerrieri, and perhaps I should have called in earlier than the others ", Baguette commented."The pit-stop went off perfectly, but the strategy used by both Walker and Wickens was better. If I had been able to get passed, the ending might have been even better..." Finishing this final 2008 round in 4th place, Bertrand Baguette has rounded off the FR 3.5 competition in 6th position. "This obviously has nothing to do with our initial objective, but what is more important for me is the fact that Adriano Morini is entirely satisfied with my work. We lacked a fair amount of good fortune, especially in Monza, at the Nurburgring and in Estoril, but at least we proved that we were fast everywhere. We're in for a long inter-season, but we'll make good use of those months to prepare ourselves for 2009 ..."

-credit: bertrand-baguette.com

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