Bertrand Baguette competing in the Superleague in Zolder

Bertrand Baguette

This coming week-end, the Superleague Formula, a brand new discipline bringing together some of the top football teams on the planet, will be calling on Circuit Zolder… and Bertrand Baguette will be on hand! "Wim Coekelbergs, who runs the Azerti Automotive team, contacted me this Wednesday telling me that Andreas Zuber was looking to concentrate his efforts on the GP2, which meant that he wished to drop out of this new competition series ", Bertrand explained. "This meant that there was a drive going in the Al Ain FC single-seater car, a top team in the United Arab Emirates. He asked me whether I might be interested and I obviously said yes.."

And a few hours later Baguette found himself in charge of a single-seater bearing the purple and white colors…but in fact in no way related to the RSC Anderlecht colors. In the meanwhile, what is this so called single-seater in the Superleague Formula? "The car appears to be highly competitive, but not quite as intense as the Formula Renault 3.5", Baguette continued. “Élan Motorsports Technologies designed the chassis, an American company run by no less than Don Panoz, who has a pretty solid know-how in such competitions as the IndyCar, the Champ Car, and others. This aesthetically well designed single-seater is powered by a V12 4,2 liters engine built by the British company Menard, producing no less than 750 bhp. This promises to be good fun at Zolder…"

Notwithstanding the fact that Bertrand needs to become acquainted with this single-seater, he is on home ground.. "And this is good news, not forgetting the fact that I will have 75 minutes in which to adapt to the car during the free practice sessions. On the other hand it’s difficult to come out with a forecast. To be quite honest I don’t know what to expect, even though every driver has victory at the back of their mind. The Wim Coekelbergs’ team are entering a second car, bearing the PSV Eindhoven colors, to be driven by Yelmer Buurman, who won one of the two legs at the Nürburgring recently. So all in all the potential is there and it’s up to me to prove my capabilities of adapting to a situation once again…"

Bertrand Baguette is taking on a high level competition this weekend, as he is up against such names as Davide Rigon, Enrico Toccacelo, Adrian Valles, Borja Garcia, Tristan Gommendy, Nelson Philippe, not forgetting Robert Doornbos, one of last season’s Champ Car World Series stars. Free practice sessions will be held on Saturday morning, lasting 45 and 30 minutes respectively, prior to the qualifying sessions – in football style – with two quite distinct groups, followed by quarter and semi-finals, finishing with a Pole Shoot Out! The first of the two races is scheduled on Sunday at 11.00hrs (45'), whereas the second race will enjoy an F1 timing, with a start at 14.00hrs, and here again for a race length of 45 minutes We’re in for a great weekend of racing.