Bertrand Marcel Nicolas Baguette (born 23 February 1986) is a Belgian professional racing driver. 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 in Super GT. Bertrand is the 2022 Super GT 500 Champion with Nissan.
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.
IndyCar Series
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.
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 could not 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 No. 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. His race engineer gambled on the race strategy by extending his time out on track, hoping for a late yellow flag that would have given the car a good chance at 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 in IndyCar.
