A family decked in gold and bronze !

Benjamin and Sébastien Bailly stamped their authority on the 3rd round of the French ICA and Junior championships. Already a winner at the opening meeting of the season, Benjamin is more than ever in the running for the title after a new gold medal performance at Lavelanet, in the South of France, while his younger brother again confirmed his promising talent by taking 3rd place on the podium in the racing for 13-15 year-olds.

The Lavelenet circuit lies in the foothills of the Pyrenean Mountains. It was here, just a few miles from the Principality of Andorra, that young prince Benjamin Bailly once again proved his pedigree. The 16-year old from Liège was quick during the time trials, clocking the second fastest time in his group. Despite a minor setback during qualification, he went on to claim victory after a patient and dogged drive. “I coasted to 2nd place in the first heat but had to drop out of heat 2 after a crash. So then I knew I had to give it everything I’d got if I didn’t want to start too far back on the grid for the pre-final. As I managed to win the last heat fairly comfortably, I was able to limit the damage and start the pre-final in 7th place”. Keeping up the effort, the Kosmic driver got off to a good start and worked his way up to 2nd place after some nifty overtaking. “The race leader had opened up a big lead and it was too late to catch him. But there was still the final to come… Talking things over with the team mechanics, we decided to alter the set up and the move paid off. In the final the kart was going like a dream, I managed to clock the fastest lap and was soon in a position to put pressure on the leader”.

From then on there was quite a scrap with Anthony Abbasse. Sitting on Abbasse’s tail, Bailly appeared to be the faster of the two. He then demonstrated his cool temperament and race savvy. “I decided to sit behind Abbasse for a few laps to see what line he took and work out where I might be able to get past him. The main thing was to stay cool and wait for my chance, although I couldn’t wait until the final lap because I knew he would do all he could to shut me out and go for victory. In the end, I came out of the chicane as fast as possible and I managed to get past him by the end of the straight”. Unstoppable and a true sporting master class ! A few minutes later, perched on top of the podium, the Belgian was able to explode with joy as he celebrated his second victory in three races. Just two rounds from the end, Bailly is more than ever in the running to become the new French ICA Champion.

First time on the podium
Racing in the Junior category, Sébastien Bailly sprung the surprise of the day. Few observers gave him any chance of reaching the podium, but the young man from Liège grabbed his chance after a remarkable error-free drive. “Being able to race in the Italian championships at the same time enabled me to pick up a lot of valuable experience. My performances got better, especially in terms of consistency. After two consecutive races on the other side of the Alps, I came to Lavelanet in confident mood”. Not satisfied with clocking his best results of the season in the time trials, he went on to take 3rd place in one of the heats. In the pre-final he demonstrated just how far he has come by taking 6th place. He kept up the pressure in the final. Showing excellent anticipation, he avoided a crash just in front of him before going on to claim the 3rd place he had been coveting. “That’s what I was secretly hoping for before I came here. The kart ran perfectly throughout the weekend so I was able to battle it out with the best of them and pick up this result”.
The Summer break is coming up for the French championships so Benjamin and Sébastien Bailly will be off to prepare for the semi-final of the European Championships at the next meeting of the Italian Championships at Sarno, near Naples.

Benjamin goes European
France is not the only happy hunting ground for Benjamin Bailly, as his brilliant performances in Italy have shown. The “Italian Open Masters” is an even more hotly contested competition than its counterparts in France and Belgium, and as such provides an excellent training ground for the European championships. After coming 2nd and 6th in races in March, Benjamin once again showed his worth with a remarkable climb from 11th up to 4th place. Currently lying 4th in the provisional championships, he is all set for the final push onto the podium of this difficult international series.