After the effort comes victory

Benjamin Bailly is a young Belgian driver making consistent progress in the ICA category. Inter-provincial champion back home in 2002 and 2004, he finished in 4th place in the last France ICA championship, landing the title “best rookie”, while going through to the final stage of the Europe championship following a 4th place finish at the semi-final in Denmark. In 2006, driver Kosmic-Maréchal has set his sights higher, both nationally and internationally, entering the Europe, Italy and France championships, with the World Cup the icing on the cake.

Having decided to step it up a level, Benjamin Bailly got the season off to a flying start. At the initial trial for the France championship in Angerville, the Belgian overcame harsh competition to score a superb victory on the circuit that will later play host to the World Cup.
Third in his series at the time trials, Benjamin performed a faultless round during qualifiers, ensuring him prime position on the second inside line. “At Angerville, it’s important to get off to a flying start because the start is always tricky”, he explained. Right away, he found himself among the leaders in the prefinal. Abbasse and Arrue, two of his rivals, opted for new spare tyres after this great initial performance. “This choice gave them a real advantage and I couldn’t do anything to beat them, he continued, but by retaining my third position, everything was still possible for the final”.
Benjamin’s predictions turned out to be true. Sporting new tyres himself quickly made all the difference. “The start of the race was hard going with Abbasse and Courquin and then afterwards when I was under pressure from my team-mate Antony Tardieu and from Arrue at the end of the race. But I stayed calm and focused to put down fast and regular laps”.

His team manager Olivier Maréchal enjoyed his intelligently run race from the edge of the track. “Benjamin has learned a lot during our last year together. He is now a more mature and experienced driver and is starting to reap the benefits”. And back to Benjamin: “the entire Kosmic-Vortex package prepared by the Maréchal Motorsport team has been excellent all weekend. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the whole team. The new Kosmic really is highly efficient; it bodes well for the future”.
After this fantastic weekend, Benjamin left for Paris a champion. The Belgian hopes to repeat his initial success as soon as possible.

The Bailly family is well represented under the Maréchal Motorsport team flag with Sébastien, Benjamin’s younger brother, being signed to the Junior category. “I don’t yet have a lot of experience having just come out of Cadets and I have really only raced in my own country. I intend to learn as much as possible and benefit from the expertise of the Maréchal team”, says Sébastien. Finishing 8th in the Belgium Cadet’s championship in 2005, he has been rubbing shoulders with heavyweights from the Junior category in Angerville from the very first day of the France championship. With a promising time that puts him up there with the leaders, Sébastien Bailly has marked his card for the final stage. Forced to withdraw from Race 1, the Belgian managed to come up from 23rd place to second by scoring his best time of the weekend. “I hope to improve on this though at the next race”, he hastened to add.