Name: Bastien Bartsch
Age: 23
Location: Valence, France
V-WTCC car: BMW 320si E90
V-WTCC achievement: Winner of the BMW Brand Cup Race at Brands Hatch
 

You won a Brand Cup event. Tell us your story of the races.
To start with II took pole position, which is always a good thing for the confidence. In race one I had a good start and stayed in first position. Then I managed to gain time on the second until he ran into a problem. A that moment I was five seconds ahead of the new second place driver, so I decided to slow down and drive carefully to the finish line. Ten points won! In race two I start eight (reversed grid). In the first corner somebody hit me and the same thing happened in corner two. I spun and I was got back only at eleventh position with a damaged car that was no longer as fast as during the first race. Eventually I finish in fifth position, thanks to many disconnections. This result allows me to finish first in general, draw with Marco, but in front of him thanks to my better race time in race two.

How did you prepare for the races?
I only have RACE 07 since few days - I won it with my victory last week in V-WTCC demo race - so my experience with this game wasn’t very good compared to other drivers. The Demo Race learned me that races in this game are very hard for tires… As a consequence, I had to train about 2 hours on Saturday to understand how to drive fast so long as possible!

How did you become a simracer?
I began simracing at the end of the year 2006, discovering the GTR2 Demo. I drove it with a pad! I bought a wheel and joined FFSCA and its great GTR league, the LFGTR. In 2007 my results in LFGTR weren’t fantastic, my friend and team-mate Lionel Messenger was too far away, despite of his great advices! The level was very high, and I wasn’t fast enough to win! I discovered rFactor as well, mainly with F3 mod and claimed some wins in France. In 2008 my wheel stopped working, so I bought a G25. A big change for me! I improved my performances very easily, and I joined the famous Virtual-Games Racing Team, thanks to Arnaud Lacombe. With Roland Ehnström and him, we won the team championship in SimChallenge (the most revered GTR2 league in the world). I finished in fourth position in my first international championship. Many thanks to all Virtual-Games staff and team for their support and their confidence!

Are you a real racer as well?
In fact, I practiced karting in a competition until my last French championship in 2006. I began karting when I was twelve years old. I drove about 60 races, with ten wins and twenty podiums. I was regional champion twice and I was five times French championship finalist with a tenth position as a best result. I’m very proud of my “career” because of my small budget compared to most of other drivers, especially in national championship!! Most of the simracers want to become real racer, but I can tell you that I’m very happy to be a virtual racer! Everybody has equal opportunity, and money is not the main performance benchmark…

What are your expectations for the Semi-Finals in Brno?
To be better than my brother Kevin at Brno! More seriously, I would like to win this Semi-Final. However the main goal is to finish on the podium, to qualify for Monza.

Do you have any tips for new drivers?
Don’t focus on the setup. You gain more time with good driving than with a good setup. Try to drive relaxed and don’t force your braking. Keep it cool!

Who will win the V-WTCC 2008?
It will be very, very close between BMW drivers. But I really think the winner will be Finnish or French, hehe!