01/10/2009 - 13.00h We talk with KZ1 European Champin and KZ2 WSK champion...

FFK: Talk us about karting now.

BL: It's a very nice sport and very hard because at the moment the concurrent are really good and very strong, the drivers are very professional in the high-level. It’s not anymore like five years ago, there are soft tyres. Now is more difficult to find the last tenth of a second to win the race.

FFK: When was your beggining in motorsports, and why Motorsports?

BL: My father was driving a 4x4 and off-road racing so I start with a kart and I show that it was fantastic and wanted to do that, but it costs a lot of money. My father search the money to buy a go-kart and from that moment we start to drive because I really like it. When I just started by 7 and half years old, one friend of my father called my dad and told him "If your son drive today in Strijen (gokart track in Holland) and beat the 40 seconds record he get a pair of karting shoes for free.". We drived this day, a very long day because we started at 8 o'clock in the morning and finished in the night at 7 o'clock, and in the last minute I did a better time than 40 seconds, 39,9", I got my shoes, and from that moment it was going to be better and better.

FFK: You drived in single seaters in 2005 with 2 win and 5 podiums.

BL: Yes, 2005 was a very good year for us, I was the rookie of the year, I won two races, 5 podiums and 2 pole-positions, it was very good but at the end of the season, when my mum with my sponsor about the budget of 2006, she talked with him and make a deal with him and then, the day after, they called my mum and told her that he was died because of a heart attack, so I had not anymore the sponsorship that I had before, and it was very difficult to find new sponsors in a short time in formula cars

FFK: What you learned from single seaters that you aplied after on karting?

BL: Talking with my engineer. I learned a lot to work with the data of the car, at the moment it’s very important in karting to check the data to because you can check everything. Speed, RPM, G power, temperature etc. It's not only driving giving gas and enjoying the day! It's fisical and mentality heavy but you needs also to understand how to work with data.

FFK: Fisically and mentally is difficult to return from formulas to karting?

BL: Absolutly! Because in formula cars there are some long straights where you can smoke a cigarette  for example, but in karting a track with 1200 meters long with and maybe 13 corners so you have to work, there's not a part where you can smoke a cigarrette, you need always to be fit, you have to think always futher and already to the next corner, this is a very difficult point in karting. Now the races are longer than before!

FFK:  Which is your fitness in a day.

BL: For me it's very important to run because it focus you on the mentality, there is one way you want to win and you want to do the maximum. I run about 12 and 20 km every day and I like it very much, also becycle and swimming. I also go to fitness to work with my neck and body to have the power to drive with the kart. You have to give your maximum if you want to win!

FFK: Witch was your best victory?

BL: That's very difficult to say, My best race at Wackersdorf because I never expected that we could win the race after a difficult prefinal. Jeremy (Iglesias) were very fast in the final and also in the pre-final because he won it. The final was a hard race because we where on the same distance but I tried to do the maximum to getting closer and closer to overtake him, I saw the posibillity to overtake him. The last three laps were the longest 3 laps in my life.

FFK: Talk us about the Wackersdorf weekend:

BL: Wackersdorf is a very difficult track to drive with gearbox. It's very sneaky, tricky track... There are a lot of corners but they are not easy for overtake drivers. We were very happy because we went on the right way and we try something in the free practice on Sunday that was not working really good, so we try to make the good set up for the pre-final that doesn’t work again. For the final we take a decision with my mechanic and the other guys from the team, it was the right way... and it was fantastic!

FFK: Some drivers are racing in Super KF and KZ2 in WSK, why you don't?

BL: I wanted to focus myself in gearbox because for me the KZ2 is the first choice, the KF series now is not anymore like before with the Formula A engines, I'm not really happy about new engines. I drove last year in the KF1 World Championship at La Conca, it was not bad, but it’s an another category, you have to be carefull with everything, you have to change your driving line and driving very smooth. There where many problems with the clutch and the engine. This are one of the reasons I prefer to drive with the gearbox engines.

FFK: Do you know something about the next years WSK? What do you think?

BL: I heard about it. I think it's a really good plan but also an very expensive one, most of the drivers would drives in the WSK Light because not every driver will have the budget to go to America or China. Only the drivers with a bigger budget could do the WSK world series races. I think that race in another country like America or China will be fantastic because because we never raced out of Europe and it's a really good plan to do and it should be very good for the promotion of the Karting!

FFK: You drived for TonyKart, Swiss Hutless, TopKart and Intrepid, can you explain something characteristic of any team?

BL: Well... I had good times, and I had bad times. For sure you need to find the right combination with the kart, engine, tyres and driver. At the moment I feels good with the Intrepid chassis, the people are nice to work with, the engines are good (maybe the driver not hahaha)... I think that we have a strong packet for this year and hopefully we can get more wins.