Benoît Tréluyer

Benoît Tréluyer 2011

Benoît Tréluyer (born December 7, 1976 in Alençon ) is a French racing driver .

Career

Beginnings in motorsport

Benoît Tréluyer began his career in 1983 as a motocross driver and remained loyal to this sport until 1989. He then switched to karting , which he practiced from 1990 to 1994. In 1995, when he took part in the French Formula Campus, he was promoted to the monoposto sector. In the years '96 and '97 he competed in the French Formula Renault Championship, where he celebrated a race victory in the second season.

Formula 3

In 1998 Tréluyer entered the French Formula 3 and achieved a pole position and ninth place overall, driving for Signature . He also competed for the team in a race in the British Championships . He spent the following year again in French Formula 3 and at Signature and finished third overall with two wins, two pole positions and eight further podium finishes. In addition, starting from pole position, he won the European Formula 3 Cup in Pau and came third in the Korea Super Prix . In 2000, he moved to Team Inging in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship and achieved fifth place in the overall standings with one win, one pole position and two other podium results. He also finished fourth in the Zandvoort Formula 3 Masters . In 2001, competing for Dome Project , he won the Japanese Formula 3 with 16 wins, 14 pole positions and a total of 19 podium positions in 20 races and also gained his first experience in the Japanese GT championship (a podium). At the Super Prix he achieved third place again, at the Macau F3 Grand Prix he achieved second place after being eliminated there two years earlier. In the Zandvoort F3 Masters, however, he was not so lucky, he finished 24.

Formula Nippon, Super GT and Le Mans 24 hours

In 2002 Tréluyer came to his first outings in Formula Nippon , in addition, he continued his irregular appearances in the All-Japan GT Championship. He also competed in the GTS class at the Le Mans 24 Hours and came third. This combination was to shape his career in the years to come. In 2003 he was engaged full-time in the two Japanese top categories for the first time and, while under contract with Team Impul , he finished the Formula Nippon with two victories as runner-up and the GT series with two racing successes in seventh place. In 2004 Tréluyer had to be content with fourth place despite two more victories in the F. Nippon, in the GT series it was only enough to finish eleventh overall. At Le Mans this time he started in the LMP1 class and finished fourth. In 2005 there was a victory and sixth place overall in the F. Nippon, in the Super GT he was only placed under “also ran”.

In the 2006 season, Tréluyer was finally Formula Nippon champion with four victories, and winning the prestigious 1000 km race in Suzuka ("Pokka 1000 km") brought him eighth overall in the Super GT championship. In 2007 he just missed defending his title in Formula Nippon with second place overall; in the Super GT, he played no role in the top field of the overall standings; on his Le Mans comeback, he took thirteenth place (sixth in the LMP1 classification). In 2008 he experienced a disappointing season in Formula Nippon as eighth of the championship, but was able to win the Super GT series for the first time with three victories together with Satoshi Motoyama , whereby the change to the NISMO team probably paid off. He finished seventh in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2009 Tréluyer also started in these three categories; in Formula Nippon he was runner-up for the third time with a race win, in the Super GT he achieved fourth place overall as a two-time race winner and at Le Mans he had one retirement.

In 2010 he did not compete in the Formula Nippon Championship for the first time since 2001, but still competed in the Super GT series and ended the season with two podium places in seventh place. He also posted his best result to date at Le Mans, a second place with Audi Sport Team Joest . In addition, Tréluyer took part in one race each of the American Le Mans Series and the Le Mans Series for Joest .

After two serious accidents within the team (Allan McNish # 3 and Mike Rockenfeller # 1), he and his driver colleagues Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer were able to win the Le Mans 24-hour race in the only remaining Audi R18 just ahead of three Peugeots 908 win. In 2012 and 2014 he also won the overall classification at Le Mans.

After Audi's involvement in Le Mans ended, he switched to the Italian GT Championship in 2017.

Others

Benoît Tréluyer has already survived several spectacular accidents in his career. In 2007, during a Formula Nippon race in Suzuka, there was a collision on the crossover straight, as a result of which his car was torn apart in the middle, but he did not suffer any serious injuries. During the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2009, the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP he was driving hit the barrier after the Dunlop arc and was thrown through the air, but he was able to get out of the wreck unharmed.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2002	Equipe de France FFSA	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Jean-Philippe Belloc	Jonathan Cochet	Rank 14
2004	Pescarolo sport	Pescarolo C60	Soheil Ayari	Érik Comas	Rank 4
2007	Pescarolo sport	Pescarolo 01	Harold Primate	Christophe Tinseau	Rank 13
2008	Pescarolo sport	Pescarolo 01	Harold Primate	Christophe Tinseau	Rank 7
2009	Pescarolo sport	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Jean-Christophe Boullion	Simon Pagenaud	failure	accident
2010	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15 TDI	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Rank 2
2011	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Overall victory
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Overall victory
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Rank 5
2014	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Overall victory
2015	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro RP5	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Rank 3
2016	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 RP6	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Rank 4

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 TDI	André Lotterer	Marcel Fässler	Rank 15
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Oliver Jarvis	Marcel Fässler	Overall victory

Web links

Commons : Benoît Tréluyer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• official homepage
• Tréluyers racing statistics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peugeot celebrates double triumph at Le Mans motorsport-total.com