Following the major disappointment in Sugo last month when the Motul-Autech team lost a guaranteed victory due to some debris flicking on the kill switch on the outside of the car, Benoît Tréluyer took his revenge on lady luck in Suzuka. And he did it with no regrets!

Qualifying went quite well for the #23 Nissan GT-R, even though it just missed out on pole position.

“Only by two tenths,” said Tréluyer, who was nevertheless quite satisfied. “For the most part, the #8 HSV-010 was developed here at the Honda-owned Suzuka circuit and it was even quicker as it wasn’t carrying any ballast. So for us to be on the front row was a great performance.”

The next day, Motoyama confirmed the strong pace of the GT-R at the beginning of his stint before starting to lose some time on the #8 and the #100 cars due to the tyre pressures being slightly too high.

“When I took over I found myself one second ahead of the #8 car, which had lost some time in the pits, and I managed to keep it behind me for the entire stint. Unfortunately, towards the end, a GT300, which I was lapping around the outside, started to understeer a lot. It touched me at the rear and spun my car.”

Benoît lost at least twenty seconds in the incident but then went on the attack again.

“My team mate did a good second stint and my final one was completely mad! I was doing one qualifying lap after another, broke the lap record and found myself just behind the #100 HSV-010 as it came out of the pits. I made a crazy overtaking manoeuvre in traffic at the chicane and I was able to take the place and keep it at bay until the finish.”

Benoît ultimately clinched a second place finish, which is very promising for the end of the season and even more so for next year.

“The tyres worked well,” he said. “We’ve made some more developments there but we’re still behind on the engine side compared to Honda. We were faster in the first, second and fourth sectors, but we were losing six tenths in the third, especially on the straight and at the exit of the hairpin. We are lacking at low revs and we’re still paying the price for having started the engine development a bit late. But, having said that, we’re making progress and things are looking good for next season if I continue with Nissan.”

On Sunday night the Frenchman still had a heavy heart, it wasn’t because of the contact with the GT300 car though, but due to the loss of a friend.

“This weekend I wore a black armband on my overalls in memory of Lionel Régal. I wanted to win so much so I could dedicate the victory to him. It was through me that he acquired his Formula Nippon car and that is how I met him. He had just had an accident, didn’t have a car and contacted me to find out if I could help him. He was a great guy. I couldn’t go to his funeral as I was on the plane to Suzuka and that is why I wanted to make this small gesture. I thought about him a lot this weekend.”

Lionel Régal was 35 years old and was killed on 15 August during the 67th edition of the hillclimb race at Saint Ursanne-Les Rangiers in Switzerland. The five-time French Hillclimb Champion was well on his way to a sixth title.

Après la lourde déconvenue essuyée à Sugo le mois dernier où l’écurie Motul-Autech avait perdu une victoire certaine par la faute d’un débris venant taper dans le coupe circuit extérieur, Benoît Tréluyer avait une belle revanche à prendre sur le sort à Suzuka. Il ne s’en est pas privé.

Pour la Nissan GT-R n°23, l’épreuve des qualifications se passait pour le mieux même si la pole lui échappait de peu.

« Seulement 2/10e, note un Tréluyer tout de même satisfait. Développée en grande partie sur ce tracé Honda de Suzuka, la HSV-010 n°8 était d’autant plus vite qu’elle n’avait pas de lest. Donc, pour nous, être sur la 1ère ligne, c’était déjà une belle performance. »

Le lendemain, Motoyama confirmait la bonne tenue de la GT-R au début de son premier relais avant de commencer à perdre du temps sur la n°8 et la n°100 à cause de pressions de pneus un peu trop élevées.

« Quand j’ai pris le volant, je me suis retrouvé 2ème devant la 8 qui avait perdu du temps aux stands et j’ai réussi à la contenir durant tout le relais. Hélas, vers la fin, la GT300 que j’étais en train de dépasser par l’extérieur dans une courbe se mettait à sous-virer méchamment. Elle me touchait à l’arrière et m’envoyait en tête-à-queue… »

Benoît laissait vingt bonnes secondes dans la mésaventure, mais repartait à l’attaque.

« Mon équipier effectuait un bon second relais et, pour ma part, j’en disputais un dernier de pure folie. Tombant les tours qualifs, je signais le record du tour et je me retrouvais juste derrière la HSV-010 n°100 quand elle ressortait des stands. Je lui faisais un dépassement de fou dans le trafic à la chicane et j’étais en mesure de la contenir jusqu’à l’arrivée. »

Benoît arrachait ainsi une 2e place des plus prometteuses pour la fin de saison, et plus encore pour la saison prochaine.

« Les pneus ont bien marché, souligne-t-il. Nous avons encore fait pas mal de développement. Par contre, nous perdons toujours en moteur par rapport au Honda. Nous étions plus vite dans les 1er, 2e et 4e secteurs, mais nous perdions 6/10e dans le 3e, spécialement dans la ligne droite et à la sortie de l’épingle. Nous manquons de bas régime. Nous payons encore le fait d’avoir développé le moteur un peu trop tardivement. Mais, là encore, nous progressons. C’est de bon augure pour la suite, ou plutôt pour l’an prochain si je continue avec Nissan. »

Dimanche soir, si le Français avait tout de même un petit pincement au coeur, ce n’était pas à cause de l’accrochage avec la GT300, mais à cause de la perte d’un ami…

« Ce week-end, j’ai porté un brassard noir sur ma combinaison en mémoire à Lionel Régal. J’aurais tellement aimé gagner pour lui dédier la victoire. C’est par mon intermédiaire qu’il avait acquis sa Formule Nippon, et c’est à cette occasion que j’avais fait sa connaissance. Il avait eu un accident et n’avait plus de voiture. Il m’avait appelé pour savoir si je pouvais lui donner un coup de main. C’était un type extra. Je n’ai pas pu me rendre à ses obsèques car j’étais dans l’avion pour Suzuka et c’est pourquoi j’ai tenu à faire ce petit geste. J’ai beaucoup pensé à lui durant ce week-end. »

Lionel Régal avait 35 ans. Il s’est tué le 15 août lors de la 67e édition de la course de côte de St Ursanne-Les Rangiers en Suisse. Quintuple champion de France de la Montagne, il était en route vers une sixième couronne.

Benoit-poy 2010 #07 from Treluyer Benoit on Vimeo.

今回はぽい!?のキャップがリリースになります。
2色展開です。お楽しみにー。

 今回はドライバーとファンがまったりとくつろげる空間を目指したいと思います。
サイン貰ったりとか写真撮ったりとか、そーゆーのも楽しいけれど、
もっと違う、ここでしか出来ない交流ってのも試してみてちょうだい。

というわけで列作るの禁止ー！！って感じでいってみたいと思ってます。
沢山喋ったり、じーと観察してみたり、
きっと本当の個性とかそんなのがちょこっと見えてくるよー。 

ここでぶっちゃけちゃいますが、ベンちゃん、
結構日本語喋れます。
普段、面倒くさいのかあまり喋りません。
むしろ日本語喋れない振りとかする始末。
でもここは日本。日本語でＯＫ！！
ガンガン日本語で突撃しましょう。 

さて、今回はいろんな皆様に協賛してもらったりして、
プレゼントが沢山用意できそうです。
なのでおたのしみに抽選会をやっちゃいます。
賞品、いろいろ取り揃えてお待ちしてますぜ！ 

第4回”ベンちゃんといっしょ”

日時　8月21日（土）20時開場
場所　ドミニク・ドゥーセの店 2Fカフェスペース
会費　500円

◎ドミニクの超美味いパンやデザート、ドリンクがビュッフェスタイルで楽しめます　
◎おたのしみに抽選会開催!!
◎ぽい!?キャップ会場特別価格でリリースです!!
◎スペシャルゲスト、今年もくるかなー。さて　どうだろ　←ぶっちゃけ未定です。 

ドミニク・ドゥーセの店
住所 三重県鈴鹿市南江島町17-30
電話 059-388-2492（パンショップ）

There was massive disappointment for the crew of the Motul-Autech Nissan GT-R at the weekend as the team was heading to victory at Sugo until the car’s kill-switch suddenly engaged.

“I took pole position, made a good start and managed to build a comfortable lead. When I handed over to my team-mate Motoyama, he continued in the same vein until, with 8 laps to go, some debris hit the kill switch which is positioned outside the car at the bottom of the windscreen.” Sitting in the corner of the garage on Sunday night, Benoît Tréluyer was still struggling to recover from that knock-out blow. “We were leading by ten seconds and the win was secure. Everything was going well. We had no worries, no tyre degradation and I was in front of the TV monitor ready to make my way to the podium when I saw the car parking up at the side of the track.”

A few hours earlier, Benoît had made a fantastic start, pulling three seconds clear of the second-placed car on the first lap alone!

“It’s a real shame as the Michelin tyres have progressed enormously. We knew that they would perform well at Sugo, but we didn’t know just how well. We had a problem with the throttle, which we fixed by making it more progressive. We had worked a lot on the set-up of the car and clinched pole position quite easily. Everything was going well….and then disaster struck!”

Although the Motul-Autech team were competitive right from the start of the weekend, they really took advantage after finding the right set-up.

“We were delighted with our work,” confirmed the Frenchman. “Now we have lost our chance to win the championship as we are more than 20 points behind the leaders. A win could bring us back into the title race but we need our main competitors not to score any points, which is not very realistic. If we had crossed the finish line in first place, everything would have been different. I’m really disappointed for Michelin who have done a huge amount of work. The fact that we were even in this position this weekend is largely thanks to our tyres. For sure all this work is not lost but, during the next rounds, we are going to face fresher temperatures which do not favour us. We will work to improve things in this regard but we are not sure what is going to happen. We will be competitive, but we won’t be in a position to dominate like we did here. It’s a real shame and I am mega disappointed. We have worked so hard during the past few weeks, so that makes it even more frustrating. The boys deserved a victory here. Now, we will have to digest our disappointment in order to arrive at the last rounds in an even better position.”

In Suzuka at the end of August, Benoît will be looking for a big revenge!