When not running in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at the wheel of the Audi R18 TDI, Benoit Treluyer has taken part in Japanese Super GT. He has just concluded his season in style.

On the eve of the eighth and final round of the season, on Oct. 16 on the circuit of Motegi, sixteen points separated the winner of 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011 and teammate Satoshi Motoyama in the Nissan GT-R from that of S Road MOLA, driven by Masataka Yanagida and Ronnie Quintarelli. To get the title they had to win, provided that the latter did not score more than three points.

Qualified fifth, Benoit made a good start and moved up to fourth place. After around ten laps, which were made tricky by the full fuel tank and the need to save tyres; “I caught the #12 GT-R of Matsuda/de Oliveira, who were running on super soft rubber, before they made their pitstop. There were now only two cars in front of us: the #39 Toyota of Ishiura/Iguchi and the #46 GT-R of our title rivals, Masataka Yanagida and Ronnie Quintarelli, both of which were running on Michelin tyres. As soon as I got behind the #39 it headed into the pits. I used this opportunity to set two qualifying-speed laps in order to create a gap that would allow Satoshi to get back out in front of them.”

After a perfectly executed driver and tyre change by the Autech team Motoyama exited the pits ahead of the Toyota. With less fuel on board he was able to push the tyres harder and closed quickly on the #46 GT-R, which he then overtook in traffic. Tréluyer et Motoyama won but Yanagida and Quintarelli took second place and the title. "Personally, I am happy to be vice-champion. I think that the team can be very proud of the work they’ve done over the past two seasons. We developed the Michelin tyres in 2010 and paved the road that the S Road MOLA team was able to follow to success.”

(Source Benoît Tréluyer press information)

Photo : LE MANS (SARTHE), TOWN CENTRE, DRIVERS PARADE OF THE 24 HOURS, 10 JUNE 2011. In addition to winning with his teammates Marcel Fässler and Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer also set the pole position time of the 24 Hours 2011.