Following a successful first experience last year with W Racing Team, Franch Endurance driver Benoît Tréluyer heads to the Andros Trophy this winter with strong ambitions as he returns for a second season of the discipline.
2012 FIA World Endurance Champion and triple Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tréluyer spearheads the challenge from headline TCR Series outfit Comtoyou Racing, whom themselves are making their debut in the Trophy. The Belgian outfit, who runs Audi’s in Sportscar and Touring Car racing, have entered several Audi S1 Quattro’s for their first assault.
After a difficult season on Blancpain GT action, Benoît Tréluyer turns his attention to the Andros Trophy. Credit: www.BenoîtTréluyer.com
Tréluyer, who will share his Audi with Lionel Daziano, is planning to use his 2016/17 experience to challenge ice specialists such as Jean-Baptiste Dubourg, Franck Lagorce and Benjamin Rivière.
“Last year, I had to learn a lot of parameters, four-wheel steering, entering corners in reverse and so on,” explained Tréluyer. “I was quite far off the pace in qualifying during the first round, but by the second weekend in Andorra I was fighting for the super pole.”
“After this I missed one race and it cut my rhythm. In fact, as usual with motorsport, you are always a good student at the beginning and learn quickly. After that, you try harder and enter a difficult period.”
Benoît Tréluyer leads the charge for Comtoyou Racing, making their debut in Andros Trophy competition. Credit: Comtoyou Racing
With a lot of his experience already developed from Sportscar racing, where he has spent driving for both Pescarolo Sport and Audi Sport Joest, Tréluyer has had to relearn the craft of driving these four wheel drive machines in the challenging snow covered environments of the Andros Trophy Calendar.
The French driver explained further of he has had to adapt to the challenge.
Benoît Tréluyer shares an Audi S1 Quattro with Lionel Daziano for this seasons Andros Trophy. Credit: Comtoyou Racing
“In order to be quick you need to find good traction so it is important to exit well from corners.” said the Comtoyou Audi driver. “So you need to be positioned properly on the entry. This means evaluating the quantity of snow and ice.”
“More important is entering the corners backwards, if you accelerate facing the wrong way, you brake! This is achieved by playing with the clutch using your left foot.”
Tréluyer has enjoyed a successful start to his new season of Andros Trophy action where the first weekend of action at the Val Thorens circuit took place last weekend. The French driver current lies in third place overall in the standings before the series moves on to Alpe d’Huez for the second round on 8 December.
