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Nippon: Benoit Treluyer Suzuka summary

Confidence-boosting podium for Treluyer! After three weekends marked by misfortune, BenoÃ®t Treluyer enjoyed his return to the podium at Suzuka, as his bad luck seems to have finally changed. "We found a good set up during free practice and then ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:39 PM

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Confidence-boosting podium for Treluyer!

After three weekends marked by misfortune, Benoît Treluyer enjoyed his return to the podium at Suzuka, as his bad luck seems to have finally changed.

"We found a good set up during free practice and then I did well in Q1," said Treluyer. "In Q2 I wanted to change something but it didn't work for me, and then in Q3, due to a misunderstanding between my mechanics, I ended up with a car which, at the front end, had a ride height which was higher at one side than the other! I just had to deal with it--.."

Having run third quickest behind the dominant Nakajima cars of Takashi Kogure and Loïc Duval since the beginning of the weekend, Benoît managed to salvage sixth place on the grid.

"I made a good start which allowed me to jump into third place at the first corner," explained Treluyer. "I even had the chance to take second place from Duval but I decided not to take the risk as I knew his car was quicker than mine anyway."

While the two Nakajima drivers sailed into the distance at the head of the field, Benoît was able to pull out an advantage on the rest of the pack.

"I found myself all alone! At the beginning of my second stint, I was informed that the leader Kogure was having problems with his paddle shift. I started to push like crazy and was almost with him when his gearbox started working again."

The Japanese driver was then able to return to his previous pace and pull clear, leaving Benoît to have a solitary run to the finish.

"I was ten seconds clear of my nearest rival so it wasn't necessary to push."

Third place at the chequered flag saw Benoît make a confidence-boosting return to the podium.

"I'm second in the championship, four points behind Duval, so I'm quite optimistic for the remainder of the season. The hard work of the last few weeks is beginning to bear fruit. Even though there's still a big gap in performance between us and the Nakajima team, we are reducing it. We are back on track and the next round at Motegi should confirm that we're heading in the right direction. We haven't had time to test everything that we wanted to this weekend and we have some further evolutions in the pipeline that should give us another step forward."

While the Nakajima team continue to dominate, team Lawson-Impul are working hard on their riposte!

In Motegi on 8/9 August, the team's updated packages will have been tested and Benoît will be able to rely on them as he continues his pursuit of fellow Frenchman Duval. The next adventures of 'Benoit-poy', a cartoon which can be watched on www.benoittreluyer.com, will be the battle of the red, white and blue!

-credit: bt

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