Benoit Treluyer Names 2015 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro as His Favorite Car
WEC News, 2023 – Benoit Treluyer, the French racing driver, has revealed that his favorite car is the 2015 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro, which he piloted to victory at the Silverstone World Endurance Championship season-opener in high-downforce trim. This iteration of the R18 stands out among the family of LMP1 cars that bear the same name, with each year’s variant boasting distinct differences.
Treluyer, who shared the car with Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler, fondly remembers the sensation of driving the 2015 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro. “That car was just crazy to drive,” he exclaimed. “Silverstone is one of my best memories in terms of sensation driving; going to Becketts with the car flat everywhere was amazing.“
Audi’s response to being outpaced by Toyota in the 2014 WEC drivers’ and manufacturers’ title was to revamp its V6 turbodiesel racer, introducing significant updates to the same monocoque. The new package boasted an increased megajoule class on hybrid power, from 2MJ to 4MJ per lap, a new single energy-retrieval system, and all-new aerodynamics.
“We were sure about our aero package for Silverstone. It’s always difficult in Silverstone at the time of the year, which is always very cold to put the tire in [the right] temperature [window] and everything. We had our high-downforce set-up, so it was much easier, we were confident at the time.”
The front row at Silverstone was locked out by Porsche’s potent new 919 Hybrid, but the Audi threat was clear in the corners, boasting strong performance in high-speed sections without giving anything up in low-speed corners, thanks to effective mechanical grip.
Treluyer explained, “We had a high-downforce before, but that one was really high. We had big [air] intakes below the high beams, and everybody was thinking it was for cooling the brakes, but it was not at all. It was just downforce.“
The 2015 WEC season saw the Fassler-Treluyer-Lotterer axis win again at Spa in low-drag spec, although Treluyer noted that the car didn’t feel especially different, saying, “We had pretty much the same amount of downforce. At the end, they always find a solution to still have a very good downforce with low drag. It was always a compromise.“
Although Audi’s momentum ultimately swung towards Porsche, with the German marque triumphing at Le Mans and sweeping the remainder of the WEC, Treluyer fondly remembers the 2015 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro as his favorite car.
The e-tron Quattro moniker was dropped for 2016, marking the final year of Audi’s successful Le Mans program before shifting focus to Formula E. Treluyer reflected on the results of moving up to the 6MJ class, saying, “When we got a really big hybrid, then the exit of the corner seven in Sebring was really impressive. It was like a really big surprise for us, how quick we could get out of corners. That was incredible.“
The decision to cancel a planned move into LMDh for 2023 means Treluyer, Fassler, and Lotterer are likely to remain the most recent of Audi’s Le Mans winners for the foreseeable future.
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