Your first 24 Hours of Le Mans as a driver: "It was in 2002 in the Chrysler Viper with the France FFSA team entered by Oreca. I was teammates with Jean-Philippe Belloc and Jonathan Cochet. It was a great experience and we finished third in the GTS class. That was a difficult race and I had to drive 11 out of 24 hours. We had a ventilation problem and it was really hot in the car. Fortunately heat doesn't bother me. But I loved racing at night, the smells of barbecuing and discovering the circuit. It's truly another dimension."

Your first 24 Hours of Le Mans as a spectator: "When I was a kid, I lived in Alençon (France). The circuit was an hour away and I came here as a small child. I also attended the France Moto Grand Prix and Formula 3000 races. I remember seeing Jean Alesi participating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans before going into Formula 1. That left an impression."

Your best memory at Le Mans: "The win in 2011 in the Audi. It was my first victory and what marked me the most was how we won the race. By mid-race, we had lost two cars and on Sunday morning I was battling the Peugeots even though I was barely awake. The emotion and the stress in the pit were tangible especially since we also had a slow tyre leak. I had never seen my teammate Marcel Fässler so stressed out. In the end, we won with only a 13-second lead."

Your worst memory at Le Mans: "My incident in 2009 with the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP of Team Pescarolo in the esses of the Tertre Rouge. The car just took off. I was more afraid for the spectators than for myself. I stayed in the air so long I was thinking I had to be in the spectator area. Fortunately, I was in the gravel trap. I was really disappointed for the team because it was a great project."

The teammate who has most marked you: "My current teammates, Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer. We're more friends than teammates, effortlessly. It came naturally. We laugh all the time but we also know when to be serious. What we're best at is diffusing situations. Also, we trust each other 100%."

Is there significance to your helmet decoration: "Not really. I didn't want a white helmet and when I was starting out, there was white in my helmet. So I called my painter and told him I didn't want anymore white so we went with blue. I stayed with that colour for several seasons until it didn't match with one of my cars which was white and red. I changed the blue to red all while keeping my blue helmet. Then, I simplified it with a Dutch painter I met through André Lotterer in 2011 and he changed it. Now it's red, yellow and black and I won't modify it again."

Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, TEST DAY, SUNDAY JUNE 5 2016. Benoît Treluyer participed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in 2002. The new Audi R18 could add a fourth win to his record.