Davidson still feeling pain, Treluyer “not driving very well”

Treluyer returns to the #7 Audi R18 after missing both the Nurburgring and Mexico City races due to a spinal injury sustained in a mountain bike accident.

“Physically it was really perfect, I feel like nothing happened – I could jump into the car and there was no problem getting in and out,” said Treluyer, who suffered a big spin towards the end of FP1 in the high-speed Esses.

“All good, except that I was not driving very well [chuckles] so I have to get back into the groove. The car seems to be OK.

“It seems to be very close again between Porsche and ourselves, we’ve improved our car and we hope we are in front of them this time. The team has done a really good job between the races in such a short time.

“We can still improve, it wasn’t perfect from the first session, but it’s going to be a good fight for sure.”

Determined Davidson

Davidson’s injury was more recent, sustained when he crashed his Toyota in testing due to a mechanical failure six weeks ago. His injured ribs are still giving him some issues, but he is determined to drive this weekend in the hottest race of the season.

“If I’m honest, I can just about feel it here, so it’s not perfect but it’s driveable,” admitted Davidson. “I’ll be able to get through the rest of the weekend here.

“It was good to be back in the car. It’s about getting yourself back up to speed, like Benoit said, rather than the physical side of things.

“It’s a great track to come back to, and the car feels a lot different here to last year because of all the improvements we’ve made to the package. It changes the way you attack the track.”