Mehdi Bennani

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mehdi Bennani
2016
TCR Europe Touring Car Series
WTCC Independents' Trophy

Mehdi Bennani (

TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing
.

He became the first Moroccan driver to win a world championship race organized by the FIA, after his victory in Shanghai in the WTCC.[1]

Racing career

Early career

Like most racing drivers, Bennani started out in

Euroseries 3000 in 2007, finishing 14th in the final standings and scored a best result of fourth. In 2008, he competed in the Pau Historical Grand Prix, where he finished second.[2]

World Touring Car Championship

Exagon Engineering (2009)

Bennani driving for Exagon Engineering at the 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco.

In May 2009, Bennani competed in his home round of the

Marrakech Street Circuit in a SEAT León 2.0 TFSI prepared by Exagon Engineering.[3] He was backed by OMNT, Morocco's Tourism Office.[4] He became the first North African to race in the WTCC, on the series' first visit to the African continent. He qualified in 14th place for the first race, and finished in 9th place, winner of the Independent's category. He finished ninth in the second race, and impressed throughout the weekend with the way he was able to keep up with WTCC regulars. He competed at four further race weekends for Exagon. At the Race of Portugal, he collided with the stranded car of Alain Menu
on the narrow street circuit; he was later disqualified from the final classification.

Wiechers-Sport (2010)

In 2010, Bennani drove a BMW 320si for the Wiechers-Sport team.[5] The season yielded just three points and 20th place in the drivers standings.

Proteam Racing (2011–2014)

Bennani moved to Proteam Racing for 2011 to drive one of their new BMW 320 TCs.[6] His best result of the season was a 6th place in the final race at Macau.

2014 World Touring Car Championship

Bennani stayed on at Proteam for 2012.

Aleksei Dudukalo collide with Bennani who then returned to the pits for repairs. For the second race, Bennani held off the Chevrolet trio for much of the race before being passed in the lap two laps. He was caught up in a first corner crash in race one of the Race of Macau in which a number of cars piled into the Lisboa corner on the first lap and blocked the track. Bennani's car was stuck across the track and was lifted out of the way before the race resumed. He finished the season tenth in the drivers' championship tied on points with Alex MacDowall
but ranked ahead due to his podium in Hungary.

Bennani stayed with Proteam for the

2013 season, driving their BMW 320 TC for the third consecutive year.,[10]
Mehdi finished 12th, 4th of the independents. After a difficult season with bad mechanical luck and an unresponsive car, Mehdi eschewed the BMW for a Honda Civic.

In 2014, Bennani scored his first WTCC win at the championship's Shanghai round.[11] Bennani went on to finish the season in 11th place.

Sebastian Loeb Racing (2015–2019)

For

2015, Bennani signed with Sébastien Loeb Racing, switching to a 2014-spec Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
for his first season with the team.

2016

For

Gregoire Demoustier
.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F.Laps Podiums Points Position
2002 Formula Renault Campus France ? ? ? ? ? ? 21 14th
2004 Formula BMW Asia Team Meritus 14 0 0 ? 6 124 3rd
2005 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Avelon Formula 14 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2006 Formula Renault 3.5 Series EuroInternational 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2007 Euroseries 3000 ELK Motorsport 12 0 0 0 0 9 14th
F3000 Italia 6 0 0 0 0 3 14th
2008 24H Series - A6 Duller Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 8 13th
2009 World Touring Car Championship Exagon Engineering 9 0 0 0 0 0 NC
World Touring Car Championship - Independent's Trophy 9 1 0 3 2 30 8th
Formula Le Mans Cup 2 0 0 0 0 13 23rd
Moroccan Circuit Racing Championship - M2A ? 5 5 ? ? 5 50 1st
2010 World Touring Car Championship Wiechers-Sport 22 0 0 0 0 3 19th
World Touring Car Championship - Independent's Trophy 22 1 0 1 5 91 5th
2011 World Touring Car Championship Proteam Racing 24 0 0 0 0 24 16th
World Touring Car Championship - Independent's Trophy 14 0 0 1 1 27 8th
European Touring Car Cup 2 0 0 0 0 6 5th
2012 World Touring Car Championship Proteam Racing 24 0 0 0 1 68 10th
World Touring Car Championship - Independent's Trophy 24 1 1 1 7 73 7th
2013 World Touring Car Championship Proteam Racing 24 0 0 1 3 80 12th
World Touring Car Championship - Independent's Trophy 24 4 0 4 7 102 4th
2014 World Touring Car Championship Proteam Racing 21 1 0 0 2 85 11th
2015 World Touring Car Championship Sébastien Loeb Racing 24 0 0 0 0 127 8th
World Touring Car Championship - Independent's Trophy 24 7 3 8 15 145 2nd
2016 World Touring Car Championship Sébastien Loeb Racing 22 2 2 1 5 206 5th
2017 World Touring Car Championship Sébastien Loeb Racing 20 3 0 1 7 234 6th
2018 World Touring Car Cup Sébastien Loeb Racing 28 1 0 1 3 155 12th
2019 World Touring Car Cup Sébastien Loeb Racing 30 0 0 2 0 40 25th
VLN Series - Cup 5 Team Mathol Racing e.V. 1 0 0 0 0 0.88 122nd
2020 TCR Europe Touring Car Series Comtoyou Racing 12 0 2 0 3 285 1st
TCR Ibérico Touring Car Series ? 0 0 0 0 25 9th
2021 TCR Europe Touring Car Series Sébastien Loeb Racing 14 1 0 0 3 252 5th
2022 World Touring Car Cup Comtoyou Team Audi Sport 14 0 1 0 1 112 11th


Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points
2005
 Avelon Formula
ZOL
1
ZOL
2
 MON
1
Ret 		VAL
1
Ret 		VAL
2
18 		LMS
1
21 		LMS
2
18 		BIL
1
DNQ 		BIL
2
Ret 		OSC
1
13 		OSC
2
16 		DON
1
18 		DON
2
17
EST
1

23
EST
2

21
MNZ
1

19†
MNZ
2

21 		33rd 0
2006
Eurointernational
ZOL
1
ZOL
2
 MON
1
DNQ 		IST
1 		IST
2
MIS
1
MIS
2
 SPA
1 		SPA
2 		NÜR
1 		NÜR
2 		DON
1 		DON
2
LMS
1

Ret
LMS
2

19
CAT
1
CAT
2
 43rd 0

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points
2009
 Exagon Engineering SEAT León TFSI BRA
1 		BRA
2 		MEX
1 		MEX
2 		MAR
1
9 		MAR
2
9 		FRA
1
18 		FRA
2
Ret 		ESP
1
14 		ESP
2
23 		CZE
1 		CZE
2 		POR
1
DSQ 		POR
2
Ret 		GBR
1 		GBR
2 		GER
1 		GER
2 		ITA
1
13 		ITA
2
Ret 		JPN
1 		JPN
2 		MAC
1 		MAC
2 		NC 0
2010
 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si BRA
1
18 		BRA
2
12 		MAR
1
15 		MAR
2
9 		ITA
1
14 		ITA
2
17 		BEL
1
14 		BEL
2
19 		POR
1
Ret 		POR
2
12 		GBR
1
19 		GBR
2
Ret 		CZE
1
14 		CZE
2
16 		GER
1
14 		GER
2
Ret 		ESP
1
Ret 		ESP
2
16 		JPN
1
16 		JPN
2
19 		MAC
1
10 		MAC
2
12 		20th 3
2011
Proteam Racing
 BMW 320 TC BRA
1
10 		BRA
2
Ret 		BEL
1
Ret 		BEL
2
11 		ITA
1
11 		ITA
2
20 		HUN
1
14 		HUN
2
14 		CZE
1
11 		CZE
2
10 		POR
1
16 		POR
2
18 		GBR
1
14 		GBR
2
9 		GER
1
11 		GER
2
Ret 		ESP
1
Ret 		ESP
2
12 		JPN
1
8 		JPN
2
18 		CHN
1
7 		CHN
2
11 		MAC
1
9 		MAC
2
6 		16th 24
2012
Proteam Racing
 BMW 320 TC ITA
1
Ret 		ITA
2
14 		ESP
1
14 		ESP
2
10 		MAR
1
Ret 		MAR
2
12 		SVK
1
11 		SVK
2
7 		HUN
1
4 		HUN
2
3 		AUT
1
17 		AUT
2
6 		POR
1
Ret 		POR
2
Ret 		BRA
1
13 		BRA
2
8 		USA
1
11 		USA
2
Ret 		JPN
1
21 		JPN
2
7 		CHN
1
8 		CHN
2
5 		MAC
1
Ret 		MAC
2
Ret 		10th 68
2013
Proteam Racing
 BMW 320 TC ITA
1
17 		ITA
2
19 		MAR
1
18 		MAR
2
11 		SVK
1
10 		SVK
2
9 		HUN
1
5 		HUN
2
2 		AUT
1
4 		AUT
2
16 		RUS
1
11 		RUS
2
16 		POR
1
Ret 		POR
2
10 		ARG
1
20 		ARG
2
21† 		USA
1
18 		USA
2
2 		JPN
1
11 		JPN
2
2 		CHN
1
16 		CHN
2
14 		MAC
1
12 		MAC
2
Ret 		12th 80
2014
Proteam Racing
 Honda Civic WTCC MAR
1
7 		MAR
2
DSQ 		FRA
1
13 		FRA
2
5 		HUN
1
5 		HUN
2
DNS 		SVK
1
15 		SVK
2
C 		AUT
1
7 		AUT
2
8 		RUS
1
11 		RUS
2
3 		BEL
1
13 		BEL
2
11 		ARG
1
9 		ARG
2
8 		BEI
1
9 		BEI
2
Ret 		CHN
1
10 		CHN
2
1 		JPN
1
11 		JPN
2
Ret 		MAC
1
19† 		MAC
2
DNS 		11th 85
2015
 Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC ARG
1
13 		ARG
2
5 		MAR
1
4 		MAR
2
12 		HUN
1
11 		HUN
2
Ret 		GER
1
7 		GER
2
6 		RUS
1
14 		RUS
2
Ret 		SVK
1
Ret 		SVK
2
7 		FRA
1
9 		FRA
2
9 		POR
1
11 		POR
2
10 		JPN
1
7 		JPN
2
10 		CHN
1
5 		CHN
2
7 		THA
1
4 		THA
2
7 		QAT
1
2 		QAT
2
5 		8th 127
2016
 Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC FRA
1
2 		FRA
2
8 		SVK
1
2 		SVK
2
6 		HUN
1
1 		HUN
2
8 		MAR
1
6 		MAR
2
5 		GER
1
5 		GER
2
5 		RUS
1
9 		RUS
2
10 		POR
1
4 		POR
2
8 		ARG
1
8 		ARG
2
7 		JPN
1
16 		JPN
2
4 		CHN
1
11 		CHN
2
3 		QAT
1
16 		QAT
2
1 		5th 206
2017 Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC MAR
1
3 		MAR
2
6 		ITA
1
NC 		ITA
2
7 		HUN
1
7 		HUN
2
1 		GER
1
2 		GER
2
6 		POR
1
1 		POR
2
7 		ARG
1
2 		ARG
2
5 		CHN
1
NC 		CHN
2
11 		JPN
1
5 		JPN
2
6 		MAC
1
1 		MAC
2
7 		QAT
1
2 		QAT
2
Ret 		6th 234

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete World Touring Car Cup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points
2018 Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR MAR
1
9 		MAR
2
2 		MAR
3
6 		HUN
1
10 		HUN
2
7 		HUN
3
17
GER
1

13
GER
2

10
GER
3

9
NED
1

8
NED
2

5
NED
3

8
POR
1

Ret
POR
2

DNS
POR
3

DNS
SVK
1

21
SVK
2

Ret
SVK
3

Ret
CHN
1

5
CHN
2

2
CHN
3

10 		WUH
1
13 		WUH
2
1 		WUH
3
9
JPN
1

5
JPN
2

8
JPN
3

4
MAC
1

15
MAC
2

10
MAC
3

Ret 		12th 155
2019 SLR VW Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
MAR
1

Ret
MAR
2

Ret
MAR
3

12
HUN
1

16
HUN
2

Ret
HUN
3

15
SVK
1

Ret
SVK
2

14
SVK
3

19
NED
1

6
NED
2

16
NED
3

13
GER
1

15
GER
2

16
GER
3

16
POR
1

20
POR
2

19
POR
3

13
CHN
1

20
CHN
2

11
CHN
3

14
JPN
1

24
JPN
2

27
JPN
3

Ret
MAC
1

17
MAC
2

Ret
MAC
3

18 		MAL
1
12 		MAL
2
13 		MAL
3
17 		25th 40
2022 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS TCR FRA
1
10 		FRA
2
Ret 		GER
1
C 		GER
2
C 		HUN
1
13 		HUN
2
Ret 		ESP
1
10 		ESP
2
9 		POR
1
7 		POR
2
6 		ITA
1
10 		ITA
2
9 		ALS
1
11 		ALS
2
2 		BHR
1
7 		BHR
2
8 		SAU
1 		SAU
2 		11th 112

Complete TCR Europe Touring Car Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points
2020 Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS TCR LEC
1
2 		LEC
2
5 		ZOL
1
Ret 		ZOL
2
5
MNZ
1

Ret
MNZ
2

8 		CAT
1
5 		CAT
2
3 		SPA
1
6 		SPA
2
16 		JAR
1
4 		JAR
2
2 		1st 285
2021 Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR SVK
1
6 		SVK
2
1 		LEC
1
18 		LEC
2
6 		ZAN
1
12 		ZAN
2
6 		SPA
1
2 		SPA
2
9 		NÜR
1
11 		NÜR
2
14
MNZ
1

21
MNZ
2

12 		CAT
1
10 		CAT
2
2 		5th 252

References

  1. ^ "Bennani Claims First WTCC Victory in Second Shanghai Race - WTCC - The Checkered Flag". The Checkered Flag. 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
  2. ^ "FIA WTCR | World Touring Car Cup".
  3. ^ Meissner, Johan. "Mehdi Bennani joins Exagon at Marrakech". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  4. ^ "FIA WTCR | World Touring Car Cup".
  5. ^ Auger, Matt (29 January 2010). "Bennani Joins Weichers-Sport". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  6. ^ Casillo, Pietro. "Mehdi Bennani joins Proteam Motorsport". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  7. ^ Courtoisier, Arnaud (23 January 2012). "Mehdi Bennani to stay with Proteam". Nextgen-Auto. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  8. ^ Hudson, Neil. "Isaac Tutumlu leaves Proteam Racing". TouringCarTimes. Archived from the original on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  9. ^ Allen, Peter (6 May 2012). "Local Hero Michelisz Thrills Hungarian Crowd With Race 2 Victory". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  10. ^ "PROTEAM AND BENNANI TOGETHER AGAIN". World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 17 January 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  11. autosport.com
    . Retrieved 16 October 2014.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
2016
 Succeeded by
Preceded by TCR Europe Touring Car Series
Champion
2020 		Succeeded by
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