Mehdi Bennani

Mehdi Bennani (, born 25 August 1983) is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was 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.

Racing career

Early career Like most racing drivers, Bennani started out in karting, winning his national championship in 2001. He finished as runner-up in the European Karting Championship in the 100 ICA class. He also won the Moroccan Fiat Palio Trophy in 2001. He moved into single-seaters and was runner-up in Formula BMW Asia in 2004. He moved to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2005 with the Avalon Formula team, racing against the likes of Robert Kubica and Will Power. He also competed for EuroInternational in 2006, but failed to score a point in his time in the series. He competed 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.

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 World Touring Car Championship, the Race of Morocco at the Marrakech Street Circuit in a SEAT León 2.0 TFSI prepared by Exagon Engineering. He was backed by OMNT, Morocco's Tourism Office. 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 ninth 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. 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. His best result of the season was a 6th place in the final race at Macau.

Bennani stayed on at Proteam for 2012. He was joined at the team by Isaac Tutumlu until he left after the Race of Slovakia, reducing the team to one car for Bennani. He took a career best fourth-place finish in race one at the Race of Hungary. He bettered this with his maiden podium finish in race two, finishing in third place. A collision with Stefano D'Aste at the Race of Portugal earned him a suspended grid penalty. He started second for race two of the Race of the United States and inherited the lead from D'Aste halfway around the first lap when D'Aste spun off. He held the lead until lap four when he spun off and damaged his car, forcing him to retire and passing the lead to Franz Engstler. Race one of the Race of Japan saw 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., Mehdi finished 12th, fourth 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. 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 2016, Bennani had two teammates, Tom Chilton and 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 2024 TCR World Tour Team Clairet Sport 2 0 0 0 0 14 20th

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 ZOL1 ZOL2 MON1 VAL1 VAL2 LMS1 LMS2 BIL1 BIL2 OSC1 OSC2 DON1 DON2 EST1 EST2 MNZ1 MNZ2 33rd 0 2006 Eurointernational ZOL1 ZOL2 MON1 IST1 IST2 MIS1 MIS2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 DON1 DON2 LMS1 LMS2 CAT1 CAT2 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 BRA1 BRA2 MEX1 MEX2 MAR1 MAR2 FRA1 FRA2 ESP1 ESP2 CZE1 CZE2 POR1 POR2 GBR1 GBR2 GER1 GER2 ITA1 ITA2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 NC 0 2010 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si BRA1 BRA2 MAR1 MAR2 ITA1 ITA2 BEL1 BEL2 POR1 POR2 GBR1 GBR2 CZE1 CZE2 GER1 GER2 ESP1 ESP2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 20th 3 2011 Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC BRA1 BRA2 BEL1 BEL2 ITA1 ITA2 HUN1 HUN2 CZE1 CZE2 POR1 POR2 GBR1 GBR2 GER1 GER2 ESP1 ESP2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC2 16th 24 2012 Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC ITA1 ITA2 ESP1 ESP2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 POR1 POR2 BRA1 BRA2 USA1 USA2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC2 10th 68 2013 Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC ITA1 ITA2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 USA1 USA2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC2 12th 80 2014 Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCC MAR1 MAR2 FRA1 FRA2 HUN1 HUN2 SVK1 SVK2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 BEL1 BEL2 ARG1 ARG2 BEI1 BEI2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 11th 85 2015 Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC ARG1 ARG2 MAR1 MAR2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 RUS1 RUS2 SVK1 SVK2 FRA1 FRA2 POR1 POR2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 THA1 THA2 QAT1 QAT2 8th 127 2016 Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC FRA1 FRA2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 MAR1 MAR2 GER1 GER2 RUS1 RUS2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 QAT1 QAT2 5th 206 2017 Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC MAR1 MAR2 ITA1 ITA2 HUN1 HUN2 GER1 GER2 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 QAT1 QAT2 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 MAR1 MAR2 MAR3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 GER1 GER2 GER3 NED1 NED2 NED3 POR1 POR2 POR3 SVK1 SVK2 SVK3 CHN1 CHN2 CHN3 WUH1 WUH2 WUH3 JPN1 JPN2 JPN3 MAC1 MAC2 MAC3 12th 155 2019 SLR VW Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR MAR1 MAR2 MAR3 HUN1 HUN2 HUN3 SVK1 SVK2 SVK3 NED1 NED2 NED3 GER1 GER2 GER3 POR1 POR2 POR3 CHN1 CHN2 CHN3 JPN1 JPN2 JPN3 MAC1 MAC2 MAC3 MAL1 MAL2 MAL3 25th 40 2022 Comtoyou Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS TCR FRA1 FRA2 GER1 GER2 HUN1 HUN2 ESP1 ESP2 POR1 POR2 ITA1 ITA2 ALS1 ALS2 BHR1 BHR2 SAU1 SAU2 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 LEC1 LEC2 ZOL1 ZOL2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 SPA1 SPA2 JAR1 JAR2 1st 285 2021 Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR SVK1 SVK2 LEC1 LEC2 ZAN1 ZAN2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 5th 252

Complete TCR World Tour 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 2024 Team Clairet Sport Cupra León VZ TCR VAL1 VAL2 MRK1 MRK2 MOH1 MOH2 SAP1 SAP2 ELP1 ELP2 ZHZ1 ZHZ2 MAC1 MAC2 20th 14