Sébastien Loeb Racing, Mehdi Bennani scores some good points on the Nordschleife !

It is with success that Mehdi Bennani and the Sébastien Loeb Racing have overcome the Nordschleife’s challenge, one of the most difficult circuits with its 170 turns spread over more than 25km. As part of the World Touring Car Championship’s fourth round, the Moroccan driver came successively 7th and 6th. Besides, he has also completed that overall positive result with a new Yokohama Trophy win, for Independent drivers only. Enough to leave Germany fulfilled though that meeting was not looking like an easy one at first sight.

We’re riding a good wave again

Mehdi Bennani

Les Was everything there for Mehdi Bennani and the Sébastien Loeb Racing to meet success this weekend at the Nordschleife? Not necessarily in theory. The Moroccan driver had just gone through a difficult round in Hungary. As opposed to his rivals, Mehdi had never taken to that track before with his car. Also the team had to change the car’s engine, consequently moving back a couple of places on the starting grid.

However Mehdi Bennani’s determination is well-known. A strong will that the Sébastien Loeb Racing and him have in common. Their performances at the heart of the Eifel Mountains have proved it. Never prepared to give up, and following on some hopeful practice sessions, Mehdi completed two strong races. In the ‘Green Hell’ he crossed the finish line within the Top 10 twice back to back.

“That’s a very positive outcome” says Mehdi. “7th and 6th overall; 2nd and 1st in the Yokohama Trophy, I think that’s a good weekend. On a track that wasn’t in my favour, what II wanted most of all was to cross the finish line and score some points. That’s the case today. Altogether we’ve done a great job. We’ve done better on each run and that shows how well the team works. I’ve made two good starts which helped me to position myself well. I was more careful for the second one because I really wanted to avoid any type of contact or crash. Racing against Pechito Lopez or Sébastien Loeb on such a track was so great! We’re riding a good wave again while scoring some good points in the Independent-only class.”

“Considering the context, we’re very happy with what’s happened this weekend” adds the Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Technical Director Léo Thomas. “Mehdi hadn’t been able to take part in the pre-test session with the C-Elysée, and we had to change the engine. That didn’t make things easy, but we’ve overcome those obstacles. Mehdi has well managed his races as well as the weekend overall. We always want to do more. Surely we could have been further up in the second race, but it is important to favour the scoring of points when it is possible and that’s the case today. We’re back in the rankings where we would expect to be. The Top 5 remains our underlying objective for the entire season.”

Sébastien Loeb Racing