Mehdi Bennani
With less than one week to go until the Losail International Circuit hosts FIA WTCC DHL Race of Qatar, Mehdi Bennani has revealed why it feels like a second ‘home’ event.
The Moroccan, who became the first Arabic driver to win an FIA world championship motor race when he topped at WTCC Race of China in 2014, will head to the Middle East as the WTCC Trophy winner for 2016 following another impressive season driving a Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC.
He said: “For sure Morocco and Qatar are very close, the people are very close because there are a lot of partnerships between both countries. And when I race in Qatar it’s really like Marrakech so I hope to have a fantastic race. It could be a bit more special now I am already world champion.” Bennani is sixth in the WTCC Drivers’ standings with 176 points but could end up a career-high third in the table if results go his way in Qatar.
Honda’s hopes of a victorious end to the 2016 FIA World Touring Car Championship have been handed a huge boost with confirmation that the five Civic WTCCs will run with 30 kilograms of compensation weight at WTCC DHL Race of Qatar next week. It’s half the amount carried by the Japanese machines during the last event in China and 50 kilograms less than the extra load that will be fitted to Citroën’s pace setting C-Elysée WTCC in the Middle East. The compensation weight system is designed to equalise performance in the WTCC through a lap time difference in seconds calculation based on average lap times from the previous three race weekends.
The inclusion of the Qatar night race in the FIA World Touring Car Championship is just one of the secrets of the WTCC’s ongoing success, according to the category’s most experienced driver, Rob Huff. Former world champion Huff, who heads to next week’s season finale in the Middle East locked in a five-way fight for third place in the drivers’ standings, has 269 WTCC starts to his name and will extend that record at the Losail International Circuit.
“Qatar fits very well with the World Touring Car Championship,” said the factory Honda racer. “For me one of the best things about this championship having been here since the day it was born is that no two years have been the same. There is always the introduction of new tracks, new qualifying schemes, new ways of doing the races with the reverse grids and so on. I love the fact that we have the control to do a night race here, a street race there, we’re going to change this or that around. That’s partly why after 12 years the WTCC is alive and why races like Qatar work.”
Tiago Monteiro believes he can cancel out Yvan Muller’s 31-point advantage and snatch second place from the Frenchman in the final FIA World Touring Car Championship standings.
While second place is Monteiro’s target in the Middle East, he will also be keeping an eye on fellow factory Honda drivers Norbert Michelisz and Rob Huff, who are 14 and 24 points behind Monteiro respectively.
