Mehdi Bennani claimed a stunning first FIA World Touring Car Championship pole position at World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race at Losail International Circuit yesterday
As the fifth fastest driver in Q2, the 2016 WTCC Trophy champion was first to run in Q3 and posted a lap in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen that none of his rivals could match.
His factory counterparts JoséeMaria Lopez and Yvan Muller were both up on Bennani’s effort during their laps, but could not match the Moroccan’s final sector time and finished up third and fourth respectively.
It was instead Volvo driver Thed Bjork that came closest to Bennani, missing out on pole by just 0.036 seconds.
Honda’s Norbert Michelisz failed to complete his Q3 lap after making contact with a tyre stack marking the track limit.
In Q2, Hugo Valente suffered broken front left suspension on his LADA, bringing out the red flags. Only Muller and López had times on the board at the time, so the restart was a single-lap shootout for the other drivers to get a time on the board. Rob Huff missed out on a place in Q3 in sixth, ahead of Tiago Monteiro, Robert Dahlgren, Gabriele Tarquini and Tom Chilton, who claimed Opening Race pole.
Tom Coronel was knocked out in Q1, together with James Thompson, John Filippi, Ferenc Ficza, Daniel Nagy and Grégoire Demoustier.
Meanwhile, Tom Chilton will start the Opening Race at FIA WTCC Race of Qatar from pole position.
The Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën driver clinched the DHL-presented pole position by being 10th fastest in Q2 in qualifying at the Losail International Circuit.
There will be four different cars on the front two rows of the grid in the Opening Race. Chilton will be joined at the front by LADA driver Gabriele Tarquini, while Volvo’s Robert Dahlgren and Honda racer Tiago Monteiro will share row two, followed by his team-mate Rob Huff. Meanwhile there was more delight for Loeb’s team in Qatar.
=The team completed a perfect afternoon in Qatar as its three drivers secured victory for Citroën in the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s Manufacturers Against the Clock (MAC3). For the final round of the season, Citroën nominated the three SLR privateer drivers Mehdi Bennani, Tom Chilton and Grégoire Demoustier to take part in MAC3.
Fresh from claiming his maiden WTCC pole position in qualifying, Bennani led his team-mates Chilton – who earlier clinched Opening Race pole – and MAC3 debutant Demoustier to a time of 4m13.756s around two laps of the Losail International Circuit.
With both Norbert Michelisz and Hugo Valente sustaining damage in qualifying, neither Honda or LADA was able to take part in MAC3.
Citroën’s win ties them for outright MAC3 victories this year with Honda, with both on five.
