Mehdi Bennani (pictured) beat Thed Bjork to his first Main Race victory on a highly emotional night at WTCC DHL Race of Qatar at the Losail International Circuit on Friday.
The night also saw Yvan Muller signing off from his record-breaking FIA World Touring Car Championship career with two top-six finishes to secure the runner-up spot behind champion Jose Maria Lopez in the final points.
Mehdi Bennani soaked up big pressure from Thed Bjork to win the Main Race in Qatar, the final round of the 2016 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Starting from his maiden outright pole position, Bennani kept the lead at the start in front of Jose Maria Lopez, who passed the Volvo of Bjork. Behind that there was some fraught racing, with separate incidents between Tom Chilton and Robert Dahlgren and the LADA pair of Nicky Catsburg and Hugo Valente triggering a safety car.
After the restart, Bjork pulled off an impressing passing move on Lopez and caught Bennani, looking to take a second win in as many events for Polestar Cyan Racing. The Moroccan kept the Swede at bay however with an error-free run to the chequered flag for his second win of the year.
Lopez signed off from his multiple title-winning stint in the WTCC with Citroen with a podium finish in third. Norbert Michelisz passed Yvan Muller for fourth.
That was until Monteiro also found a way by Muller on the last lap to grab fifth, rewarding his Honda mechanics who did a great job to repair the Portuguese racer’s Civic after Opening Race damage. Muller finished his final race in the WTCC before his retirement in sixth ahead of Opening Race winner Gabriele Tarquini and Rob Huff.
Tom Coronel and James Thompson took WTCC Trophy podiums behind winner Bennani.
Earlier, Gabriele Tarquini won the Opening Race for LADA, while Bennani’s triumph for Sébastien Loeb Racing gave Citroën WTCC win number 50. Tarquini scooped the TAG Heuer Best Lap Trophy but it was a frustrating night for Tiago Monteiro whose bid for second place in the end-of-term rankings faltered following Opening Race contact, although he still managed to hang on to third in the overall standings.
LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini scored a convincing WTCC win number 22 in the Opening Race.
The race had to be red-flagged following a first-lap off for Tiago Monteiro, whose Honda sustained broken rear suspension when Hugo Valente was unable to avoid clipping the wayward Civic.
At the restart, pole-sitter Chilton defended the inside line from Tarquini but ran deep, enabling the LADA driver to get ahead.
Taking the WTCC Trophy win, Chilton spent the rest of the race defending from Honda driver Rob Huff, who went from fifth to third with an attacking start. Yvan Muller was fourth.
Nicky Catsburg and Lopez recovered to finish eighth and ninth, the Dutchman having lost ground on the first lap after contact from behind from Mehdi Bennani, who was handed a drive-through penalty and finished 16th. James Thompson finished 10th and second in the WTCC Trophy.
Sebastien Loeb Racing completed a perfect afternoon in the Middle East as its three drivers secured victory for Team Citroen in the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s Manufacturers Against the Clock (WTCC MAC3) at WTCC DHL Race of Qatar.
For the season finale, Citroen nominated the three SLR privateer drivers Mehdi Bennani, Tom Chilton and Gregoire Demoustier to take part in the Tour de France-inspired team time trial. Fresh from claiming his maiden WTCC pole position in qualifying, Bennani led his team-mates Chilton – who earlier clinched Opening Race pole – and WTCC MAC3 debutant Demoustier to a time of 4m13.756s around two laps of the Losail International Circuit.
