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Mehdi Bennani given three-place grid penalty for France

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Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the race next week at Paul Ricard for the incident at the start of race two in Marrakech today, which eliminated Tom Coronel and Yvan Muller from the race and is set to see Coronel miss next week’s race as well.

The Moroccan felt that Coronel had kept moving in on his car at the start of the race, while Coronel believed that Bennani was at fault for the incident which has destroyed his new Chevrolet Cruze TC1 car (see here).

Bennani was given a drive-through penalty during the race, but with the help from the safety car and the decimated field due to incidents and mechanical failures, he was able to move through to fifth position.

The stewards have now given Bennani a three-place grid drop for the next race in addition to the drive-through for “causing a dangerous collision with car No.4”.