Mehdi Bennani lays down the gauntlet in Qatar for indie title charge

Mehdi Bennani was in the top three in both of the first 30 minute practices in Losail in the Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée, and hopes to find more pace as the Moroccan fights for the independents’ trophy against the privateer Honda of Norbert Michelisz.

Bennani was quick in both practice sessions, with second position in FP1, just 0.4 seconds behind double champion José María López in the factory Citroën .

“This circuit is very special,” said Bennani to TouringCarTimes. “We have to learn everything very quickly. My pace wasn’t bad, we are fighting around the top drivers…but also need to progress to be closer to them, but it’s a good start for the weekend.

The Moroccan admits the circuit has certain challenges, particularly with grip levels with the WTCC the only series on track this weekend, but the first session under the lights was also a great experience.

“As we are the only series racing, to find the grip is not easy. We have to fight a lot with the steering, but the circuit is very nice; every corner follows one-by-one, you don’t have a lot of time to relax, apart from the main straight.

“(Under the lights) it’s perfect. I’ve done a few endurance races in Dubai and the Nürburgring, so for me it’s nice to be back doing night racing. It’s strange as sometimes you think there’s a car close to you, but it’s just your shadow, it happened to me a couple of times already.

“It’s a good start, we are fighting for the Yokohama Trophy and we’re going in the right direction.”