Mehdi Bennani finishes Vallelunga test fastest

Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani finished the Vallelunga test fastest of all in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, just over three-tenths of a second faster than the Polestar Volvo S60 of Thed Björk, with Bennani’s new SLR team-mate Tom Chilton completing the top three.

The five hour afternoon test was held behind the red flag due to a crash for Campos Racing’s John Filippi. The Corsican’s car was carried back to the pit lane with severe rear-end damage, but Filippi himself was unhurt.

René Münnich was unable to set much mileage in the only other Chevrolet in the test due to an engine issue.

The two Volvos held the top spots for the first part of the afternoon, before the Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroëns moved to the fore, with first Tom Chilton setting the fastest time after overcoming set-up issues which he was experiencing in the morning, shortly followed by Bennani, who eclipsed José María López’s time from the morning.

López sat out the afternoon, with the sole factory Citroën driven by Yvan Muller, who ended the afternoon fifth fastest behind Honda’s Norbert Michelisz.

Fredrik Ekblom finished sixth, just over a second adrift of Bennani’s time, with Grégoire Demoustier seventh for SLR Citroën, ahead of the two Chevrolets.

The test will be followed by a media launch event, where the official entry for the 2016 season will be revealed.