Mehdi Bennani: “I’m here to disturb the championship”

Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën driver Mehdi Bennani has downplayed his championship chances, despite taking his second win of the season at Vila Real, and is just 31 points behind championship leader Tiago Monteiro in the standings.

The Moroccan though believes he’s in a position to disrupt the championship, with the front-running privateer team already having taken three victories this year between Bennani and team-mate Tom Chilton, and are the chief rivals to Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff in the independents’ race.

“I’m happy to have these results in the home race of Tiago, as we’re in Portugal, we’re close to Morocco and a lot of people here supporting me,” said Bennani.

“It was a very tricky first race, and the only message I had from my engineer which was ‘push to the limit’, not the best radio message when you’re on a very difficult circuit.”

Bennani took his championship after building a comfortable lead over the Honda of Ryo Michigami, and was back in the lead, only caught late in the race by a charging Monteiro, but the local driver had no time left to stop Bennani from taking his second win of the season.

“I didn’t know what would happen with the joker lap, but everything worked OK,” he said. “I had a very good start and made the most of mistakes from other drivers. To finish with the victory here is wonderful, my second one of this season.”

On his championship potential, the 33-year-old added: “The target is to score points in each race, and after we’ll see in Qatar what will happen. I think I’m not here to fight for the championship, but I’m here to disturb the championship, as it’s going to be tough for everyone and very close, but it’s going to be a good year for us.”