Mehdi Bennani says that taking victory in the main World Touring Car Championship race in Qatar was ‘like a dream’ after the Moroccan racer converted his pole position into a hard-fought win.
Having earlier in the day scored his first-ever outright pole position in qualifying, Bennani held on to clinch a second win of the season, and third of his career, in the Main Race under the Losail floodlights.
It came despite heavy pressure from the Polestar Volvo of Thed Björk, who challenged hard in the mid-point of the race before fading later on.
For Bennani, the win caps off a strong season for the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver, who has made no secret of his desire to be picked up by a factory team in 2017.
The win was all the more sweet for the 33-year-old, as he considers the Qatar race in the Middle East to be ‘his second home race’ as he too comes from an Arabic country.
“It was not an easy race for me today, because I made it a hard life keeping Thed behind me,” said Bennani.
“I had one question today: if I deserved it in qualifying, because some people made a mistake, but I deserved it as I didn’t make a mistake.
“To get this result in Qatar, in my second home race, was like a dream. I pushed to the maximum; I knew it would be very tough, because it’s the Main Race and we have all very quick drivers.
“I knew [José María] López, [Yvan] Muller and Thed are all behind, and so it was going to be very tough. When I saw at the start that José is already ahead of the Volvo, I knew that a big fight would start.
“I tried to do 12 or 13 laps like qualifying and the only thing in my mind was that I would win or I would put my car in the wall, because I absolutely wanted to win this race.”
Bennani’s win also secured him fifth overall in the drivers’ championship standings, ahead of Honda’s Rob Huff, marking his most successful season in the WTCC to-date.