Mehdi Bennani
| Mehdi Bennani | |
|---|---|
Bennani at the 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Belgium.
|
|
| Nationality |
 Moroccan |
| Born |
25 August 1983 Fez, Morocco |
| World Touring Car Championship career | |
| Debut season | 2009 |
| Current team | Sébastien Loeb Racing |
| Car no. | 25 |
| Former teams |
Proteam Racing Wiechers-Sport Exagon Engineering |
| Starts | 171 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Poles | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 2 |
| Best finish | 5th in 2016 |
| Previous series | |
| 2009 2007 2007 2005–2006 2004 |
Formula Le Mans Euroseries 3000 Italian Formula 3000 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Formula BMW Asia |
| Championship titles | |
| 2016 | WTCC Independents' Trophy |
Mehdi Bennani (born 25 August 1983) is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the World Touring Car Championship with Sébastien Loeb Racing.
He became the first Moroccan driver to win a world championship race organized by the FIA, after his victory in Shanghai, WTCC .
Like most racing drivers, Bennani started out in karting, winning his national championship in 2001. He finished as runner-up in the European Karting Championship in the 100 ICA class. He also won the Moroccan Fiat Palio Trophy in 2001. He moved into single-seaters and was runner-up in Formula BMW Asia in 2004. He moved to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2005 with the Avalon Formula team, racing against the likes of Robert Kubica and Will Power. He also competed for EuroInternational in 2006, but failed to score a point in his time in the series. He competed in Euroseries 3000 in 2007, finished 14th at the final standings and scored a best result of fourth. In 2008 he competed in the Pau Historical Grand Prix, where he finished second.
In May 2009 Bennani competed in his home round of the World Touring Car Championship, the Race of Morocco at the Marrakech Street Circuit in a SEAT León 2.0 TFSI prepared by Exagon Engineering. He was backed by OMNT, Morocco's Tourism Office. He became the first North African to race in the WTCC, on the series' first visit to the African continent. He qualified in 14th place for the first race, and finished in 9th place, winner of the Independents category. He finished ninth in the second race, and impressed throughout the weekend with the way he was able to keep up with WTCC regulars. He competed at four further race weekends for Exagon. At the Race of Portugal he collided with the stranded car of Alain Menu on the narrow street circuit, he was later disqualified from the final classification.
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