A week after the first Chinese meeting on this year’s WTCR calendar (FIA World Touring Car Cup), the two Sébastien Loeb Racing drivers, Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani, arrived in Wuhan in the context of the World Touring Car Cup. The drivers in the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCRs were once again handicapped by the balance of performance imposed by the FIA and were on a tightrope during the weekend.
Despite giving their all in the first qualifying session to clinch good places on the grid, they had to make do with 14th and 16th positions.
In the first race Bennani and Huff fought valiantly, but were hindered by the car’s lack of balance and finished thirteenth and fourteenth respectively.
In race 2, Mehdi repeated his outstanding performance of the previous weekend in Ningbo and scored his second pole position on the reversed grid. For 17 laps the Moroccan driver held off his closest rival, Aurélien Comte. Three corners from the finish Comte managed to take the lead, but Bennani pulled off a last-gasp pass and converted his pole position into victory making him the twelfth different driver to win a race in the WTCR this year. His team-mate, Rob Huff, was unable to make headway during this heat and saw the flag in 10th place.
The final race of the weekend was marked by several neutralisations. Rob was caught up in a spectacular collision involving five cars and had to retire. Mehdi, winner of the previous heat, held on to his place and came home ninth.
Next round of the 2018 FIA WTCR for Sébastien Loeb Racing, Suzuka in Japan (27-28 October).
“We began the weekend setting a good pace in free practice despite having to dial in the fine-tuning required on a city circuit. But very quickly, matching our rivals became more difficult. We tried to save the day, in particular with Mehdi’s tenth place in the second qualifying session. Unfortunately, Rob was caught up in a pile-up in the last race. We hope that in Japan we’ll be able to fight with our rivals on a level playing field. This type of circuit isn’t really favourable to us, but if the weight compensation is brought up to date we could maybe spring some good surprises!” Jean-Philippe Nicolao, Sébastien Loeb Racing technical manager
“It was a very positive weekend for me! On Friday and Saturday we suffered because of the balance of performance and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be on the pace, but the team worked really hard to find the right setup balance to enable us to fight at the front. I’m very satisfied to be able to thank them for this victory. I haven’t won for quite a while and I missed the taste of victory. I can’t wait to tackle the next round; I’m 100% reboosted!” Mehdi Bennani
“It’s really a weekend to forget for me, but Mehdi put on a bloody great show! We had to fight with the balance of the car. Thanks to good team work we were finally able to find a satisfactory setup. It wasn’t enough, though. We were unlucky in the first qualifying session and this led to a difficult start in race one. Just try and imagine twenty-five cars locked in battle in the same corner! The start in race 2 was better although in race 3 it was worse. Even if it was a pretty disappointing weekend for me I’m very happy for Mehdi and I hope I’ll be able to take my revenge at the end of the month in Japan. The battle’s far from over!” Rob Huff