Mehdi Bennani insists that he is not in contention for taking the outright World Touring Car Championship title this season, despite his second win of the year in Portugal.
The Moroccan claimed his second win of the season in the Opening Race in Vila Real, following it up with another top ten finish in the Main Race to elevate him to fifth overall in the championship standings.
Bennani admitted after the race that he was lucky to have been able to move to the front following mistakes and close racing from the drivers immediately in front of him, which provided him with a clear path to second, before passing Honda’s Ryo Michigami later on in the lap.
“It was a very tricky race and my only message from my engineer was to push to the limit,” said the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver. “It’s not the best message to get over radio when you are on a very difficult circuit!
“I pushed the limit and after that, I had to do the ‘joker’ lap. I didn’t know when and what would happen, if I did it well, because I had to respect the blue line and not touch it. But in the end everything was working very nicely.
“I had a very good start and I was very lucky to have some mistakes from the other drivers so I could overtake. After that my driving style was to push to the limit and try not to touch the wall and that’s it.”
Bennani insists though that he does not consider himself a title contender, even though he is just 31 points behind championship leader Tiago Monteiro.
“The target is to score points in each race,” added Bennani. “After that we will see in Qatar what will happen.
“I’m not here to fight for the championship but to disturb the championship a little bit, because I think this year is going to be tough for everyone. And I think it’s a good year for us.”