Mehdi Bennani admitted after clinching the TCR Europe title that he felt the last lap of the final race of the season at Jarama ‘was endless’.
Bennani in the ComToYou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS took second place in the last race of the year to become the TCR Europe champion.
Heading to Spain, Bennani had been lying second behind Mike Halder but a disastrous weekend for the German driver enabled Bennani to first take the championship lead after race one, before going on to win the championship in the second race of the day.
In the end, Bennani took the title by 28 points over John Filippi, and the Morcoccan driver was extremely happy to confirm his championship with another podium finish.
“In each lap I felt like it was the longest of my life,” explained the newly crowned champion.
“When the team told me that I have nine more laps I said: oh no!
“And when we had the safety-car I thought: and what if somebody makes a mistake behind me? Then I would go from hero to zero, but it didn’t happen!”
Despite being one of the front runners throughout the whole season, Bennani never won any of the 12 races in 2020.
He was also quick to praise the promoters of the championship after the final race where he took the title win and added: “The last lap was even endless for me.
“I was waiting for the chequered flag from the very first corner… I’m really, really happy because it has been a tough season and we have to congratulate the promoter because he was able to organise all the races during the pandemic.”
Bennani also helped his team ComToYou Racing secure the Teams Championship earlier in the weekend along with teammate Nicolas Baert who ended the 2020 series by taking third in the Drivers Standings.