Mehdi Bennani is back in FIA World Touring Car racing after a two-year absence from TCR Europe. He joined Comtoyou Team Audi Sport to drive a Goodyear-equipped Audi RS 3 LMS in the fifth season of the WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup.

The 38-year-old Moroccan brings a winning pedigree and considerable experience and that’s what he said during his preparations for the season opener at the Circuit de Pau-Ville in France on May 7-8.

Back to WTCR…“WTCR is the series where I have spent most of my motorsport career, WTCC before and WTCR now. It’s a series I know well and now it’s time to see where we stand. I spent some good years in TCR Europe but why not come back to the world level and in the best series.

By joining Comtoyou…“We had a fantastic year in 2020 and we have very good memories together, winning the TCR Europe title. I also had good contacts with Audi Sport from this season. Each time we were looking for how we could develop things together.

On the second-generation Audi RS 3 LMS…“The car and the base look very solid and a big difference from the old model, but in a good way.”

On the 2022 objectives…“My aim is to get used to the car very quickly because the WTCR is a high level with very difficult races. It’s very hard to find the last tenths you need but I hope to be on that margin very soon. to fight for the last tenths compared to the other drivers and I will see what position I will be in. Then after I will judge how the season will be. It is very difficult to say for the moment what are my objectives and my ambitions after only few hours in the car and the tires are also new for me We don’t have much time before the first race but the team managed to give me all the information and everything they had to help me to learn very quickly. Each time, it is not easy, not only to drive the car, but to be at the limit with the car.

Looking at his rivals from afar…“For sure I’ve followed the series for the last two years and I think the grid is almost as I left it and the whole grid is very solid. It’s very hard to say that a of the drivers on the grid is slower than the other, they almost fight together, all trying to get the win, but to do well, you have to be consistent and clean to score a lot of points and you also need a lot of luck , that’s all. But the nice thing about WTCR is that you have the whole grid always there. You see the grid and you see that the first 16 or 17 are in a second. Sometimes you can reverse the grid and the guy who is P16 can be on pole in the next race.