Mehdi Bennani took a jubilant win in the Main Race of the FIA World Touring Car Championship JVCKENWOOD Race of Hungary weekend for Sebastien Loëb Racing.
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver Rob Huff had started on pole, with Bennani lining up behind him in second. Huff made a solid start but it wasn’t enough to hold off Bennani who stole the lead and stayed at the front from then on, despite initially complaining of problems with his brakes.
The two Volvo Polestar’s of Nicky Catsburg and Néstor Girolami were battling it out for third and fourth positions as the lights went out, alongside Huff, but the three all tangled – putting Girolami out of the race and causing a safety car.
That incident meant Huff was handed a drive-through penalty and a result would ultimately drop to the rear end of the field and drive a recovery to tenth place.
Catsburg held onto second throughout the race, and though he did launch a challenge on Bennani in the final few laps of the race, he couldn’t quite make it happen and crossed the line ahead of Tom Chilton, who claimed his second podium of the weekend in third.
Home favourite Norbert Michelisz just missed out on a podium for Castrol Honda in fourth, ahead of team-mate and opening race winner Tiago Monteiro in fifth place.
The Chevrolet Cruze of Esteban Guerrieri and the other Volvo Polestar of Thed Björk were sixth and seventh respectively, while Yann Ehrlacher ended a positive weekend for RC Motorsport in eighth. Tom Coronel was ninth.