Engstler leads the Independents’ trophy

Franz Engstler and local hero Mehdi Bennani shared victories in the WTCC Independents’ Trophy at Marrakech, just like they did in 2009. The only difference was that they swapped races: Engstler won Race 1 and Bennani Race 2.

With a win and a third place in Morocco, the German driver and his BMW 320si took the lead in the standings with 34 points, three ahead of Proteam Motorsport’s Sergio Hernández who failed to score in the second race after being involved in the pile up at the start. Bennani of Wiechers-Sport, lies third in the classification, with a 7point gap.

The Marrakech round brought no luck to Stefano D’Aste, who retired in the first race with a broken driveshaft, and the bamboo-engineering duo of Darryl O’Young and Harry Vaulkhard who were also involved in the Race 2 incident.