Villa, Bennani and Fabiani form Proteam’s trio

Proteam Racing will run three BMW cars in the 2011 WTCC for Javier Villa García, Mehdi Bennani and Fabio Fabiani.

"We will start the season with two 320 TC cars powered by the new 1.6-litre turbo engine and one 2.0-litre normally aspirated 320si for Fabiani,” team principal Valmiro Presenzini explained, adding: “We are currently racing against time to finish the two new cars that will be air-freighted to Brazil.”

The 23-year old Spaniard Villa is one of the most interesting additions to this year’s WTCC. He switches to touring cars after a successful career in single seaters that included victories in the GP2 championship and F1 test-driver seat at Sauber. “I feel extremely motivated while opening a new chapter of my sporting career. My goal is to build experience and fight for the Yokohama Trophy, but also to show off with the factory teams that are involved in the championship,” Villa stated.

Bennani, 27 from Morocco said: “The fact that I’m joining Proteam means that I must claim good results. I am confident, because all the ingredients are there. The team is very professional, I know most of the tracks and Proteam’s BMW is among the best cars in the field.”

Italian racer Fabiani completes the team after making occasional appearances in the championship during the two previous seasons.