World Touring Car independent Mehdi Bennani has joined Wiechers-Sport for the full 2010 season.

The Moroccan driver, who made his series debut on home soil in a SEAT Leon at the Marrakech street race last season, will drive one of the team’s BMW 3 Series.

“We are very pleased that Mehdi has joined us,” said Wiechers team manager Dominik Greiner. “From his very first laps in the WTCC he proved to be very competitive. Our common aim is a place on the podium in the Independents’ Trophy.”

Aly Horma, president of the Marrakech race, added: “As the only Moroccan driver in a world championship, Mehdi will be carrying high the colours of Morocco on the world’s most prestigious circuits.”

Reigning champion Colin Turkington’s future in the British Touring Car Championship is in doubt due to RAC’s decision to scale back its support for the WSR BMW squad that took the Northern Irishman to the title.

Turkington, 27, has spent all but one of his eight BTCC seasons with Dick Bennetts’ squad, but said that with the team still chasing a title sponsor for 2010, he may have to look elsewhere.

“I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing this year,” he told this week’s AUTOSPORT magazine. “With WSR not having RAC as title sponsor, there’s a budget shortfall and understandably they can’t progress until that gap is filled.

“I’m just having to keep my options open. I’m looking at BTCC, WTCC and the European Touring Car Cup, as are the team, but for me I’m not prioritising one championship over another.

“I’d love to stay with WSR, but I know there are guys out there with money who might be hard to turn down.”

AUTOSPORT understands that Turkington has received offers from WTCC independent frontrunners Wiechers-Sport and Proteam. While he would not confirm this, he did say: “I have some interesting offers on the table, but I have to think long and hard about my next move, because it will be a very important one for my career.”

Gabriele Tarquini looks certain to defend his World Touring Car Championship title aboard a works-assisted SEAT, this week’s AUTOSPORT magazine reveals, despite the Spanish manufacturer’s withdrawal from the series.

Tarquini appeared to be left out in the cold when SEAT announced it was ceasing its factory involvement in the championship last week. But it quickly emerged that the veteran Italian is set to race a Leon TDI run by a new organisation established by Spanish-based WTCC SEAT privateer SUNRED Engineering.

It is understood that Tarquini will race a Leon prepared by SUNRED with support from factory engineers. The 47-year-old said that a deal had yet to be signed.

“I want to find a solution to continue,” said Tarquini. “One opportunity could be to race a Leon with some support from the factory.”

Four Leon TDIs are expected to be run out of SUNRED’s premises adjacent to SEAT Sport’s headquarters near Barcelona.

Independents’ champion Tom Coronel and Danish Touring Car title winner Michel Nykjaer will be entered by SUNRED, while Tarquini and SEAT Russia protege Timur Sadredinov will be fielded under a separate banner – but could yet score manufacturers’ points for SEAT.

James Thompson will contest selected rounds of the World Touring Car Championship with Hartmann Racing this season, as part of another four-series campaign.

In 2009, the 35-year-old Briton raced in the WTCC with Lada, the British championship with a Team Dynamics Honda Civic, the Danish series with Hartmann’s Honda Accord, plus V8 Supercar outings with Ford at Phillip Island and Bathurst, and winning the end-of season European Touring Car Cup.

Thompson does not have full-time WTCC or BTCC plans this year, but with Hartmann he will contest the Danish and Scandinavian championships, the expanded ETCC and is also hoping to make the WTCC rounds at Monza and Brands Hatch.

“Last season was a busy one but we’re going to give it a go again this year,” Thompson said at AUTOSPORT International. “One of the disappointing things having done so much last year was that I couldn’t win any of the titles.

“I was leading the Danish and it would have been fantastic for my team to win it, but I was only committed to five of seven rounds and missing the last two meant we only finished third, so this year we’ll try to make amends for that.”

Thompson became the first driver to win a WTCC race in a Japanese car at Imola in 2008 and is hoping to repeat the feat this year.

“I’ve got the chance to win three championships and maybe have a go at winning another world championship race in the Honda, obviously Brands Hatch is somewhere I know very well,” he added.

Andy Priaulx expects to see several turbo-diesel SEAT Leons in the World Touring Car Championship next season, despite the Spanish manufacturer’s announcement this week that it is quitting the series.

SEAT confirmed long-running speculation that it would withdraw from the WTCC on Wednesday, but Danish driver Michel Nykjaer has already revealed that he will race a customer Leon TDi for SUNRED Engineering.

Priaulx believes that more diesel SEATs will join the grid ahead of the opening race of the season in Brazil on March 7, and says reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini could be aboard one of them.

“I hear that Tarquini might be coming back with a SEAT diesel alongside Tom Coronel,” Priaulx said in an interview on the stage at AUTOSPORT International. “That would be a semi-works effort with the same diesel engine and it’s going to be the same [as 2009] again.”

Priaulx says he is sorry to see the factory SEAT outfit leave the world championship, but insists that the series would benefit from a more balanced playing field which will be introduced through new regulations in 2011.

“It is a shame to lose a manufacturer, but unfortunately, the way the championship has been in the last two or three years with diesel power against petrol, it has caused a lot of problems.

“For me, even to beat my team-mate is going to be hard, never mind another 10 to 15 cars. Augusto [Farfus] is one of the fastest touring car drivers around at the moment. I had one of my best ever years in terms of driving performance last year and hopefully that can carry on.

“I’ve got probably my busiest ever year ahead of me and it will be very tough. My BMW programme includes Le Mans and Nurburgring, and there are some other races that haven’t been announced yet but look very exciting.”

Yvan Muller declared himself optimistic about the season ahead after completing his maiden test with Chevrolet.

The team’s two-day session at Valencia was 2008 world champion Muller’s first chance to drive the Cruze after joining the team from SEAT.

“It was a very useful session for me, as I familiarise with the Cruze and start working seriously with the engineers and the mechanics,” he said. “I must say I felt extremely comfortable with the engineers and the mechanics, and I am very pleased to be again in an Anglo-Saxon environment.

“This is a highly professional team and a group of really nice people and I like a lot their calm and methodical approach to things.

“The Cruze seems to be an excellent base, although I am just starting to explore its limits, and I am excited at the prospect of bringing my contribution to the team’s efforts.”

Muller was joined at the test by team regular Rob Huff, who felt his new team-mate was settling in well.

“The car feels good and it actually was quicker than during the Valencia race weekend last year, although this doesn’t necessarily mean a lot as the engine works much better in the cooler conditions we have at this time of the year,” said Huff. “We are working well with Yvan and I am pleased to see we had similar feedback and comments on the car.”

The Valencia test also marked the first appearance of ex-Formula 1 man Graham Watson at Chevrolet. Watson has taken over from Mark Busfield as the manager of the RML-run squad.

SEAT has withdrawn its factory team from the World Touring Car Championship.

The Spanish manufacturer had been expected to quit the series since the end of last season, but delayed its final decision until this week.

The firm will continue to give technical support to customer teams who run its petrol or diesel-powered Leons in the WTCC.

SEAT Sport director Jaime Puig said: “After achieving all possible successes in the WTCC, we are now going to focus all our efforts on customer sports in different championships.

“We are always eager to win when a SEAT is on the track and to do so, SEAT Sport will provide all of our customers with the necessary technical support.”

SEAT has won the last two WTCC titles with Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini, but has been at the centre of an ongoing row over the equalisation of its turbo diesel cars with the category’s normally-aspirated petrol machinery throughout both seasons.

Its cars were granted a variable limit to their turbo boost pressure in the first three races of 2009, provoking rival manufacturer BMW to threaten to quit the series when it learned of the waiver. The limit was then reduced, prompting SEAT to issue its own quit threats.

SEAT’s communications director Dominik Hoberg added: “SEAT will continue with a noteworthy presence in motorsport in 2010 but the company will have a different approach as regards to its motorsport activity.”

Danish Touring Car champion Michel Nykjaer is to move up to the World Touring Car Championship in a SUNRED Engineering SEAT Leon TDi.

The 30-year-old won the Danish title in both 2007 and 2009, and is also twice a winner of the European Touring Car Cup.

He made his WTCC debut with a one-off outing at Oschersleben last year in a Chevrolet run by Perfection Racing.

Nykjaer has already tested for SUNRED and hopes to emulate team regular Tom Coronel by taking the independents’ title.

“I had two test drives in the SEAT TDI Leon, and it is a fantastic car,” said Nykjaer. “SUNRED and SEAT Sport have very close relations, and I have full confidence that they can help me to reach the very top of the tree.

“My goal is to win the private drivers’ championship, the Independents’ Trophy, in 2010, which I consider realistic despite the stiff competition.”

SUNRED’s 2009 drivers Coronel and Tom Boardman have yet to confirm their 2010 plans.

Former WTCC world champion Yvan Muller got his first taste of Chevrolet’s Cruze car when he tested it at Valencia on Monday.

The Frenchman, joining the team from SEAT this year, got behind the wheel of his new car at the Ricard Tormo circuit, where he is carrying out a two-day test that finishes today.

Muller, working alongside team-mate Rob Huff, was pleased with the performance of the car following his maiden outing.

“I am still discovering the Cruze but can already tell it is a car with an excellent basis and a good potential for further growth,” Muller said.

“The team looks extremely professional and I am very pleased with the way we are working here in Valencia”.

Former WTCC world champion Yvan Muller got his first taste of Chevrolet’s Cruze car when he tested it at Valencia on Monday.

The Frenchman, joining the team from SEAT this year, got behind the wheel of his new car at the Ricard Tormo circuit, where he is carrying out a two-day test that finishes today.

Muller, working alongside team-mate Rob Huff, was pleased with the performance of the car following his maiden outing.

“I am still discovering the Cruze but can already tell it is a car with an excellent basis and a good potential for further growth,” Muller said.

“The team looks extremely professional and I am very pleased with the way we are working here in Valencia”.