Mitchell Cheah: VW to Hyundai switch “a culture shock”

World Touring Car Cup debutant Mitchell Cheah has set himself a top ten target ahead of his wild card appearance at home in Malaysia this weekend, despite experiencing “a culture shock” in his first test aboard the Hyundai i30 N TCR he is set to drive.

While Cheah is no newcomer to TCR racing, his previous experiences of the category are limited to outings in the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, which he has steered in a full-season assault on the TCR Germany championship this year.

Again driving an Engstler Motorsport-run Golf, the Malaysian also contested the final round of his domestic TCR series at Sepang back in February, scoring one pole position, one victory and one second place at the same track which is hosting this weekend’s WTCR finale.

For his maiden outing in the top tier of international touring car competition, however, Cheah is instead featuring in one of Engstler’s Hyundai i30 N TCRs, and says the transition has not been entirely straightforward after conducting exclusive wild card testing at Sepang over the last couple of days.

“When I first jumped into the Hyundai on Monday night it was like a culture shock for me,” Cheah explained to TouringCarTimes.

“I was really shocked. Even though this whole series is under the same specs, with the reduced power, the Hyundai just still felt a lot more powerful [than the VW]. A lot more responsive, very smooth, but at the same time it takes a lot of physical work on the body to drive the car and handle it well. It’s very interesting. Even with the five-hour test over the last three days, I definitely still need some more time to adapt.

“It’s mostly on my braking. I’ve been driving on this track for many, many years and the line is the same for any car; it’s just the way you apply the throttle and the brakes. The brakes in this car are quite different to the VW so that will take some time.

“I will try to get in the top ten in all three races. That would be a good result for me and anything else would be a bonus.”

When asked to reflect on the fact that such a target could potentially make him cross paths with the title-contending quartet of drivers, which include fellow Hyundai racer Norbert Michelisz, Cheah said he was “not so sure about that”.

“As a wild card entry we are not eligible to score any points no matter what position we finish [in], and we have an extra 20kg of ballast, so it will be tough. I will try to avoid getting in the way of the championship fight.”