Title contenders impressed by MotoGP’s Hafizh Syahrin, share bike racing memories

Some of the leading World Touring Car Cup drivers have expressed their respect for Sepang wild card Hafizh Syahrin, as the MotoGP regular doubles up at his home track this weekend racing on both two wheels and four.

Syahrin is making his car racing debut this weekend, driving a Hyundai i30 N TCR as one of four wild card entries for the WTCR season-finale.

The Malaysian is also taking part in Saturday’s FIM Endurance World Championship motorcycle round at Sepang, which runs alongside WTCR on the event programme.

Syahrin qualified 29th out of the 30 WTCR drivers in Friday’s two qualifying sessions, roughly three seconds off the pace of pole-setter and fellow Hyundai driver Norbert Michelisz but just a second shy of touring car greats such as Rob Huff and Andy Priaulx. Syahrin also lapped only a second slower than the top wild card entry, experienced car racing ace João Paulo de Oliveira.

Speaking about his WTCR experience, Syahrin said it was “crazy” and that finding the limits in the faster corners had been his main challenge – and some of the leading names in the field have come to his support.

“He is quite amazing,” said title favourite Michelisz. “I’m not sure if I could do two and a half seconds off the pace on a motorcycle. I know how limited time he has had in the car, and I know how demanding this circuit is. I’m holding my fingers crossed for him. It must be very physical. He doesn’t have a day off [like us], he will probably ride four-five hours on the motorcycle in the race and then on Sunday he will do three races the same distance as us, so hats off.”

Thed Björk remains in contention for the title but is facing an uphill battle after a difficult time on Friday. The Swede reiterated Michelisz’ praise of Syahrin, and expanded on his own experiences of motorcycle competition.

“I drove a race in Sweden, in Supersport 600,” said Björk. “It was a lot of fun. I qualified quite well but then I crashed in the race and decided to stop! Also in the contact now, it says I’m not allowed [to race MCs] anyway!

“When I was driving at my home track in Sweden, even though I did some practice for a couple of days, I was still like four seconds off the pace of the professionals. In a car that’s a whole different category, but in the bikes I felt like no one could ride faster than I did. But it’s a such a big difference because they are balancing the whole bike with their body, they have to feel the front wheel sliding and so on. For sure, I have a lot of respect to them for what they do. He [Syahrin] is really good.”

Björk’s Lynk & Co Cyan Racing team-mate Yvan Muller, who is also in championship contention, said he too had tried a hand at motorcycle racing.

“I tried once, a Ducati bike,” said Muller. “The target was to touch the knee [in the tarmac] and as soon as I touched both I said ‘OK, enough’! I didn’t fall so that was enough. I had a brand new overall so I couldn’t come back with holes in the knees…”

Michelisz, meanwhile, had more slow-speed memories of two-wheel action.

“When I was young, I think the fastest motorbike I rode was a Simson. It was a bike from East Germany. It had 3.5 horsepower and did 50-55 km/h, but that was enough for me!”