TOURING Car driver Mitchell Cheah is itching for action at the Malaysian leg of the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR), which starts at Sepang Circuit today.
Mitchell, who competed as a full-season driver at this year’s TCR Germany, is one of three Malaysians who have been handed wildcards for the Sepang WTCR.
The other two are MotoGP rider Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah and Douglas Khoo.
The WTCR round is part of the Races of Malaysia double header, which will also feature the Eight Hours of Sepang endurance motorcycle race this weekend.
The latter is part of the Endurance World Championships (EWC).
Mitchell and Hafizh will be driving Hyundai i30 N TCR cars, run by Hyundai Team Engstler at Sepang.
The duo tested the cars at Sepang earlier this week.
‘I think it is going to be an exciting weekend. I have been preparing (mentally) for this since Datuk Razlan Razali (Sepang International Circuit chief executive officer) told me about it earlier this year,’ said Mitchell, who is eying a top-10 finish.
‘This is my first time driving the Hyundai. It went well during testing and hopefully we will be able to get good results for Malaysia.’
Mitchell is also impressed by how well Hafizh, who he has been coaching of late, has taken to four-wheeled racing.
‘Hafizh has been very impressive on the track,’ added Mitchell.
‘I believe he will do well and exceed expectations.’
Hafizh, as a warm-up for his appearance in WTCR, had competed in last month’s Sepang 1000km Endurance Race, where he shared a car with Alister Yoong and Bradley Anthony.
It will be a busy weekend for Hafizh as he is also racing in the Eight Hours of Sepang for Sepang Racing Team (SRT).