Reigning TCR Malaysia teams’ and drivers’ champions Liqui Moly Team Engstler will return to the popular national championship in mid-January looking to retain their titles, the German-based operation fielding three cars for an as yet, un-named line-up.

Last season the three-time TCR Asia Series champions entered the six-round Championship with a pair of Hyundai i30 N TCR entries for a trio of drivers including Luca Engstler, Theo Coicaud and Michael Soong, whilst they also fielded as many as three Volkswagen Golf GTi TCRs for the likes of Kai Jordan, Mark Darwin, Brendan Paul Anthony, Ahmad Azlee, Henry Kwong, Adam Khalid and local hero Mitchell Cheah

For season 2020 - which again will see all six rounds contested at Sepang International Circuit between mid-January and late-February - the team will return with three cars under the guise of Hyundai Team Engstler, with all three entries campaigning the successful Hyundai i30N TCR, which just recently sealed the WTCR title at the Malaysian circuit with Hungary’s Norbert Michelisz.

The team are yet to finalise their driver lineup ahead of the 17-18 January opening event, however based on the 2019 season and their past campaigns in TCR Asia, they have been keen to pursue a mix of European drivers alongside local talent, and could be expected to adopt the same successful format in 2020.

“The interest in TCR Malaysia has been again encouraging, WSC Asia Limited’s David Sonenscher confirmed. “As we saw earlier this year, the Championship is well placed to provide both established and emerging drivers an opportunity to prepare for their 2020 programs with six races on one of the best circuits in the world.

“Europe is in the midst of another cold winter, so Sepang’s warmer conditions make it an almost perfect venue to kick off the new year, whilst the likelihood of wet weather, and the option to contest night races under lights also provides teams with a good range of conditions in which to compete.”

In conjunction with Sepang Circuit, Team Engstler used TCR Malaysia to great effect earlier this year providing a range of rising Malaysian stars with an opportunity to join the team with a view to furthering their careers as part of the many TCR events in the region and globally, some of them going on to contest events in Asia and Europe during the 2019 season.

The Engstler team also campaigned two Malaysian wildcard drivers during the recent WTCR final, with rising star Mitchell Cheah - who contested the 2018 TCR Asia Series with the team before graduating this year to TCR Germany - and MotoGP regular Hafizh Syahrin who was making his TCR debut at his home circuit, the motorcycle star stunning the field with a top 15 finish in just his third start, the team’s best result of the weekend in a world class field.

The second season of TCR Malaysia will begin in just four weeks time, offering very little time for teams and drivers to recover from the indulgences of Christmas and the New Year to begin what promises to be a very full 2020 season of TCR competition.