Luca Engstler finishes the season on a high note

After clinching the inaugural TCR Malaysia title yesterday, by finishing second in Race 1, Luca Engstler ended the season on a high note, taking a dominant victory in Race 2. That was his fifth win out of the championship’s six rounds.
Yesterday’s winner Mitchell Cheah finished second and Michael Choi completed the podium in third place and won the Cup class, his best result in the season.
Engstler’s Hyundai i30 N was placed fifth on the top-eight reverse grid; it should have beeen sixth but advanced one place thanks to the penalty that dropped Kai Jordan from fourth to sixth following the incident with Douglas Khoo in yesterday’s Race 1. Another advantage for Engstler was the third sport of the grid left empty by Andrej Abaluev who stalled at the start of the warm-up lap and lined up at the back of the field.
Choi made good use of the pole position and took the lead, but Engstler overtook him during the opening lap. Choi’s teammate Kenneth Lau, second on the grid, moved before the green flag, hesitated and found himself in eighth position. Eventually he was given a drive-through penalty for jump-start that he did not observe and was therefore excluded.
Paul Ip overtook Jordan for third, but spun off at the end of the first lap and rejoined at the back.
Cheah recovered to third, overtaking Martin Ryba and Jordan; the young Malaysian passed Choi for second on lap 4, but then was unable to close in on Engstler who increased his leading margin consistently and won by 13.5 seconds.
Choi managed to resist the pressure from Jordan and Ryba, so they finished in the order to fill the Cup’s podium. Second in the class meant that Jordan claimed the Cup title.

TCR Malaysia – Race 2
1. Luca Engstler (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N), 11 laps
2. Mitchell Cheah (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 13.482
3. Michael Choi (Prince Racing, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 18.637
4. Kai Jordan (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 23.889
5. Martin Ryba (Brutal Fish Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR), 28.583
6. Mark Darwin (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 33.469

Championship points
1. Engstler 142.5 pts; 2. Jordan 68; 3. Ryba 53; 4. Cheah 48, 5. Ip 44.5