On many occasions the reward is much closer than we think and although it seems that the time has come to stop, Mikel Azcona (26 years old, Vizcaya) has experienced firsthand how a job well done ends up paying off. The Spanish was about to leave the competition in 2014 due to lack of budget and to a large extent, a borrowed car for the first race of the European Clio Cup, has led him to become what he is today: “touring car world champion. With this feat, the Basque completes the last milestone that Spanish motorsports was missing to completing “a lifetime’s work” that still has challenges ahead at the hands of a team like Hyundai: “Here there is a lot of passion for motorsport and I think that if I am close to these people, good things will come.”
The first of all has come in the form of a title (almost nothing), which began to be forged from the beginning of the course, as Azcona told a small group of media: “I had never started a World Cup this way and that’s when you start to understand that you can fight for the title. At MotorLand, when I already achieved my third victory, I did say ‘gosh, there are only a few weekends left and I really I am very well faced”. So well that he did not even need to compete in the races to fulfill his dream. Qualifying gave the Spaniard the last World Touring Car (WTCR) crown as we have known it so far and although it is still too early to tell what will happen next year, Mikel is sure.”95% certain that Hyundai will be (in the new format)”.
for now “neither the brands nor the teams” know where the competition will go, although the main objective for Azcona is to have at least “a grid of 30 cars” that balances the scales in which Lynk & Co has absolute dominance. Hence, this title has even more merit, especially after having “fought five cars against two”. They did not need to be a majority to achieve an objective that has been carried out as a group: “The team has had an attitude and a strategy every weekend that facing the pilot they make life very easy. We haven’t failed at anything all season.” And also, he has had the help of a teammate who has also made everything much easier: “Norbi is a very important part of this achievement.”
“When I heard ‘Mikel, you’re world champion’, my hair stood on end”
The award is something for which he has been “working for the last four years” and once the goal was met, excitement came on the scene: “When I heard on the radio my engineer telling me, ‘Michael, you are World Champion‘ (Mikel, you are world champion), My hair stood on end and I was even moved, tears fell from my eyes, and that I to get excited the truth is that it costs me a lot”. During the process, the pressure never got the best of him, nor at the decisive moment of his career: “In 2014 we were not going to do anything, the economic source had run out and we had to stop with motorsport. But a very close friend He left us his car to do the first race of the European Clio Cup, at Motor Land. We finished third at the age of 16, and from then on, my father was warming up with the european touring car, We won it, and from there we went up to the World Cup. And we have come, look, to be world champions”.
Future plans
Waiting to know definitively what direction Hyundai will take with the new format of the World Touring Cars, the Japanese brand will continue to have a presence at the ETCR together with a Azcona who will go out on track to continue adding successes. Try new challenges? “As a driver I am a fan of racing and I really like the 24 Hours (from Le Mans) and the WEC. I haven’t had the chance to test a GT3 or anything like that, I’d love to, but the truth is that right now I’m very good with Hyundai and I think I have to take advantage of these three years that I’ll be here”. “Looking ahead, I would love to open more doors for myself” acknowledges Azcona, but now, for now, he plays “have fun and celebrate with all the team that a great year in which I have had fun and from which we must be very proud of what we have achieved”.