Hyundai Ioniq 5 N's Australian Debut Will be Feisty at World Time Attack Challenge

It only takes a little bit of Initial D or The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift knowledge to know who Keiichi Tsuchiya is. For everyone else, the 67-year-old Japanese professional race car driver has the nickname 'Drift King,' which should explain just about everything.

If even that is not enough, may we kindly remind you this larger-than-life motorsport figure is a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, an All Japan GT Championship runner-up in 2001, and an ace at touge driving. More so, he usually drives a Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, also known as "Hachi-Roku" in Japan, and was a consultant on both Initial D and Tokyo Drift, where he also has a cameo appearance.

On this occasion, he is not attached to a Toyota-related project. Instead, Hyundai snatched the Drift King to promote further the regional arrival of their all-new 641-hp electric Hot Hatch, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, in Australia. So, after the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England, Hyundai is taking its sportiest electric model, which aims to shame the Tesla Model 3 Performance, to yet another popular automotive event, WTAC.

So, Hyundai Australia has chosen the venue for the much-anticipated Ioniq 5 N's local debut, the first appearance in the Land Down Under being at the World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC), and the legend itself, 'Drift King' Keiichi Tsuchiya will play with the EV hot hatchback in demonstration laps throughout the two-day event. He's not going to have a hard time doing it, by the way, as the first all-electric model from the N brand has a feature called Drift Optimizer.

This setup "helps maintain drift angle, (and) is designed to make every driver feel like a Drift King." On the other hand, the World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) is the world's largest time attack racing festival, with a history dating back to 2010. This year's edition takes place at Sydney Motorsport Park on September 1 and 2. Meanwhile, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N represents the newly minted sector of "driver-focused high-performance EVs," according to the company, with its powertrain of 478 kW (641 hp) with N Grin Boost engaged.

And it also features a lot of other Ns: N e-shift and N Active Sound+ ("electrifying sports car experience with tactile feel and immersive sound"), N Drift Optimizer, the N Pedal (with integrated Torque Kick Drift function), N-tuned brakes, N Mask graphic fascia, N-branded interior elements, and also an EV N-exclusive 'Luminous Orange' highlight mode. The Ioniq 5 is scheduled to open order banks in Australia later this year, and first deliveries are coming early next year.