Jim Ka To ( zh, t=詹家圖; born 28 November 1984 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

) is a

race car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...

driver who competed in the 2001

Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault ...

and currently competes in the

China Touring Car Championship The China Touring Car Championship (CTCC) is a touring car racing series based in China. Between 2004 and 2008 the series was known as the China Circuit Championship. The series consists of two classes, one for 2000cc cars and one for 1600cc cars ...

. The son of Hong Kong street car racer Jim Chong Shing, he started racing at an early age at the

Zhuhai International Circuit Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) (simplified Chinese: 珠海国际赛车场; traditional Chinese: ) is located at Jin Ding town in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China. Motorsport started in Zhuhai when it hosted a race on its street circ ...

. He showed great potential in the China

Formula Campus French F4 Championship, formerly known as Formula Renault Campus France, Formula Campus, Formul'Academy Euro Series, F4 Eurocup 1.6 is a form of open wheel racing founded in 1993 by Louis Drouet. It is based in France and aims at karting graduates ...

series and was sent by Formula Racing Developments to

La Filière The FFSA Academy (formerly known as La Filière, Volant Elf and Auto Sport Academy) was created in 1993 by Elf Aquitaine to promote French drivers at the highest level, in line with its marketing approach and its commitment to Renault in F1. It is ...

in France to be trained to become a racing driver. Upon his return, he took pole position in the Asian Formula 2000 race in Macau at the age of 16. But his single-seater career has stagnated since then. In 2011, he decided to move to touring cars.

2004

In 2004, Jim finished second in the Asian Formula Renault Championship. He then scored a sensational pole position in the Macau

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

race, beating drivers like

Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the ...

Scott Speed Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American race car driver who has competed in numerous disciplines, including open-wheel, stock car, and rallycross racing. In , Speed became the first American driver to race in Formula One since ...

and

Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Lalli (, born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion. He is also the first man to win a race in every WEC class, and was the 2017 W ...

. But he crashed in the race and was taken to hospital for a check up. He was uninjured. He was signed by

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

to join their young drivers' programme for 2005 and was to join the Motorpark Oschersleben team that took Scott Speed to the 2004 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup title. But due to health problems, he returned to Hong Kong before entering any race in the 2005 series.

2007

In 2007, he competed in the

Asian Formula Renault Challenge The Formula Renault AsiaCup (formerly known as the Asian Formula Renault Challenge and AFR Series) is a Formula Renault 2.0 championship held in Asia. The series debuted in 2002 and also held the ''China Formula Renault Challenge''. The series i ...

and won two races in

Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pearl ...

in January and finished best Asian driver that season. He competed with Formula Racing Developments racing team, under the management of Kenneth Ma. In November 2007, Jim was announced as one of the drivers for Team PTRS for the 2007/08

Asian Formula Three Championship The Asian Formula Three Championship was a single-seater racing series based in South East Asia. It is one of a number of national and international Formula Three championships that form part of an established "career ladder" below Formula One. I ...

. He partnered Briton Matt Howson.

2008 season

In 2008, Jim competed in the Asian

Championship again for Formula Racing Developments, sponsored by Frestech Electrical Appliances. He also competed in the

Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young ...

Pacific Series' finale at the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

. From 13 to 16 November 2008, Jim took part in the Formula BMW Pacific race in Macau. He qualified 12th and crashed in the race. His crash caused the race to be stopped and he was classified 7th in the final results. On 13 and 14 December 2008, Jim competed in the final two rounds of the Asian Formula Renault Championship. He won both races and became the 2008 Asian Formula Renault Champion, beating Geoffrey Kwong.

2008 Assault case

On 4 November 2008, Jim was arrested by the Hong Kong police on suspicion of assault at the

Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal The Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal is a ferry terminal and heliport, centrally located in Hong Kong. It is also known as the Macau Ferry Terminal, the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier or the Shun Tak Heliport, and has an ICAO code of VHSS. The t ...

. He was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. On 26 May 2009, he was found guilty by the Kwun Tong Magistracy. He remained in custody after conviction and was sentenced to 15 months in prison on 16 June 2009. After three months in jail, he was released on appeal on 16 September 2009.

2009 Formula BMW Pacific

After being released from jail, he entered the 2009

Formula BMW Pacific JK Racing Asia Series, formerly known as both Formula BMW Asia and Formula BMW Pacific, was a Open wheel car, single-seater racing series based in Asia. Formula BMW Asia was created in 2003 as a replacement for Asian Formula 2000 and was under th ...

race at the 2009

. He finished fourth in the race. It was the eighth time he raced in Macau.

2010 Formula BMW Pacific

Jim competed again in the Macau round of the 2010 Formula BMW Pacific season. He qualified 13th and finished 7th.

2010 accident and conviction

At 2am on 23 June 2010, Jim crashed his friend's car into the back of a taxi on Cherry Street in Hong Kong. He was convicted of careless driving and driving an uninsured car on 10 January 2010 at the Kowloon City Magistrate. He was fined HK$2,900 with his driving license suspended for a year.

2011 and 2012 China Touring Car Championship

In 2011 and 2012, Jim joined 778 Autosport and drove one of their Kias in the

2013 World Endurance Championship

On 8 March 2013, KCMG announced that Jim will partner

Alexandre Imperatori Alexandre Emmanuel Imperatori (born 19 April 1987 in Châtel-Saint-Denis) is a Swiss racing driver who lives in Shanghai, China. Career Karting Imperatori started kart racing at the age of four in Spain. He raced karting in Spain and Germany a ...

and

Matt Howson Matthew "Matt" Howson (born 25 August 1983 in Norwich, Norfolk, England) is a British racing driver. Howson won the LMP2 class at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans with Richard Bradley and Nicolas Lapierre Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is ...

to drive its no.47 Morgan-Nissan LMP2 entry at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, part of the

2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season The 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the second season of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series, co-organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). T ...

. The trio finished the race 6th in class and 12th overall, 5 laps behind the class winner. Chinese driver Ho Pin Tung will take his place in the team for the

2013 24 Hours of Le Mans The 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''81e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 19 to 23 June 2013 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close ...

2019 World Touring Car Cup

On 9 October 2019, KCMG announced that Jim Ka To will join KCMG regular WTCR competitors Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi for the Suzuka Round of the

2019 World Touring Car Cup The 2019 World Touring Car Cup was the second season of the World Touring Car Cup and 15th overall of World Touring Cars promoted by Discovery Sports Events, which dates back to the 2005 World Touring Car Championship. The drivers' championship w ...

in a wild card entry. On 24 October, Jim Ka To is also confirmed to race for KCMG in the FIA WTCR races in Macau.

References

External links

Driver Profile - 778 Autosport
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jim, Ka To 1984 births Living people Hong Kong racing drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Asian Formula Renault Challenge drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers World Touring Car Cup drivers 24H Series drivers FIA Motorsport Games drivers Asian Formula Three Championship drivers Formula BMW Pacific drivers KCMG drivers Team Meritus drivers Formula BMW Asia drivers