Ma Qinghua () (born 25 December 1987 in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
) is a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
racing driver currently competing in the
World Touring Car Cup
The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It ...
with
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co.
Ma became the first
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
driver to win an
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
World Championship race when he won race two of the
2014 FIA WTCC Race of Russia. He has also previously competed in the
World Touring Car Championship
The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...
,
GP2, a few practice sessions in
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
, and
Formula E
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...
.
Career
Ma started his professional racing career in the
2005 Asian Formula Renault challenge with
Asia Racing Team
Asia Racing Team (ART Motorsports) is a Chinese / Macanese motor racing team that was formed in 2003. Its main operational headquarters is located within the Zhuhai International Circuit complex, in Southern China, with a second workshop in C ...
for 6 races coming 16th with the highest finish of 5th. He also competed in one race in the
2005 Italian Formula 3000 championship for
team Astromega
Team Astromega was a racing team from Belgium, headquartered in Heist-op-den-Berg and created in 1995 by Mikke Van Hool. The team competed in A1 Grand Prix and Formula Renault 1.6 Belgium.
History
Team Astromega was created in 1995 by Belgian In ...
and raced in the
2006 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship for the same team. He also raced in the inaugural
A1 Grand Prix season for Team China at the
A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China at the
Shanghai International Circuit
The Shanghai International Circuit () is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District, Shanghai. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Chinese Grand Prix which was hosted from 2004 to 2019 and was scheduled again fro ...
, coming 17th. For the next few years he raced in European Formula 3 championships like the 2008
Spanish Formula 3 Championship and
2009 British Formula 3 championship. He then competed in the 2010
Superleague Formula in the
2010 Ordos Superleague Formula round for Team China and a year later won 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 ...
's 1600c class driver's title.
Formula One
2012
Ma was added to the
HRT F1
HRT Formula 1 Team, formerly known as Campos Meta 1 and Hispania Racing, was a Spanish Formula One team founded by former driver Adrián Campos. It was sold to José Ramón Carabante before its debut in 2010, and then to investment group ...
driver development programme on 5 April 2012,
and made history as the first China-born driver to drive a Formula One car at an
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
-sanctioned event, a milestone described as "heralding an important step for Chinese motorsport". Ma also became the first driver of Chinese nationality to take part in a Grand Prix weekend when he replaced
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born 14 January 1977) is an Indian racing driver. He was the first Indian driver to compete in Formula One.
He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He has won multiple races in A1GP, British F3, ...
in the first Friday practice session of the
Italian Grand Prix
The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...
. He was given three more chances to drive the car in Friday sessions later that year.
2013
Ma had a contract to become a full time HRT driver in 2013, meaning he would become the first ever Chinese Formula 1 driver, however after HRT collapsed at the end of the 2012 season, this would never be and Ma instead moved to
Caterham
Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...
, continuing the role of Friday test driver whilst racing for their
GP2 Series team for the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
. In
2013 Chinese Grand Prix
The 2013 Chinese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2013 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 14 April 2013 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. The race was the third round of the 2 ...
, he replaced
Charles Pic
Charles Pic (; born 15 February 1990) is a retired professional racing driver who drove in Formula One for two full seasons in and , racing for Marussia F1 Team in the first season and then for Caterham in the second season.
Early career
Karti ...
to participate in FP1 and became the first Chinese driver to drive at his home Grand Prix session, but he was about 1.5 seconds off the pace to his teammate
Giedo van der Garde
Giedo Gijsbertus Gerrit van der Garde (born 25 April 1985 in Rhenen, Netherlands) is a Dutch racing driver, currently competing in the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship for TDS Racing. From 2018 to 2021 he competed in the FIA World Endurance Ch ...
and out of the 107% reference time to the quickest driver in Free Practice 1. Soon after the
2013 Chinese Grand Prix
The 2013 Chinese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2013 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 14 April 2013 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. The race was the third round of the 2 ...
,
Caterham
Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...
team claimed that he would be replaced by
Alexander Rossi
Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional racing driver and podcast host. He currently competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi is best known for winning ...
for the rest of the
2013 season. In the
2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round
The 2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held on 20 and 21 April 2013 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain as part of the GP2 Series. It was the second round of the 2013 GP2 Series and was run in support ...
,
Alexander Rossi
Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional racing driver and podcast host. He currently competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi is best known for winning ...
made his debut GP2 Series race and took a podium finish.
GP2
He made his debut GP2 Series race in
2013 Sepang GP2 Series round
The 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held on 23 and 24 March 2013 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia as part of the one-make single seater GP2 Series. It was the first round of the 2 ...
. Later in the final stint, his lap time dropped to more than 2 minutes in every lap and finished only 21st in featured race, which is the last place in classified drivers. Later he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis leading to extreme dehydration by the medical team on track at Sepang and would not start the sprint race.
World Touring Car Championship
Ma raced in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship for
Citroën Total WTCC driving at selected rounds in the fourth car. He won the second round of the
Race of Russia, becoming the first
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
driver to win an
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
World Championship race, and scored the fastest lap at the first round of the
Race of China, Shanghai, ultimately coming 13th in the championship. He was given a full time seat for 2015 and won the second round of the
Race of Portugal and finish 4th in the drivers championship. Despite this, he was not retained for 2016.
Formula E
In 2016, Ma replaced
Salvador Duran
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
in the
2015-16 Formula E season for
Team Aguri
Team Aguri, formerly Amlin Aguri and officially the Team Aguri Formula E Team, was an international motor racing team founded by former Formula One and 24 Hours of Le Mans driver Aguri Suzuki (Executive Chairman) and Mark Preston (Team Principal) ...
. He retired from his first ePrix but finished the last 3 races, albeit out of the points. In the next season, Ma was signed by
TeCheetah
DS Techeetah (, ) is a Sino- French motor racing team under ownership of SECA - China Media Capital that competes in the electric racing series, Formula E.
Formula E
Team Aguri principal Aguri Suzuki announced he would leave the team in April 20 ...
but was replaced by former Haas F1 driver
Esteban Gutiérrez
Esteban Manuel Gutiérrez Gutiérrez (; born 5 August 1991) is a Mexican racing driver currently representing Mercedes in Formula One, Formula E and esports and Inter Europol Competition in World Endurance Championship.
Previously from 2013 t ...
following a disappointing series of performances in the first three races of the season.
Ma returned to Formula E in 2017 with the
Nio Formula E Team for the
Paris ePrix
The Paris ePrix is an annual race of the single-seater, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 season.
Circuit Circuit des Invalides
The track is in length and features 14 turns ...
replacing
Luca Filippi
Luca Filippi (born 9 August 1985 in Savigliano, Italy) is an Italian auto racing driver. He competed in GP2 Series from 2006 to 2012, and the IndyCar Series from 2013 to 2016. In 2008 he was the official Honda Racing F1 test driver.
Career
Form ...
in a one off appearance and again in the
New York ePrix replacing
Oliver Turvey
Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to McLaren as a test driver. He was a notable kart racer, with two national titles, and was t ...
who was injured. He returned in
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
to race for the
Nio 333 FE Team
The Nio 333 Racing is a motor racing team currently competing in the FIA Formula E Championship, an all-electric racing series. The team is owned and managed by Lisheng Sports and Gusto Engineering in China and Hong Kong respectively.
The team, ...
alongside Turvey. He was replaced by
Daniel Abt
Daniel Johannes Abt (born 3 December 1992) is a German former racing driver. He has competed in such series as the German Formula Three Championship, the GP3 Series, the GP2 Series, and won the 2009 ADAC Formel Masters championship. He competed i ...
for the Berlin rounds as travel restrictions disallowed him from traveling outside China.
He was not renewed for the
2020-21 Formula E World Championship by NIO 333.
TCR China
Ma competed in the 2020 TCR China series in a Geely Group Motorsport-built Lynk & Co 03 TCR. He has signed for Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Motorsport and will partner Lu Wei in the six-event series. On 21 November 2020, at the
Guia Race of Macau
The WTCR Race of Macau, previously Guia Race of Macau and WTCC Guia Race of Macau, is an international touring car race, and currently a round of the World Touring Car Cup. It is held on the temporary 6.2 km Guia Circuit on the streets of Ma ...
, Ma finished second in the qualifying race of the
2020 TCR China Touring Car Championship season finale, securing the drivers’ title.
FIA WTCR
On 22 February 2022, it was announced that Ma Qinghua has joined reigning world champions Lynk & Co Cyan Racing to race a Lynk & Co 03 TCR in the
2022 FIA World Touring Car Cup.
Racing record
Career summary
† As Ma was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
‡ Team point score.
* Season still in progress.
Complete Formula One participations
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap)
Complete GP2 Series results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete World Touring Car Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete Formula E results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete TCR China Touring Car Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete World Touring Car Cup results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results
Supercar
References
External links
*
*
*
Ma Qinghua's Sina WeiboMa Qinghua's QQ microblog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Qinghua
1987 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Shanghai
Chinese racing drivers
A1 Team China drivers
British Formula Three Championship drivers
Euroformula Open Championship drivers
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers
Auto GP drivers
GP2 Series drivers
World Touring Car Championship drivers
World Rallycross Championship drivers
Formula E drivers
World Touring Car Cup drivers
Asian Formula Renault Challenge drivers
TCR Asia Series drivers
NIO 333 FE Team drivers
Techeetah drivers
Team Aguri drivers
Citroën Racing drivers
Caterham Racing drivers
Team West-Tec drivers
Team Astromega drivers
Superleague Formula drivers
Asia Racing Team drivers
A1 Grand Prix drivers
Sébastien Loeb Racing drivers