Marchy Lee Ying-Kin (

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

: 李英健) is a racing driver from Hong Kong. Born in 1976 in Hong Kong, Marchy started his racing career at just 9 years old and has become one of the top racecar drivers in Hong Kong. He is the first Formula 3 driver from Hong Kong and has competed in 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 ...

. Marchy currently resides in Hong Kong with his wife and two daughters.

Early career

Marchy was born on 2 September 1976 in Hong Kong. Marchy's father was also a racing driver and he has been karting at a young age. When 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 ...

was built in 1996, he enrolled in the inaugural China Formula Campus Championship. Upon winning the championship, he received a scholarship to join the

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 ...

racing school in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

, France to continue his development. He spent 3 years in France, progressing from

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 ...

to French

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

, achieving respectable results. But his funding ran out and he returned to Asia afterwards, competing in some Asian and Australian F3 races. He won 2 Asian Formula 3 races at

Sepang Pekan Sepang is a small border town and also a mukim in Sepang District, Selangor, Malaysia. The Sepang International Circuit in the western part of the town, where the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix was and Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix is held. Mal ...

and finished 7th in the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix. In August 2003, driving a Dallara F301 Renault, he took pole position in the Australian Formula 3 race at

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer ...

in treacherous conditions. Later that year he won two Formula BMW Asia races in Beijing and finished 2nd to Hideaki Nakao in the

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 in Macau. He also took part in the

Porsche Carrera Cup Porsche Carrera Cup (sometimes abbreviated PCC) is a number of one-make racing by Porsche premier series competed with, initially Porsche 911 Carrera Cup, then later Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The cars are specifically built by Porsche for one-m ...

Asia race and finished fifth, despite a problem with the gas pedal, behind

Alex Yoong Alexander Charles Yoong Loong (; born 20 July 1976), is a Malaysian professional racing driver of Chinese and English parentage. Yoong began his career in saloon cars before moving into the Proton one-make series. He later raced in single-sea ...

Charles Kwan Charles Kwan Siu-Cheung (Traditional Chinese: 關兆昌, born September 3, 1963) is the most successful Hong Kong racing driver who has competed in the Macau Guia Race, Super GT, Japan GT Championship, FIA GT Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup As ...

, Matthew Marsh and

Nigel Albon Nigel Peter Albon (born 8 February 1957) is a British race car driver. He last drove in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia for Team Vertu in 2007. His son, Alex Albon, is also a race car driver, driving in Formula One for Williams F1 Team. Racing ca ...

Formula BMW Asia, F1 and Formula Asia V6

In 2004, Marchy teamed up with the top Asian racing outfit,

Team Meritus MY QI-Meritus.Mahara is a Malaysian motor racing team, primarily competing in the GP2 Asia Series The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 series. The series was officially announced duri ...

, to race in the Formula BMW Asia series. He won 12 races out of 14, making him the first Chinese formula racing champion in an international series. Lee received an extra prize in recognition of his extraordinary achievements – a three-day test with the

Team Rosberg Team Rosberg GmbH is a motor racing organisation that competes in single-seater and touring car disciplines in Europe. It was founded in 1994 by former Formula One world champion Keke Rosberg, of Finland. It is headquartered at Neustadt an der Wei ...

outfit. After winning the 2004 Formula BMW Asia title, Marchy also had the chance to test an F1 car with the

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...

team at

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Fl ...

, but his run ended up being called off due to a logistics problem. Marchy failed to get any sponsorship deals in 2005 and 2006 to support a full season's racing. But a last-minute deal allowed him to reunite with Team Meritus in the

Formula Asia V6 by Renault Formula Asia V6 Renault, renamed Formula V6 Asia in 2007 by Motorsport Asia, was launched in 2006 and regulated by Motorsport Asia. It was a Formula Renault 3.5 that include also World Series by Renault and the former Formula Renault V6 Eurocup. ...

race at

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 ...

. He finished a strong second in the final round of the season to Matt Halliday and set the fastest race lap in the process, rekindling his hopes of racing professionally again in 2007 and beyond.

2007

Marchy raced in the Asian Super Car Challenge in Zhuhai on 24–25 March, claiming one win and one second place in the Ferrari 430. He then drove in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in

where he finished second twice. Marchy was confirmed as Meritus Racing's driver for the 2007 Formula Asia V6 by Renault series. He hoped that by achieving success in the series, he would be able to progress to the

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

in 2008. On 13 July 2007, Marchy was announced as the driver for a new team set up by Adrian Fu to compete in the remainder of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia series under the banner "Racing for Charity", to help increase the profile and visibility of the Child's Dream Foundation. On 1 August 2007, it was announced by

A1 Team China A1 Team China was the Chinese team of A1 Grand Prix, a now defunct international racing series. Management The seat holder ''A1 Team China'' is Liu Yu (刘煜). Werner Gillis is the team principal, and technical support is provided by Team Ast ...

that he would join the rookie test at the end of August at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, alongside three other drivers. The best performer from this test would join

Cheng Congfu Cheng "Frankie" Congfu (程丛夫; pinyin: Chéng Cóng Fū; born August 15, 1984) is a Chinese racing driver. Career Karting In 1996, Cheng raced in karting in China, winning the national championship in 1998 (junior division), 2000 and 2001 ...

as China's two A1GP representatives. On 20 September 2007, he was officially announced as the second driver for

. He made his debut for the team in round 2 in the Czech Republic on 12 October 2007. He gathered data for the team in the rookie sessions. Cheng Congfu went on to score 10th and 4th-place finishes. On 4 November 2007, Marchy took part in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia at

and won both rounds 11 and 12. On 18 November 2007, he also took part in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia race in Macau, and finished fourth on the road (later promoted to third place after on the road winner

Danny Watts Danny Watts is a British professional racing driver. Career He was born in Aylesbury, and started racing in 1993, when he began karting. After five seasons of karting, he stepped up to single seater racing in 1998 in the UK Formula First ch ...

was given a 30-second penalty for passing under a yellow flag.)

2008 Speedcar Series & Porsche Carrera Cup Asia

Marchy Lee became the first Chinese driver to race in the inaugural Speedcar Series. He drove car no. 50. He failed to finish his first two races in Malaysia, as well as his first race in Bahrain, but took 4th place in race 2. He then finished 5th and 3rd in the two races in Dubai. He is also competing in the

Asia. Racing for Team BetterLife, he finished 2nd and 4th in the opening rounds at Sepang. Then he took 2nd and 5th in round 2 at Shanghai.

2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia

In 2010, Marchy raced in the

Asia for Red Bull Racing (team is run by Dynaten Motorsports). He scored two wins at

in June. At the last round in Zhuhai, the Hong Kong racer, who began as the only other championship contender, fought hard every inch of the way battling first Simonsen and then

Christian Menzel Christian Menzel (born 22 June 1971 in Langenfeld (Rheinland)) is a German racecar driver. His career started in 1981 in Karts. Since 1991 he competed in ADAC BMW Formula Junior, later Formula Renault and since 1994 Formula 3. In 1998 he wo ...

, but he could not do enough to stay in the running and became championship runner-up for 2010. On 7 November 2011, Marchy partnered Matthew Marsh and

to drive an

Audi R8 LMS The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufact ...

for KK Performance (Again, team is run by Dynaten Motorsport) in the 2010 1000 km of Zhuhai race, part of the

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an endurance sports car racing tournament organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) started in 2010.

. Starting eleventh on the grid, the Audi R8 LMS No. 98 was at the heart of the race, before inheriting the lead of GTC after the retirement of the sister car of United Autosport. Lee, Yoong and Marsh took the chequered flag in 12th position overall. Two weeks later, on 21 November 2010, Marchy drove the same Audi R8 LMS race car to second place in the Macau GT Cup, beaten only by defending champion Keita Sawa's Lamborghini LP560 GT3.

2011 World Touring Car Championship

On 10 March 2011, Marchy Lee announced that he would join the 2011 World Touring Car Championship with KK Motorsports. But he left the championship after just 3 rounds.

2012 Audi R8 LMS Cup

On 11 November 2012, Marchy Lee became the first ever Audi R8 LMS Cup Champion after crossing the line second in the twelfth and final round 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 ...

Racing career

* 2015 Nurburgring 24h * 2015 Blancpain GT Endurance Championship * 2015 Audi R8 LMS Cup * 2014 Audi R8 LMS Cup - 5th place overall * 2013 Macau GT Cup - 4th-place finish * 2013 Audi R8 LMS Cup - 3rd place overall * 2012 Audi R8 LMS Cup – Champion * 2010 Macau GT Cup – 2nd place * 2010

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (shortened ILMC) was an endurance sports car racing tournament organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) started in 2010.

– 1000 km of Zhuhai – GTC class win * 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia – 2nd overall * 2006 Formula Asia V6 by Renault (Round 12, Zhuhai) – 2nd & fastest lap * 2004 Formula BMW Asia Series – Champion (12 wins out of 14 races) * 2003 Formula Renault (Macau) – 2nd * 2003 Formula BMW Asia (Beijing) – 1st & 2nd * 2002 Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix – 7th * 2000 French Formula 3 Championship (Class A) – 9th * 1999 French Formula 3 Championship (Class B) – 5th in class * 1998 French Formula Campus – 4th overall * 1997 China Formula Campus – Champion

Complete WTCC 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)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Marchy 1976 births Living people Hong Kong people Hong Kong racing drivers Asian Formula Renault Challenge drivers Formula V6 Asia drivers A1 Grand Prix Rookie drivers A1 Team China drivers Asian Formula Three Championship drivers Australian Formula 3 Championship drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers Formula BMW Asia drivers Speedcar Series drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24H Series drivers FIA Motorsport Games drivers Team Meritus drivers Phoenix Racing drivers Audi Sport drivers David Price Racing drivers OAK Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers KCMG drivers