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 va ...

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

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 Ch ...

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 Superleague Formula was an open wheel single seater motor racing formula, which started in 2008, at Donington Park in the United Kingdom. The league introduced team sponsorship by association football clubs. It used the slogan 'The Beautiful ...

in the

2010 Ordos Superleague Formula round The 2010 Ordos Superleague Formula round was a Superleague Formula round held on October 3, 2010, at the newly built Ordos International Circuit, Ordos City, China. It was Superleague Formula's first visit to China, and is followed the week after b ...

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 Th ...

driver development programme on 5 April 2012, and made history as the first China-born driver to drive a Formula One car at an

-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 Cha ...

and out of the 107% reference time to the quickest driver in Free Practice 1. Soon after the

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 ...

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

driver to win an

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 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, ...

for the

Paris ePrix The Paris ePrix is an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 Formula E season, 2015-16 season. Circuit Circuit des Inv ...

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 Formu ...

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 the ...

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 Mac ...

, Ma finished second in the qualifying race of the

2020 TCR China Touring Car Championship The 2020 TCR China season was the fourth season of the TCR's Chinese Touring Car Championship. Teams and drivers Calendar and results The revised calendar was announced on 21 July 2020. Another revised calendar for the following rounds was an ...

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

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(

) (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

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete TCR China Touring Car Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete World Touring Car Cup results

(

) (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 Weibo

Ma 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