Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Ma Qinghua
Ma Qinghua (simplified Chinese: 马青骅; traditional Chinese: 馬青驊) (born 25 December 1987) is a Chinese racing driver currently competing in the TCR World Tour with Lynk & Co Cyan Racing.
Ma became the first Chinese driver to win an FIA 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, GP2, a few practice sessions in Formula 1, and Formula E.
Ma was born on 25 December 1987 in Shanghai. His father, Ma Qiangyun, was the owner of a car repair shop. Ma began karting at the age of eight and his family decided to focus all financial investments towards Ma's testing on more advanced racing tracks. Eventually, in order to make Ma's progress easier, the family invested in a karting track located in Quyang. Ma won the national karting junior championship at the age of twelve.
Ma started his professional racing career in the 2005 Asian Formula Renault challenge with Asia Racing Team for six races, coming 16th with the highest finish of fifth. He also competed in one race in the 2005 Italian Formula 3000 championship for team Astromega 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, 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's 1600c class driver's title.
Ma was added to the HRT F1 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-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 in the first Friday practice session of the Italian Grand Prix. He was given three more chances to drive the car in Friday sessions later that year.[citation needed]
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, continuing the role of Friday test driver whilst racing for their GP2 Series team for the season. In 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, he replaced Charles Pic 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 and out of the 107% reference time to the quickest driver in Free Practice 1. Soon after the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, Caterham team claimed that he would be replaced by Alexander Rossi for the rest of the 2013 season. In the 2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round, Alexander Rossi made his debut GP2 Series race and took a podium finish.[citation needed]
Ma made his debut GP2 Series race in 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round. Later in the final stint, his lap time dropped to more than two 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.
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 driver to win an FIA 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.
Hub AI
Ma Qinghua AI simulator
(@Ma Qinghua_simulator)
Ma Qinghua
Ma Qinghua (simplified Chinese: 马青骅; traditional Chinese: 馬青驊) (born 25 December 1987) is a Chinese racing driver currently competing in the TCR World Tour with Lynk & Co Cyan Racing.
Ma became the first Chinese driver to win an FIA 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, GP2, a few practice sessions in Formula 1, and Formula E.
Ma was born on 25 December 1987 in Shanghai. His father, Ma Qiangyun, was the owner of a car repair shop. Ma began karting at the age of eight and his family decided to focus all financial investments towards Ma's testing on more advanced racing tracks. Eventually, in order to make Ma's progress easier, the family invested in a karting track located in Quyang. Ma won the national karting junior championship at the age of twelve.
Ma started his professional racing career in the 2005 Asian Formula Renault challenge with Asia Racing Team for six races, coming 16th with the highest finish of fifth. He also competed in one race in the 2005 Italian Formula 3000 championship for team Astromega 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, 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's 1600c class driver's title.
Ma was added to the HRT F1 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-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 in the first Friday practice session of the Italian Grand Prix. He was given three more chances to drive the car in Friday sessions later that year.[citation needed]
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, continuing the role of Friday test driver whilst racing for their GP2 Series team for the season. In 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, he replaced Charles Pic 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 and out of the 107% reference time to the quickest driver in Free Practice 1. Soon after the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, Caterham team claimed that he would be replaced by Alexander Rossi for the rest of the 2013 season. In the 2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round, Alexander Rossi made his debut GP2 Series race and took a podium finish.[citation needed]
Ma made his debut GP2 Series race in 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round. Later in the final stint, his lap time dropped to more than two 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.
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 driver to win an FIA 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.