Ma Qinghua

Ma Qinghua
Born	(1987-12-25) December 25, 1987 Shanghai, China
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	2005–present
Known for	First Chinese driver to win an FIA World Championship event; participation in Formula One practice sessions, GP2 Series, World Touring Car Championship, and Formula E

Ma Qinghua () (born 25 December 1987) is a professional Chinese racing driver who currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup representing Cyan Performance Lynk & Co.

He made history as the first Chinese racer to claim victory in an FIA World Championship event, winning the second race at the 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Russia. Ma's career includes participation in the World Touring Car Championship, the GP2 Series, several Formula One practice sessions, and competition in Formula E.

Early life

Born on 25 December 1987 in Shanghai, Ma Qinghua is the son of Ma Qiangyun, who operated a car repair business. Starting karting at just eight years old, Ma's family made significant investments to support his racing progression, including purchasing a karting circuit in Quyang. By age twelve, he had already secured the national junior karting championship title.

Career

Ma began his professional motorsport journey in the 2005 Asian Formula Renault Challenge with the Asia Racing Team, finishing 16th overall and achieving a best finish of fifth place. His early career also saw him compete in the 2005 Italian Formula 3000 and the 2006 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC. Representing Team China, he participated in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix event at Shanghai, finishing 17th. Ma advanced through various European Formula 3 competitions, including campaigns in the 2008 Spanish and 2009 British championships. In 2010, he raced for Team China in the Superleague Formula and later secured the 1600cc class championship in the 2011 China Touring Car Championship.

2012

On 5 April 2012, Ma was inducted into the HRT F1 driver development programme, marking him as the first driver born in China to operate a Formula One car during an FIA-sanctioned event—an important achievement for Chinese motorsport. Additionally, he became the first Chinese driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend by substituting for Narain Karthikeyan during Friday practice at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix. Throughout that season, Ma was granted three further opportunities to participate in Friday practice sessions.

2013

Ma was initially contracted to become a full-time driver for HRT in 2013, which would have established him as China's first official Formula One driver. Following HRT's closure at the end of 2012, he transitioned to Caterham, maintaining his role as a Friday test driver while competing with their GP2 Series team during the season. At his home race during the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, Ma replaced Charles Pic for FP1, becoming the first Chinese driver to participate in a session at his national Grand Prix; however, his lap times were approximately 1.5 seconds slower than teammate Giedo van der Garde and did not meet the 107% qualifying threshold. Shortly after this event, it was announced that Ma would be replaced by Alexander Rossi for the remainder of the GP2 season. Rossi made his debut at the 2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round and achieved a podium finish.

GP2

Ma made his debut during the 2013 Sepang GP2 Series round. In the feature race, his lap times deteriorated considerably, resulting in a 21st-place finish, last among the classified competitors. He was later diagnosed with gastroenteritis and severe dehydration, which prevented him from participating in the sprint race.

World Touring Car Championship

In 2014, Ma competed in select events for Citroën Total WTCC as their fourth driver. He claimed victory in the second round of the Race of Russia, marking the first time a Chinese driver won an FIA World Championship race. Additionally, he recorded the fastest lap during the first round of the Race of China, Shanghai, ultimately finishing 13th in the overall championship standings. Granted a full-time position in 2015, Ma secured a win at the second round of the Race of Portugal and ended the season 4th in the drivers' championship but was not retained for the 2016 campaign.

Formula E

In 2016, Ma stepped in for Salvador Duran during the 2015-16 Formula E season representing Team Aguri. Although he retired from his debut ePrix, he completed the remaining three races without scoring points. The following year, Ma joined TeCheetah, but after underwhelming performances across three races, he was replaced by ex-Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutiérrez.

Ma returned to Formula E in 2017 with the Nio Formula E Team, participating in the Paris ePrix as a substitute for Luca Filippi, and later at the New York ePrix filling in for an injured Oliver Turvey. In 2019, he competed alongside Turvey for the Nio 333 FE Team, but travel restrictions led to his replacement by Daniel Abt during the Berlin rounds. NIO 333 opted not to renew his contract for the 2020-21 Formula E World Championship season.

TCR China

During 2020, Ma took part in the TCR China series behind the wheel of a Lynk & Co 03 TCR constructed by Geely Group Motorsport. He was signed by Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Motorsport and teamed up with Lu Wei across six events. On 21 November 2020, at the Guia Race of Macau, Ma secured second place in the qualifying race of the final round, clinching the drivers’ championship title in the 2020 TCR China Touring Car Championship.

FIA WTCR

On 22 February 2022, Ma Qinghua joined Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, reigning world champions, to pilot a Lynk & Co 03 TCR in the 2022 FIA World Touring Car Cup.

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2005	Asian Formula Renault Challenge	Shangsai FRD Team	4	0	0	0	0	35	16th
		Asia Racing Team	2	0	0	0	0
	Italian Formula 3000	Team Astromega	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
2005–06	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team China	2	0	0	0	0	6	22nd‡
2006	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC	Team Astromega	6	0	0	0	0	33	26th
2008	Spanish Formula Three Championship	Team West-Tec	11	0	0	0	0	0	18th
	Formula 3 Spain Copa de España		11	0	0	0	2	24	7th
2011	China Touring Car Championship -1600cc	Beijing Hyundai	8	3	4	?	?	116	1st
2014	World Touring Car Championship	Citroën Total WTCC	10	1	0	1	2	69	13th
2015	World Touring Car Championship	Citroën Total WTCC	24	1	0	1	6	241	4th
2015–16	Formula E	Team Aguri	4	0	0	0	0	0	19th
2016–17    | align=left  | Formula E   | align=left  | Techeetah   | 3   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 25th
2017	align=left | World Touring Car Championship	align=left | Sébastien Loeb Racing	2	0	0	1	0	0	21st
	align=left | TCR China Touring Car Championship	align=left rowspan="2" | Teamwork Motorsport	1	0	0	1	1	36	15th
	align=left | TCR Asia Series	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
	2017–18   | align=left                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Formula E   | align=left Nio Formula E Team   | 2   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 0   | 23rd
2018	align=left World Touring Car Cup	align=left Boutsen Ginion Racing	8	0	0	0	0	7	30th
	align=left World Rallycross Championship	align=left STARD	1	0	0	0	0	0	37th
2019	\n \n World Touring Car Cup\n \n |\n align=left |\n \n Team Mulsanne\n \n |\n 30\n |\n 1\n |\n 0\n |\n 1\n |\n 4\n |\n 133\n |\n 16th\n |- \n !2023 \n|\n20\n|\n1\n|\n\n|\n1\n|\n3\n|\n265\n|\n9th\n|- \n !2024 \n|\n14\n|\n2\n|\n2\n|\n4\n|\n214\n|\n8th\n|- \n|} † Guest driver; not eligible to earn points. ‡ Points earned by team. * Current season underway. Full Asian Formula Renault Challenge Standings (key) (Entries in bold denote pole positions) (Entries in italics signify fastest laps) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Final Position Points 2005 Shangsai FRD Team SHA1 1 24 SHA1 2 23 ZHU1 1 5 ZHU1 2 Ret SEP 1 SEP 2 16th place 35 points Asia Racing Team ZHU2 1 9 ZHU2 2 8 SHA2 1 SHA2 2 CHE 1 CHE 2 MAC Full Italian Formula 3000 Championship Standings (key) (Races highlighted in bold represent pole positions) (Races in italics indicate fastest laps) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Final Position Points Earned 2005 Team Astromega ADR VLL BRN IMO MUG MAG MNZ MIS 11th 27th overall 0 points Complete A1 Grand Prix Results (key) (Pole positions shown in bold) (Fastest laps marked in italics) Season Nation Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Final Standing Total Points 2005-06 China GBR SPR QO GBR FEA QO style="background:#CFCFFF;" | CHN SPR 14th style="background:#CFCFFF;" | CHN FEA 16th 22nd position 6 points Full Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup Results (key) (Entries in bold denote pole position; entries in italics signify fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points 2006 Team Astromega OSC1 1 OSC1 2 SPA 1 SPA 2 NÜR 1 11 NÜR 2 EX ZAN 1 17 ZAN 2 13 OSC2 1 16 OSC2 2 15 ASS 1 ASS 2 AND 1 AND 2 SAL 1 SAL 2 26th 33 Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Pole positions are shown in bold; fastest laps appear in italics) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2006 Team Astromega ZOL 1 ZOL 2 IST 1 IST 2 MIS 1 21 MIS 2 22 NÜR 1 NÜR 2 DON 1 DON 2 LMS 1 LMS 2 CAT 1 {{small|}	NC†	0

† As Ma participated as a guest driver, he was not eligible to earn points

Complete Spanish Formula Three Championship results

(key) (Pole positions are marked in bold; fastest laps are indicated in italics)

Full British Formula Three Championship results

(key) (Events highlighted in bold denote pole positions) (Events shown in italics represent fastest laps)

Year	Category	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Final Position	Points Earned
2009	National Class	Team West-Tec	Dallara F307	Mugen-Honda	OUL 1	OUL 2	SIL1 1	SIL1 2	ROC 1	ROC 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	SNE 1	SNE 2	DON 1	DON 2	SPA 1	SPA 2	SIL2 1	SIL2 2	ALG 1	ALG 2	BRH 1 16	BRH 2 Ret	10th place	10 points

Full Formula One race participations

(key) (Events in bold signify pole positions) (Events in italics indicate fastest laps)

Year	Team Entrant	Car Chassis	Power Unit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Championship Standing	Points Scored
2012	HRT Formula 1 Team	HRT F112	Cosworth CA2012, a 2.4-litre V8 engine	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA TD	SIN TD	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU TD	USA TD	BRA
2013	(Caterham F1 Team)	(Caterham CT03)	Renault RS27-2013 V8 engine	2013 Australian Grand Prix	2013 Malaysian Grand Prix	style="background:#F1F8FF;" | 2013 Chinese Grand Prix TD	2013 Bahrain Grand Prix	2013 Spanish Grand Prix	2013 Monaco Grand Prix	2013 Canadian Grand Prix	2013 British Grand Prix	2013 German Grand Prix	2013 Hungarian Grand Prix	2013 Belgian Grand Prix	2013 Italian Grand Prix	2013 Singapore Grand Prix	2013 Korean Grand Prix	2013 Japanese Grand Prix	2013 Indian Grand Prix	2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	2013 United States Grand Prix	2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

Full GP2 Series results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole positions) (Races in italics represent fastest laps)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	Final Position	Points Scored
2013	Caterham Racing	SEP FEA 21	SEP SPR DNS	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	MRN FEA	MRN SPR	YMC FEA	YMC SPR	35th	0

Full World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Entries in bold indicate pole position) (Entries in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team Name	Vehicle Model	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Championship Position	Points Total
2014	Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	MAR 1	MAR 2	FRA 1	FRA 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	SVK 1	SVK 2	AUT 1	AUT 2	RUS 1 6	RUS 2 1	BEL 1 11	BEL 2 Ret	ARG 1	ARG 2	BEI 1 15†	BEI 2 12	CHN 1 2	CHN 2 5	JPN 1	JPN 2	MAC 1 8	MAC 2 Ret	13th	69

^† Although the driver did not finish, classification was awarded after completing more than ninety percent of the race distance.

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole position; races in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Position	Points
2015–16	Team Aguri	Spark SRT01-e	SRT01-e	BEI	PUT	PDE	BUE	MEX	LBH	PAR Retired	BER 14th	LDN 11th	LDN 12th			19th	0
2016–17	Techeetah	Spark SRT01-e	Renault Z.E. 16	HKG Retired	MRK 15th	BUE 16th	MEX	MCO	PAR	BER	BER	NYC	NYC	MTL	MTL	25th	0
2017–18	Nio Formula E Team	Spark SRT01-e	NextEV Nio Sport 003		MRK	SCL	PDE	RME	style="background:#CFCFFF;" |PAR 17th	BER	ZUR	NYC	style="background:#CFCFFF;" |NYC 13th	23rd	0

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Position	Points
nowrap |2019–20	nowrap |Nio 333 FE Team	nowrap |Spark SRT05e	nowrap |Nio FE-005	style="background:#CFCFFF;" |DIR 20th	style="background:#CFCFFF;" |DIR 19th	style="background:#CFCFFF;" |SCL 16th	style="background:#EFCFFF;" |MEX Retired	style="background:#CFCFFF;" |MRK 23rd						!28th	!0

Complete TCR China Touring Car Championship results

(legend) (Races shown in bold denote pole position) (Races in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final Standing	Points Accumulated
2017	Teamwork Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	SHA1 1	SHA1 2	SHA1 3	SHA2 1	SHA2 2	SHA2 3 2	ZHE 1	ZHE 2	ZHE 3	NIN 1	NIN 2	NIN 3	GUA 1	GUA 2	GUA 3	15th place	36 points
2020	Teamwork Motorsport#Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Motorsport	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	ZHU1 1 1	ZHU1 2 1	ZHU2 1 1	ZHU2 2 2	SHA 1 1	SHA 2 2	JIA1 1 2	JIA1 2 4	JIA2 1 Ret	JIA2 2 5	MAC 1 2	MAC 2 Ret				Champion (1st)	Total: 154 points

Full World Touring Car Cup results

(legend) (Entries shown in bold denote pole position) (Entries in italics signify fastest lap)

Season	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	Final Position	Total Points
2018	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR	MAR 1	MAR 2	MAR 3	HUN 1	HUN 2	HUN 3	GER 1	GER 2	GER 3	NED 1	NED 2	NED 3	POR 1	POR 2	POR 3	SVK 1	SVK 2	SVK 3	CHN 1 19	CHN 2 17	CHN 3 DNS	WUH 1 11	WUH 2 12	WUH 3 7	JPN 1	JPN 2	JPN 3	MAC 1 Ret	MAC 2 13	MAC 3 11	30th	7

Template:!-- Table continuation omitted for brevity --

^† Although the driver did not complete the race, classification was awarded as over 90% of the race distance was covered.

Supercar

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Overall WRX Position	Points Earned
2018	Team STARD	Ford Fiesta	BAR	POR	BEL	GBR 23	NOR	SWE	CAN	FRA	LAT	USA	GER	RSA	36th place	0 points

Full TCR World Tour Results

(legend) (Bold font denotes pole position) (Italic font indicates fastest lap)

Year	Team Name	Car Model	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Final Standing (DC)	Total Points
2023	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	ALG 1	ALG 2	SPA 1	SPA 2	VAL 1	VAL 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	ELP 1	ELP 2	VIL 1	VIL 2	SYD 1	SYD 2	SYD 3	BAT 1	BAT 2	BAT 3	MAC 1	MAC 2	9th	265
2024	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	VAL 1 < br />	VAL < br />2 < br />	MRK < br />1 < br />	MRK < br />2 < br />	MOH < br />1 < br />	MOH < br />2 < br />	SAP < br />1 < br />	[Data corrupted and removed for clarity]
Year	Team	Car	Race Results (1–20)	Championship Position	Points Accumulated
2025 || Lynk & Co Cyan Racing || Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR || First ten events show several top-ten finishes along with some retirements; remaining events yet to occur || Positioned 5th* ||149*

^* Current season underway.

Complete TCR Europe Touring Car Series results

(legend) (Races shown in bold denote pole position) (Races presented in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Points
2023	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR	ALG 1 6	ALG 2 10	PAU 1	PAU 2	SPA 1 14	SPA 2 13	HUN 1 4	HUN 2 8	LEC 1	LEC 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	CAT 1	CAT 2	NC‡	0‡

^‡ This driver competed as a full-time World Tour entrant and was not eligible to score points.