Martin Cao
Cao Hongwei | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 17, 1993 Changsha, Hunan, China |
| Other names | Martin Cao |
| Occupation | Racing driver |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Known for | 2023 TCR China Touring Car Championship champion, 2014 British Formula Three Champion |
Cao Hongwei (, born on 17 February 1993), also recognized as Martin Cao, is a professional racing driver from China. He currently holds the title of champion in the TCR China Touring Car Championship, having claimed the championship in 2023. Earlier in his career, he secured victory in the 2014 British Formula Three Championship.
Competitions in Asia
Originating from Changsha, located in Hunan Province, Cao embarked on his karting journey in 1999 and made his debut in the China National Karting Championship by 2003. At just sixteen years old in 2009, he, along with Zhu Daiwei, became among the first Chinese drivers to participate in the FIA World Karting Championship.
Transitioning to single-seater racing in 2008, Cao clinched the Chinese Formula Ford Campus Championship with five wins. That same year, he achieved third place overall in the Asian Formula Renault Challenge, earning seven podium finishes, and also took part in two events of the Formula BMW Pacific Championship representing Pacific Racing.
In 2009, Cao remained active in Formula BMW Pacific with Ao's Racing, where he scored points in six races and ended the season twelfth in the standings.
Returning to compete in the Asian Formula Renault Challenge in 2010 for FRD Racing Team, he dominated by winning five out of six races he entered—surpassing champion Sandy Stuvik by one win—and concluded the season ranked fourth overall.
Protyre Formula Renault
In 2012, Cao signed with Fortec Motorsport to race in Formula Renault BARC, finishing fourteenth with a total of 100 points and achieving fifth place in the Winter Series. The following year, he continued with Fortec as the series was rebranded to Protyre Formula Renault Championship. During this campaign, he secured a victory at Rockingham and ended fourth in the championship standings. Additionally, Cao was runner-up to Ben Barnicoat in the Protyre Formula Renault Autumn Cup after winning one of three races.
British Formula 3 Championship
Cao progressed alongside Fortec into the 2014 British Formula 3 Championship where he earned fifteen podiums including four race wins. He narrowly clinched the championship title by a margin of two points over teammate Matt Rao, underscoring his competitive prowess within this critical development series.
Career summary
' FRD LMP3 Series ' Eurasia Motorsport '8 '1 '0 '0 '4 '77 '6th TCR Asia Series TCR Asia Series ' Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - TCR ' rowspan="2" Hyundai Motorsport N '24 Hours of Nürburgring - TCR 'TCR World Tour 'Hydrogen N Team '4 '0 '0 '0 '0 '25 '14th| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Ford Formula Campus Championship - China Category | Baleno Team | 8 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 58 | 1st |
| Asian Formula Renault Challenge | Pekka Saarinen Racing | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 231 | 3rd | |
| Formula BMW Pacific | Pacific Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC† | |
| 2009 | Formula BMW Pacific | Ao's Racing Team | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 12th |
| China Touring Car Championship | Changan Ford | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10th | |
| 2010 | Asian Formula Renault Challenge | FRD Racing Team | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 155 | 4th |
| 2011 | Asian Formula Renault Challenge | FRD Racing Team | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 20th |
| 2012 | Formula Renault BARC | Fortec Motorsports | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 14th |
| Formula Renault BARC Winter Series | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 79 | 5th | ||
| 2013 | Protyre Formula Renault Championship | Fortec Motorsports | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 296 | 4th |
| Protyre Formula Renault Autumn Cup | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 79 | 2nd | ||
| 2014 | British Formula 3 Championship | Fortec Motorsports | 21 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 285 | ' 1st |
| ' FIA Formula 3 European Championship | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | ||
| ' Zandvoort Masters | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 6th | ||
| ' Macau Grand Prix | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF | ||
| '2015 | ' FIA Formula 3 European Championship | ' Fortec Motorsports | '15 | '0 | '0 | '0 | '0 | '0 | '30th |
| ' Macau Grand Prix | '1 | '0 | '0 | '0 | '0 | 'N/A | '17th | ||
| '2016 | ' China Touring Car Championship - Super Production 2.0 | ' Changan Ford Racing Team | '16 | '1 | '0 | '0 | '4 | '116 | '4th |
| ' TCR International Series | ' FRD Motorsports | '2 | '0 | '0 | '0 | '0 | '0 | 'NC | |
| rowspan="2" '2017
' China Touring Car Championship ' Changan Ford Racing Team '16 '1 '0 '1 '3 '121.5 'style="background:#FFDF9F;"' 3rd | |||||||||
2018
' China Touring Car Championship ' Changan Ford Racing Team '16 '1 '0 '0 '6 '121.5 'style="background:#DFDFDF;"' 2nd | |||||||||
2019
' China Touring Car Championship
' Dongfeng Yueda Kia Racing Team
'16
'2
3rd
| |||||||||
2020
' China Touring Car Championship
' Dongfeng Yueda Kia Racing Team
'16
'2
4th
| |||||||||
| rowspan="2" '2021
' China Touring Car Championship ' rowspan="2" 'Team MG XPower '12 4th | |||||||||
| rowspan="2" '2022
' China Touring Car Championship ' rowspan="2" 'Team MG XPower '12 4th | |||||||||
2019
' TCR China Touring Car Championship ' Hyundai N Team '12 '4 '0 '1 '6 '178 'style="background:#FFFFBF;"1st | |||||||||
| rowspan="4" '2024
' Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - VT2-FWD ' Hyundai Driving Experience |
† As Cao participated as a guest driver, he was not eligible to earn points.
- Season currently ongoing.
Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | 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 | 31 | 32 | 33 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 FIA Formula 3 European Championship | Fortec Motorsports | Mercedes-Benz in motorsport | Silverstone Circuit Race 1 Template:Small 23 |
style="background:#CFCFFF;" Silverstone Circuit Race 2 Template:Small 17 ... (remaining results omitted for brevity) ... |
30th |
0 |
Complete TCR International Series results
(key) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole positions; races shown in italics indicate fastest laps)
| Year | Team | Car | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ! DC | ! Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
style="background:#CFCFFF;" |
Chang International Circuit Race 1 |
NC |
0 |
Complete TCR World Tour results
(key) (Bolded races indicate pole position; italicized denote fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | ! VAL Race 1 | ! VAL Race 2 | ! MRK Race 1 | ! MRK Race 2 | ! MOH Race 1 | ! MOH Race 2 | ! SAP Race 1 | ! SAP Race 2 | ! ELP Race 1 | ! ELP Race 2 | ! ZHZ Race 1 | ! ZHZ Race 2 | ! MAC Race 1 | ! MAC Race 2 | ! DC | ! Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
style="background:#DFFFDF;" |
Zhuzhou International Circuit Race 1 |
14th |
25 |
External links
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1993 births
- Living people
- Chinese racing drivers
- Athletes from Changsha
- Formula BMW Pacific competitors
- Formula Renault BARC participants
- British Formula Three Championship competitors
- FIA Formula 3 European Championship participants
- Asian Formula Renault Challenge competitors
- TCR International Series competitors
- TCR Asia Series competitors
- Eurasia Motorsport team drivers
- Fortec Motorsport team drivers
- TCR China Touring Car Championship participants
- Hyundai Motorsport team drivers
- Karting World Championship competitors
- Nürburgring 24 Hours participants
- TCR World Tour competitors
- Asian Formula Renault Challenge drivers