Ma Qinghua () (born 25 December 1987) is a Chinese racing driver currently competing in the TCR World Tour with Geely 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.
Early life 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.
Career 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.
Formula One 2012 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.
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, 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.
GP2 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.
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 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 fourth in the drivers championship. Despite this, he was not retained for 2016.
Formula E In 2016, Ma replaced Salvador Duran in the 2015-16 Formula E season for Team Aguri. He retired from his first ePrix but finished the last three races, albeit out of the points. In the next season, Ma was signed by TeCheetah but was replaced by former Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutiérrez 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 for the Paris ePrix replacing Luca Filippi in a one off appearance and again in the New York ePrix replacing Oliver Turvey who was injured. He returned in 2019 to race for the Nio 333 FE Team alongside Turvey. He was replaced by Daniel Abt 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 would partner Lu Wei in the six-event series. On 21 November 2020, at the Guia Race of Macau, Ma finished second in the qualifying race of the 2020 TCR China Touring Car Championship season finale, securing the drivers’ title.
FIA WTCR On 22 February 2022, it was announced that Ma would join 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 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 3 Championship Team West-Tec 11 0 0 0 0 0 18th Formula 3 Spain Copa de España 11 0 0 0 2 24 7th 2009 British Formula 3 International Series - National Team West-Tec 2 0 0 0 0 10 10th 2010 Superleague Formula Team China 2 0 0 0 0 19 26th‡ 2011 China Touring Car Championship - 1600cc Beijing Hyundai 8 3 4 ? ? 116 1st 2012 Formula One HRT Formula 1 Team Test driver 2013 GP2 Series Caterham Racing 1 0 0 0 0035th Formula One Caterham F1 Team Test driver 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 Formula E Techeetah 3 0 0 0 0 0 25th 2017 World Touring Car Championship Sébastien Loeb Racing 2 0 0 1 0 0 21st TCR China Touring Car Championship TeamWork Motorsport 1 0 0 1 1 36 15th TCR Asia Series 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† FRD LMP3 Series S&D Motorsports 6 0 0 0 0 31 13th 2017–18 Formula E Nio Formula E Team 2 0 0 0 0 0 23rd 2018 World Touring Car Cup Boutsen Ginion Racing 8 0 0 0 0 7 30th World Rallycross Championship STARD 1 0 0 0 0 0 37th 2018–19 Formula E Nio Formula E Team Reserve driver 2019 World Touring Car Cup Team Mulsanne 30 1 0 1 4 133 16th 2019–20 Formula E Nio 333 FE Team 5 0 0 0 0 0 28th 2020 TCR China Touring Car Championship Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Motorsport 12 4 1 6 8 154 1st 2021 TCR Asia Series Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Motorsport 12 4 3 1 9 239 2nd TCR China Touring Car Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† 2022 World Touring Car Cup Cyan Performance Lynk & Co 8 0 0 0 1 97 12th 2023 TCR World Tour Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 20 1 0 1 3 265 9th TCR Europe Touring Car Series 6 0 0 0 0 0 NC† TCR Italy Touring Car Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† TCR South America Touring Car Championship 4 1 0 0 2 0 NC† TCR Australia Touring Car Series 6 0 0 1 1 0 NC† TCR China Touring Car Championship Shell Teamwork Lynk & Co Racing210124012th2024 TCR World Tour Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 14 2 0 2 4 214 8th TCR Italy Touring Car Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC†TCR South America Touring Car Championship400016321st 2025 TCR World Tour Lynk & Co Cyan Racing 20 0 0 2 3 304 5thTCR Australia Touring Car Series400010NC†Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie - AT3Fancy Motorsport 2026TCR World TourGeely Cyan Racing 9 1 0 0 2 145 7th* † As Ma was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. ‡ Team point score. * Season still in progress.
Complete Asian Formula Renault Challenge results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 DC Points 2005 Shangsai FRD TeamSHA11SHA12ZHU11ZHU12SEP1SEP2 16th 35 Asia Racing TeamZHU21ZHU22SHA21SHA22CHE1CHE2MAC
Complete Italian Formula 3000 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2005 Team AstromegaADRVLLBRNIMOMUGMAGMNZMIS 27th 0
Complete A1 Grand Prix results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2005-06 China GBRSPR GBRFEA GERSPR GERFEA PORSPR PORFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA UAESPR UAEFEA RSASPR RSAFEA IDNSPR IDNFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA USASPR USAFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA 22nd 6
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points 2006 Team AstromegaOSC11OSC12SPA1SPA2NÜR1NÜR2ZAN1ZAN2OSC21OSC22ASS1ASS2AND1AND2SAL1SAL2 26th 33
Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2006 Team AstromegaZOL1ZOL2IST1IST2MIS1MIS2NÜR1NÜR2DON1DON2LMS1LMS2CAT1CAT2 NC† 0
† As Ma was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
Complete Spanish Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points 2008 Team West-TecJAR1JAR2SPA1SPA2ALB1ALB2 VSC1 VSC2 VF1 MAG1 MAG2 VAL1 VAL2 JER1 JER2 CAT1 CAT2 18th 7
Complete British Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2009 National Team West-Tec Dallara F307 Mugen-HondaOUL1OUL2SIL11SIL12ROC1ROC2HOC1HOC2SNE1SNE2DON1DON2SPA1SPA2SIL21SIL22ALG1ALG2 BRH1 BRH2 10th 10
Complete Formula One participations (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicates fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 WDC Points 2012 HRT Formula 1 Team HRT F112 Cosworth CA2012 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN EUR GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN KOR IND ABU USA BRA - - 2013 Caterham F1 Team Caterham CT03 Renault RS27-2013 2.4 V8 AUSMAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN KOR JPN IND ABU USA BRA - -
Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2013 Caterham Racing SEPFEA SEPSPR BHRFEA BHRSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR MRNFEA MRNSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 35th 0
Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)