Ma Qing Hua joins Boutsen Ginion for China races

Ma Qing Hua, the first Chinese driver to win an FIA world championship motor race, will make his debut in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup in the next two events on his homeland at Ningbo (28/30 September) and Wuhan (5/7 October).
The 30-year-old from Shanghai will replace Benjamin Lessennes in one of the Honda Civic Type R TCR cars run by the Boutsen Ginion Racing.

“I am really happy to be racing in my home country with this new regulation car,” said Ma. “It’s really good to be in this series, even though I don’t know the car and have not had one lap at either of the circuits. I’m also jumping in at the middle of the season when everybody else has a lot more experience than me. It will be tough with only two practice sessions before qualifying. I will take it step-by-step and do my best to finish the races to get the maximum track time possible.”

Olivia Boutsen, Boutsen Ginion Racing Team Manager, said: "It's been a challenging first season in WTCR for us, but through three top-five finishes, we've shown that we can fight for good results at many circuits – a lot of which have been new to us. Ningbo and Wuhan are two more new tracks for the team, but we are excited about having a driver with Ma Qing Hua's experience on board and look forward to welcoming him to our team.”

Ma’s TCR experience is limited to a one-off appearance in last year’s TCR China, when he shared a TeamWork Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI with Alex Hui at Shanghai; the pair was classified second in the 60-minute Race 3.