Chinese racer Ma Qing Hua has joined the Citroen Racing World Touring Car Championship to take the track alongside Sebastien Loeb, Yvan Muller and Jose-Maria Lopez. Hua is the final addition to the team and will contest in five championship rounds this season.
Like Citroën, which is itself stepping up its international expansion, the team representing Citroën will have a very international flavour for the forthcoming season, with drivers from three different continents.
Citroën Racing spent several months testing a number of potential candidates, before selecting Ma Qing Hua for his strong performances. The 26-year-old has amassed impressive single-seater experience, first in Asia and then in Europe. Having driven for the HRT and Caterham teams, he made it to the fringes of Formula One, driving in free practice at five Grand Prix weekends.
“He made a positive impression on us during various tests in the C-Elysée WTCC. We won’t be able to enter four cars in every round of the championship in this first season, but we’ve managed to put together a coherent programme. Ma will compete in the last two European rounds – Moscow and Spa-Francorchamps – before lining up for his two home meetings, in Shanghai and Macau. The fifth race in his programme will be determined at a later date.”
Ma Qing Hua added: “It is a great honour to have been chosen by Citroën Racing for this ambitious programme. I really enjoyed working with the team during the test sessions I was invited to take part in. I am really excited about the opportunity to race for a manufacturer with such a winning record and I will do my best to help Citroen to keep winning! It would, of course, be particularly special for me to have a good result in Macau and my hometown of Shanghai. But for now, I’m just looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the C-Elysée WTCC.”
