Citroën Racing has confirmed Ma Qing Ha as its fourth driver in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship, with the Chinese driver set to make his début in Moscow in June.
The 2011 China Touring Car Champion in the 1600cc class will compete in the final two rounds of the European leg of the season in Russia and Belgium, before competing again in Shanghai and Macau at the end of the season.
26-year-old Ma Qing Ha will become the WTCC’s first driver from mainland China to compete in the championship and is looking forward to representing Citroën during the year.
“It is a great honour to have been chosen by Citroën Racing for this ambitious programme,” said Ma Qing Hua. “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.”
“It is a great honour to have been chosen by Citroën Racing for this ambitious programme,” – Ma Qing Hua.
Citroën Racing Managing Director Yves Matton added that whilst Ma Qing Ha has been chosen from a marketing perspective due to his nationality, he has also been selected due to his sporting credentials and experience.
“We chose Ma Qing Hua not just for his nationality, but also for his performances,” said Matton. “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 Macao. The fifth race in his programme will be determined at a later date.”
Citroën’s Director of Communications, Marketing and Sport Arnaud de Lamothe admits that the reason for having a Chinese driver is to specifically target increased sales in an important market.
“In 2013, China became our number-one market in terms of vehicles manufactured,” said de Lamothe. “Orders for the C-Elysée, which is produced at our Wuhan plant, have already exceeded our objectives. For 2014, our ambition is to sell more than 100,000 units of this model on the Chinese market. For all these reasons, and with the support of the joint venture Dongfeng Citroën, we wanted to have a Chinese driver competing in one of our C-Elysée WTCCs.”