Ma Qing Hua joins Alexander Rossi at Caterham
Alexander Rossi will be part of the Caterham young driver program for the third consecutive season. The American is joined by Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua, who had held the same role with the now-defunct HRT team.
The Caterham F1 team announced its reserve drivers for 2013, they are Alexander Rossi and Ma Qing Hua. For Alexander Rossi, this announcement is presented as a promotion since he moves from test driver to reserve driver. Last year, this latter position was held by Giedo van der Garde, who has since been promoted to a main driver within the Leafield team.
It is with this perspective that the American driver approaches this season, especially as he will have a number of test sessions on Friday mornings: 2013 will be my third season with the Caterham family, and I have built strong relationships within the entire team. My goals for the Friday testing sessions that I will perform this season are to fulfill the schedule planned by the team at each session, to work closely with everyone, learn as much as possible, and always be ready for the next opportunity. As the reserve driver for the Caterham F1 Team, I will attend all F1 races, which will allow me to fully integrate within the team, whether from a technical, commercial, or sports perspective. This will prepare me in the best way for the next step.
He will be joined by Ma Qing Hua, who will also make his return to competition by joining Caterham’s GP2 team. This will be the first time since 2008 that the 25-year-old Chinese driver will participate in a full single-seater championship, as his only title so far is in touring cars in China in 2011. His schedule will also include participating in Friday’s free practice in front of his home crowd in Shanghai, as he did last year in Italy.
In Cyril Abiteboul’s statements, the new team director, it’s evident that his nationality is not unrelated to his appointment as teams are looking to penetrate the Chinese market: « Ma joins us with his F1 experience from 2012 and will play an essential role in helping our GP2 team achieve its goals for 2013. We look forward to helping him develop both in the F1 and GP2 environments and giving Chinese fans the opportunity to support one of their own on the track throughout the year. »
With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr
