Changsha Wonk of study and racer enters Macau F3 GP

Editor:李莎宁
Source:english.rednet.cn
Updated:2014-11-18 10:30:40

　 Fans from Hunan shows their cheering banner for Martin Cao.

　 Cao wishes good winning in his next year’s Europe F3 GP.

　 Martin Cao ( Chinese name: Cao Hongwei ), a racer from Changsha city, Hunan, entered the 61st Macau Grand Prix finals contest held November 16. He is the first mainland China racer who has entered this contest for 61 years of its history. Racing with other world's 30 top drivers in the same field, Unfortunately, he was forced to abandon the race in the final due to a sudden crash. Swedish racer Felix Rosenqvist won the championship.

“Win the game! Cao, we are from Hunan!” A red banner was putting up for cheering up Number 9 racing car of Martin Cao, who held the banners are the ones from Hunan athletes association and Hunan car racing association. Cao, the 21-year-old, from Changsha in Hunan province, began racing karts aged six, but his career kicked on when he went to England to study and hooked up with the Fortec team, for whom he raced at Macau.

In September, Cao became the first Chinese ever to win the British F3 championship - "I was quite happy" - adding his name to the likes of Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen, Nelson Piquet, Jackie Stewart and many others who went on to F1.

The only other Asian to win the British F3 title is Japan's Takuma Sato, a former Macau GP winner who had seven seasons in F1.

With Asians under-represented on the starting grid - Kamui Kobayashi is the only one this season - and teams desperate for new sponsorship and marketing opportunities, Cao realises his potential value to teams seeking to engage with more than a billion possible fans.

"For me, that's about politics," says Cao, admitting the door might open easier because of his nationality. "It's not up to me to decide or consider, I just do my job to drive faster and be competitive. But I'm open to opportunities.

His painted his red helmet with a bird's face, below it with words "I LOVE CHINA ." "This is my own design, let everyone know that Chinese players run on International Raceway." Cao said, he hoped that the shape of the helmet can always remind all that: he is Chinese.

"I'll probably get more interest because I'm Chinese. Hopefully, one day I'll drive an F1 car …

　　Tips of Martin Cao (from wikipedia.)

Born in Hunan, Cao started his racing career in 2008 in the Chinese Formula Ford Campus Championship. He won five races and clinched the championship with an advantage of seven points. Also in 2008, Cao finished third with seven podiums in the Asian Formula Renault Challenge and also contested two races of theFormula BMW Pacific Championship, with Pacific Racing.

In 2009, Cao remained in Formula BMW Pacific but switched to Ao's Racing. He had six point-scoring finishes in nine races, finishing twelfth in the championship.

In 2010, Cao returned to the Asian Formula Renault Challenge with the FRD Racing Team. He won five out of the six races he contested – one more than championSandy Stuvik – and finished fourth in the championship.

Protyre Formula Renault

In 2012, Cao moved to Europe and joined Fortec Motorsports to compete in Formula Renault BARC. He finished nine races in the points to take fourteenth position in the championship, with 100 points. He also finished fifth in the 2012 Formula Renault BARC Winter Series.Cao remained with Fortec into 2013, staying in the newly renamed Protyre Formula Renault Championship.He won a race at Rockingham and finished fourth in the final championship standings.He finished runner-up to Ben Barnicoat in the Protyre Formula Renault Autumn Cup at Rockingham, winning one of the event's three races.

British Formula Three Championship

Cao continued his collaboration with Fortec into the British Formula Three Championship in 2014.He finished fifteen races on the podium, including four wins. He battled with his teammate Matt Rao for the title, and clinched the championship by just two points, ahead of Rao.