Ma Qing Hua reprimanded for blocking Gabriele Tarquini

Citroën’s Ma Qing Hua has been given a formal reprimand for blocking Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini during qualifying, while no action was taken against the Chinese driver for the incident with Tom Coronel, following which the furious Dutchman launched into a tirade against him in the pit lane.

During Q1, Ma appeared to block Tarquini whilst swerving out behind team-mate Yvan Muller’s Citroën, which Ma explained was a communication error.

“In front of me was Yvan Muller and I reported to the team he was very slow, and they told me he was on his out-lap,” said Ma to TouringCarTimes.

“So I tried to make a gap between us, but then my engineer said he had an issue with the car and asked me to try to overtake him. But at that time Gabriele just arrived, but then Yvan didn’t let me go as I guess it was not easy to find a place to let me pass as it’s a narrow street track. I didn’t really (block Gabriele) on purpose, and I was also one of the drivers who was also disturbed.”

The stewards disagreed with the turn of events and gave Ma a reprimand after he’d already been shown a blue flag. The reprimand is his second of the season following his last for a false start at the Slovakiaring. Gabriele Tarquini had already called for a penalty against the Chinese driver, calling for him to be disqualified.

The next time Ma receives a reprimand, he will be hit with a grid penalty, but Ma’s pole position for race two tomorrow remains secure unless he receives a reprimand during race one.

Video of the incident with Tom Coronel, and the ROAL Motorsport driver’s reaction can be seen below