Ma Qing Hua concerned about track conditions for qualifying

Citroën Racing and Ma Qing Hua had a dominant day in Shanghai, host of the tenth round of the 2015 FIA World Touring Car Championship season, and had expected to carry the momentum into the fight for the pole position. With the qualifying session rescheduled for early tomorrow morning, the Chinese driver could have to adapt quickly to a changed track.

The day was perfect for Ma Qing Hua, who is racing at his home track this weekend. The number 33 driver not only topped the timing sheets in both free practice sessions, but was also significantly faster than his rivals in the second and most decisive one in terms of qualifying setup.  Ma was satisfied with the progress made: “Everything went well today. I found a good rhythm in both sessions.”

An accident at Turn 1 in the GT Asia Series seriously damaged the inside barriers. Just 10 minutes before the beginning of the session the WTCC drivers learned that it couldn’t be fixed on time, with the qualifying being rescheduled for Sunday at 8:30 local time.

Ma was expecting to continue developing the setup in his C-Elysée WTCC during the Q1, but is now concerned that the work done so far might not be so significant tomorrow, when the fight for the pole position will take place earlier in the day and in cooler conditions. The Shanghai driver recognises that qualifying will be a bit more difficult than expected: “We were planning to improve a few details to challenge for pole position, but that will have to wait for tomorrow now! I think the officials took the right decision by making safety their number-1 priority. Of course, it will make our task a little more difficult. The track conditions will be different and we will have to react very quickly to adapt our setups.”

The WTCC field takes to the grid again tomorrow at 8:30 for the qualifying session, with the races scheduled for 14:45 and 15:55.