Teamwork Motorsport reached a milestone at last month’s Macau Grand Prix weekend, as the team reached its tenth birthday. We look back on our history and the incredible progress during this period
Now following the end of the 2022 TCR Asia series in Shanghai, where the team has won the drivers’, models’ and teams’ titles’, the team reflects on an incredible decade from where it started out.
Alex HUI, team principal says:
“This is our third year running the Lynk & Co programme and it’s been a long and tough one for the team because there have been many postponed races and all kinds of different travel policies within the country.
“We won the teams’ & car models’ titles with a weekend to spare, and had a fantastic run in the drivers’ championship too, with all three of our drivers ranked in the top three – so this is certainly another step forward compared to last year. We can’t be more pleased with our performance and results.
“Now that China is stating to lift travel restrictions, we’re confident that we can resume many customer programmes in 2023, just like we did in 2019 when we competed in the with 24HSERIES in Dubau, the TCR Spa 500 and the TCR UK championship.
“For the future, TCR will be still a popular category and the Lynk & Co programme will still be our main focus in the Asia region. The newly introduced TCR World Ranking and TCR World Ranking Final are interesting to us too, but there are still pieces of the puzzle we need to know about such as tyres, fuel, venue. It’ll be exciting if our drivers are able to compete in the Final in 2023.
“Outside of touring cars, Teamwork Motorsport is also looking into opportunities in GT and electric racing. My other role at the NIO 333 Racing Formula E Team tells me there is no doubt that racing will become more and more electrified, and very soon hybrid systems will be introduced to all major categories.”
HISTORY
2013
The team was launched as Teamwork Motorsport, that year making its debut at the Macau Grand Prix weekend in the Touring Car Cup, running a pair of Honda Integra DC5s with Sunny WONG, Alex HUI, and Samuel HSIEH driving for the team.
2014
The team very quickly moved on from the ageing Japanese coupés, and made a massive leap forward in 2014 when the team developed its own Citroën C-Elysée for the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC) Super Cup. The team also imported the Peugeot RCZ for the Macau Touring Car Cup, where it had a competitive year in both disciplines.
2015
The team were race winners at the competitive Macau Touring Car Cup event this year, with Paul POON taking his fifth win at the event, while WONG and HUI continued to develop and race the Citroën in the CTCC Super Cup.
2016
In 2016, the team took a visual step forward when it introduced its new brand identity.
POON again won at the Macau Touring Car Cup, while HUI became a race winner in the CTCC in the team’s third year with the French-based saloon, which the team would also enter in the Macau Guia Race, though the CTCC cars were unable to compete against the remaining TCR-class field due to aggressive Balance of Performance.
The team also made the step to TCR, competing in the TCR Asia series, finishing as runner-up with Kevin TSE in its first campaign, competing with the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.
2017
In 2017, the team took part in the new TCR China championship, with HUI and WONG competing in the full season, with POON, Alex FUNG, Filipe de SOUZA and Samuel HSIEH also taking part during the season, as well as the team’s guest star, that year’s TCR International Series champion Jean-Karl VERNAY.
2018
2018 was another breakthrough year, with the team celebrating double success at the Macau Touring Car Cup race, with WONG winning the 1,950cc+ class in the team’s self-built Subaru WRX STi, while POON again won in the 1.6 Turbo class with the well-proven Peugeot.
It was also the year of the team’s first championship success, with WONG and HUI going on to win the TCR China championship in the team’s Volkswagen Golf in the December finale.
2019
The team made the switch to the Audi RS 3 LMS in the China region for 2019, and also took part at the new TCR Spa 500 event at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, scoring a podium with its all-Chinese driver line-up.
The team also made another international jump, competing in the first few rounds of the young TCR UK championship, with WONG scoring a podium during his first appearance at the Oulton Park circuit.
Paul POON meanwhile racked up his eighth and most recent win at the Macau Touring Car Cup as the team competed at the event with the Peugeot for the final time.
2020
In 2020, Teamwork Motorsport was forced to focus its programmes in the China region due to limits on international travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, but while doing so also became a manufacturer-supported programme, linking up with Lynk & Co China to field the 03 TCR in the TCR China championship. MA Qing Hua won the title with relative ease, while ZHANG Zhi Qiang joined the team for the Macau finale and scored the team and China’s first ever Macau Guia Race victory.
2021
MA returned joined by ZHANG and WONG full-time in 2021, this time competing in the TCR Asia series, with ZHANG securing the title and also going on to take another Guia Race victory.
2022
This year, the line-up has changed slightly, with David ZHU replacing a WTCR-bound MA, and won the drivers’ championship at the Shanghai Tianma circuit’s season finale. While reigning champion ZHANG secured a third straight victory in Macau, winning the second of the Macau Touring Car Cup races ahead of Macau expert Rob Huff.
The team looks back fondly on an incredible ten years, and is hoping for many more.
