Ma Qing Hua hit with grid penalty after El Pinar qualifying
Ma Qing Hua has been hit with a grid penalty after the FIA TCR World Tour qualifying session at El Pinar in Uruguay for entering the track in an unsafe way.
The Cyan Racing driver has been given a grid drop of five places for the first race on Sunday, dropping him from tenth to 15th place.
The Chinese driver received the penalty as he got in the way of Hyundai drivers Néstor Girolami and Mikel Azcona while exiting the pits.
The reasoning of the stewards read:
“The stewards determine that Car 155 exited from the pitlane and did not leave the racing line and, thus, impeding Car 129 on his flying lap and creating a potentially dangerous situation with Car 129 and also Car 196.”
Ma was also handed two penalty points for the incident, his first of 2024.
