David Cheng

For the professor, see David K. Cheng.

David Cheng
Nationality	Chinese American[a]
Born	(1989-07-21) July 21, 1989 (age 35) Haidian District, Beijing, China
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2016
Current team	Jackie Chan DC Racing
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Car number	37
Starts	26
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	9th in 2016
Finished last season	9th
Championship titles
2015–16 2013, 2014	Asian Le Mans Series - LMP3 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2014–present
Teams	OAK Racing, Pegasus Racing, Jackie Chan DC Racing
Best finish	3rd (2017)
Class wins	0

David Cheng (Chinese: 程飞; pinyin: Chéng Fēi, born 21 July 1989) is a Chinese-American sports car racing driver who last competed in the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy. He previously competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jackie Chan DC Racing, and finished on the overall and class podium at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans, becoming the first Chinese driver to do so. He is a three-time champion of the Asian Le Mans Series, having won the championship twice in the LMP2 class in 2013 and 2014, and in the LMP3 class in 2016.

Racing career

Born in Beijing, Cheng moved to Seattle in the United States at the age of six and was introduced to kart racing by a friend of his father; he had to do so in secret as his mother believed auto racing was too dangerous.^[1] In 2011, he moved up to sports cars, racing in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and the 24 Hours of Daytona.^[2] In the race, Cheng's team competed in the GT class, but the car suffered major damage before Cheng could drive; the team was able to overcome the damage to finish 21st. During the year, he also raced in China's Scirocco R Cup China, finishing seventh in points with a best finish of second at Sepang International Circuit's Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race.^[3] A year later, he split time between the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and Scirocco R Cup.^[2] In 2013, Cheng joined OAK Racing in the Asian Le Mans Series, driving for an all-Chinese stable alongside Ho-Pin Tung.^[4] At Sepang, he won the Sepang 12 Hours and was named one of ten Outstanding Youth by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. He also ran the ALMS' 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans races, winning the former and claiming the Drivers' Championship for his co-driver in the latter by one point.^[1] Cheng and OAK ended the year by winning the LMP2 Asian Le Mans Team and Driver Championships.^[4] Cheng repeated the feat a season later.^[5]

For the 2015–16 Asian Le Mans Series season, Cheng formed DC Racing, racing a Ligier JS P3 with former OAK teammate Tung^[5] and Thomas Laurent. The team ended the season with the Team Championship and a guaranteed spot in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[6]

In March 2015, Cheng met actor and martial artist Jackie Chan, who discussed his enjoyment of Steve McQueen's movie Le Mans as well as his interest in racing. After Cheng finished ninth in the LMP2 class at Le Mans that year, Chan raised the possibility of owning a team together for 2016, to which Cheng agreed.^[7] Together, the two entered DC Racing into the FIA World Endurance Championship under the Baxi DC Racing Alpine banner, partnering with Signatech Alpine and fielding Alpine A460s in the LMP2 class.^[8] In October, the team was rebranded as Jackie Chan DC Racing.^[9]

In 2017, Jackie Chan DC Racing allied with Jota Sport. At Le Mans, the team's No. 38 LMP2 took advantage of problems striking the LMP1 field to lead overall laps, becoming the first lower-class team to do so at Le Mans.^[10] The car went on to finish second overall and win the LMP2 class, while DC's No. 37 car, driven by Cheng, finished fourth overall,^[11] but Rebellion Racing's No. 13 was disqualified after failing post-race inspection and Cheng's No. 37 was promoted onto the podium.^[12] The No. 38's effort marked the first time a Chinese team won its class at Le Mans.^[10]

Racing record

Racing career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2009	Pacific F2000 Championship	PR1 Motorsports	5	0	0	0	0	72	11th
2010	Pacific F2000 Championship	PR1 Motorsports	12	2	3	4	7	242	2nd
	U.S. F2000 National Championship	ZSports Midwest	2	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC†
2011	Pacific F2000 Championship	PR1 Motorsports	12	4	2	1	9	279	2nd
	Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup China	Tianjin Konggang Zhonghui Automobile						64	7th
	American Le Mans Series - LMPC	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	1	0	0	0	1	13	18th
	Rolex Sports Car Series - GT	PR1 Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	16	57th
2012	Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup China	Tianjin Konggang Zhonghui Automobile	11	4			4	95	5th
	Continental Sports Car Challenge - ST	APR Motorsport	9	1	0	0	1	80	42nd
	Formula Pilota China	Team UKYO with Super License	3	0	0	0	0	4	19th
	Pacific F2000 Championship	PR1 Motorsports	4	1	0	1	3	97	7th
2013	Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2	OAK Racing	4	2			4	89	1st
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2		2	0	0	0	0	18	20th
	American Le Mans Series - PC	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	5	1	0	0	2	6	23rd
	Pacific F1600 Championship Series	PR1 Motorsports	2	1	1	0	2	54	8th
2014	Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2	OAK Racing Team Total	4	4	4	3	4	103	1st
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2	OAK Racing-Team Asia	2	0	0	0	1	N/A†	NC†
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	7th
	United SportsCar Championship - PC	PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	66	21st
		Starworks Motorsport	1	0	0	0	1
		BAR1 Motorsports	2	0	0	0	0
	Audi R8 LMS Cup China	CTVS Racing Team	2	0	0	0	0	1	20th
2015	European Le Mans Series - LMP2	Pegasus Racing Team Total by DC Racing	5	0	0	0	0	14	16th
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2		2	0	0	0	0	N/A†	NC†
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	9th
	Audi R8 LMS Cup China	Michelin Racing Team	4	0	0	0	0	1	23rd
	United SportsCar Championship - Prototype	RG Racing	1	0	0	0	0	25	28th
	United SportsCar Championship - PC	BAR1 Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	1	41st
2015–16	Asian Le Mans Series - LMP3	DC Racing	4	4	4	4	4	103	1st
2016	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2	Baxi DC Racing Alpine	9	0	0	0	0	40	13th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2016–17	Asian Le Mans Series - LMP3	Jackie Chan DC Racing	4	1	0	1	3	63	3rd
2017	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2	Jackie Chan DC Racing	9	0	0	0	1	77	11th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	2nd
	Audi R8 LMS Cup	TianShi Racing Team	8	1	0	1	2	67	7th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - PC	BAR1 Motorsports	1	0	0	0	1	32	15th
2017–18	Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2	Jackie Chan DC Racing × Jota	2	0	0	0	1	15	9th
2018	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2	Jackie Chan DC Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	8th
2018–19	Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy	Jaguar VIP Car	1	0	0	0	0	N/A†	NC†
2019–20	Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy - Pro-Am	Jaguar China Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2014	OAK Racing	Ho-Pin Tung Adderly Fong	Ligier JS P2-Honda	LMP2	347	12th	7th
2015	Pegasus Racing	Ho-Pin Tung Léo Roussel	Morgan LMP2-Nissan	LMP2	334	19th	9th
2016	Baxi DC Racing Alpine	Ho-Pin Tung Nelson Panciatici	Alpine A460-Nissan	LMP2	234	DNF	DNF
2017	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Tristan Gommendy Alex Brundle	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	363	3rd	2nd
2018	Jackie Chan DC Racing	Nick Boulle Pierre Nicolet	Ligier JS P217-Gibson	LMP2	355	12th	8th

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2013	OAK Racing	LMP2	Morgan LMP2	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS	SÃO	COA	FUJ	SHA 6	BHR 5		20th	18
2014	OAK Racing	LMP2	Ligier JS P2	Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6	SIL	SPA	LMS 7	COA	FUJ					NC^†	0
			Morgan LMP2	Judd HK 3.6 L V8						SHA 6	BHR 3	SÃO
2015	Pegasus Racing	LMP2	Morgan LMP2	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS 9	NÜR	COA	FUJ	SHA 5	BHR		NC^†	0
2016	Baxi DC Racing Alpine	LMP2	Alpine A460	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL 7	SPA Ret	LMS Ret	NÜR 7	MEX 5	COA 8	FUJ 9	SHA 8	BHR 6	9th	42
2017	Jackie Chan DC Racing	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SIL 8	SPA 10	LMS 2	NÜR 5	MEX 6	COA 5	FUJ Ret	SHA 8	BHR 8	11th	77
2018–19	Jackie Chan DC Racing	LMP2	Ligier JS P217	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SPA	LMS 8	SIL	FUJ	SHA	SEB	SPA	LMS		NC^†	0

^† As Cheng was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year	Team	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
2015	RG Racing	P	Riley Mk XXVI DP	Dinan (BMW) 5.0 L V8	DAY 6	SIR	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL	MSP	ELK	COA	PET	27th	26

References

1. "DAVID CHENG IN 2013". Asian Le Mans Series. October 24, 2013. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
2. Mitani, Sam (February 29, 2012). "China: The Next Big Stage for Auto Racing?". Road & Track. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
3. "All Eyes on David Cheng". MotoIQ. January 23, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
4. "DAVID CHENG IN 2014". Asian Le Mans Series. December 19, 2013. Archived from the original on December 17, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
5. Dagys, John (August 20, 2015). "DC Racing Launched; Confirms Ligier JS P3 Effort in Asian LMS". SportsCar365. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
6. "Ho-Pin Tung champion Asian Le Mans Series in penultimate race". Motorsport.com. January 11, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
7. Barre, Geoffroy (February 25, 2016). "David Cheng tells us how he joined forces with Jackie Chan". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
8. Dagys, John (February 5, 2016). "DC Racing Enters WEC with Alpine-Nissan LMP2 Effort". SportsCar365. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
9. "Jackie Chan DC Racing announces new partners and new additions to all star driver line up". Motorsport.com. October 27, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
10. Smith, Luke (June 18, 2016). "DC Racing Takes Historic LMP2 Win, Overall Podium". SportsCar365. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
11. "Jackie Chan cheered us on to a historic Le Mans result – Cheng". Crash.net. June 19, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
12. "Jackie Chan goes 2-3 at Le Mans after DQ". GMA Network. June 20, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.

External links

• Official website
• David Cheng driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Christophe Tinseau Shinji Nakano	Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 Champion 2013	Succeeded by David Cheng Ho-Pin Tung
Preceded by David Cheng	Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 Champion 2014 With: Ho-Pin Tung	Succeeded by Nicolas Leutwiler

1. Cheng competed under an American racing license prior to 2013. He currently represents China.