| Cheng Congfu | |||||||||||||
| Nationality: |  Chinese | ||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 15 August 1984 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Beijing (China) | ||||||||||||
| Education: | High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China | ||||||||||||
| Module: |
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Cheng "Frankie" Congfu (程丛夫; pinyin: Chéng Cóng Fū; born August 15, 1984) is a Chinese racing driver.
In 1996, Cheng raced in karting in China, winning the national championship in 1998 (junior division), 2000 and 2001.[1] He also took part in the European Karting Open (15th in 1999) and the Asian Karting Championship (runner-up in 2001).
Cheng Congfu started his formula racing career with the British Formula Ford Winter Series in 2001. In 2003 he will be supported by the McLaren Formula One team, as part of its driver development programme.[1] He joined A1 Team China and drove in the A1 Grand Prix series from the 2006-07 season[2] in the 2008-09 season.
He raced in the Formula Three Euroseries for 2008.
He became the first Chinese driver to participate,[3] finish and score a class podium in the 24 Hours of Le Mans when his Saulnier Team LMP2 Pescarolo finished 3rd in the LMP2 class of the 2008 event, behind the teams of van Merksteijn and Team Essex, both running Porsche Spyder LMP2s.
On 23–24 May 2009, Cheng Congfu participated in the ADAC Nurburgring 24 Hours, with teammates Altfrid Heger, Carlo van Dam, and Franck Mailleux in VW Motorsport III's #116 VW Scirocco GT 24 (4 cyl, 1.984 ccm, 1100 kg), the team finished 20th overall and 3rd in SP3T class after Volkswagen Motorsport II's #118 VW Scirocco GT 24 and #107 Audi A3. Cheng Congfu then became the first Chinese driver to participate, finish and score a class podium in the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
He drove in the 2010 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Mercedes, becoming the second Asian driver – after Japan's Katsutomo Kaneishi in 2003 – to drive in the series.
In November 2011, Cheng Congfu partnered with 1998 and 1999 F1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen and Lance David Arnold to drive a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG at the 2011 6 Hours of Zhuhai race, a round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.[4]
‡ Teams' Standings
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | A1 Team China | NED SPR 11 | NED FEA 9 | CZE SPR 4 | CZE FEA 8 | BEI SPR 13 | BEI FEA Ret | MYS SPR 10 | MYS FEA 16 | IDN SPR | IDN FEA | NZL SPR | NZL FEA | AUS SPR | AUS FEA | RSA SPR | RSA FEA | MEX SPR | MEX FEA | SHA SPR 11 | SHA FEA 15 | GBR SPR Ret | GBR FEA 10 | 15th | 22 |
| 2007–08 | NED SPR 17 | NED FEA 15 | CZE SPR 10 | CZE FEA 4 | MYS SPR Ret | MYS FEA 5 | ZHU SPR 3 | ZHU FEA 9 | NZL SPR 14 | NZL FEA Ret | AUS SPR 14 | AUS FEA 10 | RSA SPR 4 | RSA FEA 6 | MEX SPR 17 | MEX FEA 10 | SHA SPR 10 | SHA FEA 15 | GBR SPR 21 | GBR FEA 4 | 13th | 55 | |||
| 2008–09 | NED SPR | NED FEA | CHI SPR | CHI FEA | MYS SPR | MYS FEA | NZL SPR Ret | NZL FEA 14 | RSA SPR | RSA FEA | POR SPR | POR FEA | GBR SPR 14 | GBR FEA Ret | 18th | 7 |
(key)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 |  Saulnier Racing | Pierre Ragues Matthieu Lahaye | Pescarolo 01-Judd | LMP2 | 333 | 18th | 3rd | |
| 2013 | Rebellion Racing | Mathias Beche Andrea Belicchi | Lola B12/60-Toyota | LMP1 | 275 | 40th | 8th |