Jackie Chan DC Racing explained

Jackie Chan DC Racing
Base:Wuhan
Founders:David Cheng
Jackie Chan
Former Series:Asian Le Mans Series
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
FIA World Endurance Championship
Former Drivers: Gustavo Menezes
David Cheng
Tristan Gommendy
Alex Brundle
David Heinemeier Hansson
Jordan King
Ricky Taylor
Stéphane Richelmi
Driver Titles:2 Asian Le Mans Series (2015–16), (2017–18)
Team Titles:2 Asian Le Mans Series (2015–16), (2017–18)

Jackie Chan DC Racing, formerly known as DC Racing, is a racing team that competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series, with plans to make a return to the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2023.[1] The team is co-owned by Asian Le Mans champion David Cheng and actor Jackie Chan. Partnering with Jota Sport in WEC, the team fields Oreca 07: the No. 37 for Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Will Stevens.

History

In 2015, two-time Asian Le Mans Series champion David Cheng formed DC Racing. Based in Wuhan, the team hired OAK Racing personnel Remy Brouard, for whom Cheng raced, as team principal. DC Racing also established a partnership with Eurasia Motorsport, fielding a Ligier JS P3 in the LMP3 class for Cheng, former OAK Racing teammate and fellow Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung[2] and Frenchman Thomas Laurent. The team ended the season with the Team Championship and a spot in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans.[3]

Jackie Chan

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.[4] 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 rebadged Oreca 05 cars as Alpine A460s in the LMP2 class. The team is the first mainland China-based operation in WEC; Cheng and Tung joined the new program,[5] along with French drivers Nelson Panciatici[6] and Paul-Loup Chatin.[7]

Asian Le Mans Series

In October, leading into the 2016–17 Asian Le Mans Series season, the team was rebranded to Jackie Chan DC Racing and raced with liveries promoting Chan's movie Kung Fu Yoga. DC Racing fielded cars in both the LMP2 and LMP3 classes; Tung, Laurent and Gustavo Menezes raced in the former, while Cheng, James Winslow and Pu Jun Jin drove in the latter.[8]

FIA World Endurance Championship

For the 2017 WEC season, the team partnered with Jota Sport to run the No. 37 for Cheng, Alex Brundle and Tristan Gommendy, along with the No. 38 for Tung, Laurent and Oliver Jarvis. At Le Mans, the No. 38 took advantage of a small LMP1 grid and problems striking the LMP1s to lead overall laps, becoming the first LMP2 team to do so at Le Mans. With one hour remaining, the No. 2 Porsche of Timo Bernhard passed Tung and went on to win the overall, although the No. 38's second-place overall finish was still impressive nonetheless and won DC Racing the LMP2 class. DC's No. 37 car finished fourth overall, but Rebellion Racing's No. 13 was disqualified after failing post-race inspection and the No. 37 was promoted onto the podium.[9] The No. 38's effort marked the first time a Chinese team won its class at Le Mans.[10] Chan, who was not present at the race, congratulated the team on its performance.[11]

Departure from motorsport

The team pulled out of all motorsports in 2020 at the beginning for the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason for the departure as said in a statement was mostly due to personal and financial issues as quoted in Autosport by team owner David Cheng on March 18, 2022, "The world situation meant we had to step back from racing, because I had to focus on the family business, which is based in Wuhan".[12]

Results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearEntrantTeamNo.CarDriversClassLaps
2016 Baxi DC Racing AlpineSignatech35Alpine A460-Nissan David Cheng
Nelson Panciatici
Ho-Pin Tung
LMP2234DNFDNF
2017 Jackie Chan DC RacingJota Sport37Oreca 07-Gibson Alex Brundle
David Cheng
Tristan Gommendy
LMP23633rd2nd
38 Oliver Jarvis
Thomas Laurent
Ho-Pin Tung
3662nd1st
2018 Jackie Chan DC RacingOAK Racing33Ligier JS P217-Gibson Nick Boulle
David Cheng
Pierre Nicolet
LMP235512th8th
34 David Heinemeier Hansson
Côme Ledogar
Ricky Taylor
195DNFDNF
Jota Sport37Oreca 07-Gibson Jazeman Jaafar
Nabil Jeffri
Weiron Tan
3618th4th
38 Gabriel Aubry
Stephane Richelmi
Ho-Pin Tung
35610th6th
2019 Jackie Chan DC RacingJota Sport37Oreca 07-Gibson David Heinemeier Hansson
Jordan King
Ricky Taylor
LMP2199DNFDNF
38 Gabriel Aubry
Stephane Richelmi
Ho-Pin Tung
3677th2nd
2020 Jackie Chan DC RacingJota Sport37Oreca 07-Gibson Gabriel Aubry
Will Stevens
Ho-Pin Tung
LMP2141DSQ[13] DSQ

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

YearEntrantClassDrivers123456789Points
2016Baxi DC Racing Alpine David Cheng
Ho-Pin Tung
Nelson Panciatici
Paul-Loup Chatin
35SIL
6
SPA
Ret
LMN
Ret
NÜR
7
MEX
5
COA
8
FUJ
9
SHA
8
BHR
6
42 9th
2017Jackie Chan DC Racing David Cheng
Tristan Gommendy
Alex Brundle
37SIL
8
SPA
10
LMN
2
NÜR
5
MEX
6
COA
5
FUJ
Ret
SHA
8
BHR
8
777th
Ho-Pin Tung
Thomas Laurent
Oliver Jarvis
38SIL
1
SPA
3
LMN
1
NÜR
1
MEX
9
COA
4
FUJ
3
SHA
4
BHR
2
1752nd
2018-19Jackie Chan DC Racing Jazeman Jaafar
Weiron Tan
Nabil Jeffri
David Heinemeier Hansson
Jordan King
Will Stevens
Ricky Taylor
37SPA
3
LMN
2
SIL
2
FUJ
1
SHA
4
SEB
1
SPA
6
LMN
Ret
1383rd
Ho-Pin Tung
Gabriel Aubry
Stéphane Richelmi
38SPA
1
LMN
4
SIL
1
FUJ
2
SHA
1
SEB
6
SPA
3
LMN
2
1662nd
2019-20Jackie Chan DC Racing Ho-Pin Tung
Gabriel Aubry
Will Stevens
Ryan Cullen
37SIL
4
FUJ
2
SHA
2
BHR
3
COA
2
SPA
6
LMN
DSQ
BHR
1
1363rd

Asian Le Mans Series results

YearEntrantClassCarDrivers1234Points
2015–16DC RacingLigier JS P3 David Cheng
Ho-Pin Tung
Thomas Laurent
1FUJ
SEP
THA
MAL
1031st
2016–17Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 03R Gustavo Menezes
Ho-Pin Tung
Thomas Laurent
35ZHU
FUJ
THA
SEP
692nd
Ligier JS P3 David Cheng
James Winslow
Pu Jun Jin
Hiroki Yoshida
1ZHU
FUJ
THA
SEP
633rd
2017–18Jackie Chan DC Racing X JotaOreca 05 David Cheng
Ho-Pin Tung
Jazeman Jaafar
Weiron Tan
Afiq Yazid
7ZHU
FUJ
THA
SEP
50 4th
Thomas Laurent
Harrison Newey
Stéphane Richelmi
8ZHU
FUJ
THA
SEP
951st
Ligier JS P3 Patrick Byrne
Guy Cosmo
Gabriel Aubry
6ZHU
FUJ
THA
SEP
771st
2018–19Jackie Chan DC Racing X Jota SportOreca 05 Jazeman Jaafar
Weiron Tan
Nabil Jeffri
1SHA
FUJTHASEP08th
Ligier JS P3 Yoshiharu Mori
Hwang Doyun
Neale Muston
37
FUJTHASEP011th
Neric Wei
Hugo de Sadeleer
Jake Parsons
Jamie Winslow
Rick Yoon
38SHA
FUJTHASEP
39th

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jackie Chan DC Racing Set To Return In 2023 With IMSA Campaign dailysportscar.com . 2023-08-11 . www.dailysportscar.com.
  2. News: DC Racing Launched; Confirms Ligier JS P3 Effort in Asian LMS. Dagys. John. SportsCar365. 20 August 2015. 20 June 2017.
  3. Web site: Ho-Pin Tung champion Asian Le Mans Series in penultimate race. Motorsport.com. 11 January 2016. 20 June 2017.
  4. Web site: Barre. Geoffroy. David Cheng tells us how he joined forces with Jackie Chan. Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 25 February 2016. 18 June 2017.
  5. News: DC Racing Enters WEC with Alpine-Nissan LMP2 Effort. Dagys. John. SportsCar365. 5 February 2016. 20 June 2017.
  6. News: Signatech place Panciatici with Baxi DC Racing in WEC. Khorounzhiy. Valentin. Motorsport.com. 4 March 2016. 4 March 2016.
  7. Web site: Chatin Replaces Panciatici at DC Racing Alpine. SportsCar365. Dagys. John. 13 October 2016. 15 October 2016.
  8. Web site: Jackie Chan DC Racing announces new partners and new additions to all star driver line up. Motorsport.com. 27 October 2016. 20 June 2017.
  9. Web site: Jackie Chan goes 2-3 at Le Mans after DQ. GMA Network. 20 June 2017. 20 June 2017.
  10. News: Smith. Luke. DC Racing Takes Historic LMP2 Win, Overall Podium. SportsCar365. June 18, 2016. June 20, 2017.
  11. Web site: Jackie Chan cheered us on to a historic Le Mans result – Cheng. Crash.net. 19 June 2017. 20 June 2017.
  12. Web site: 2022-03-18 . Jackie Chan DC Racing announces return with 2023 IMSA programme . 2023-08-11 . Autosport . en.
  13. Web site: Euwema. Davey. Jackie Chan DC Racing disqualified from Le Mans. Motorsport Week. 20 September 2020. 20 September 2020.