Ma (pictured) will be assessed over the coming months at private racing tests using cars from different categories, and if progress goes well, could become the first Chinese Formula One driver.
The 24-year-old started racing at the age of 8 and won the Chinese youth national karting championship when he was 12.
In 2004, he entered the Asian Formula Renault Series and in 2005 represented Team China in the A1 Grand Prix. He moved on to Formula Renault 2.0 NEC in 2006 before taking part in various British Formula Three International Series events in 2009. He was involved in two races in the 2010 Superleague Formula, and in 2011 he competed in the Chinese Touring Car Championship and won the title after claiming four wins and four podiums.
Last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai (13 to 15 April 2012) saw Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany score his first Formula One victory in 111 races - also Mercedes’ first victory since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.
Viewership of the racing sport is not in the top 10 grid in China. A breakdown from Havas Media of what sports fans in China are watching on TV and attending as live spectators indicates that table tennis, football and basketball are the dominant crowd-pullers in 2011.
A relatively young sport, the first F1 race in Shanghai held in September 2004 had a record 270,000 attendees but failed to attract the same number of spectators after the inaugural year.
As may be expected, men tend to be bigger F1 enthusiasts than women, but the spilt narrows to 60-40 in China, according to Andrew Philpott, Asia-Pacific regional director at sports marketing and sponsorship agency PRISM.
Only 8 per cent of the Chinese regularly visit a sports website, and 7 per cent watched sports videos online last year. Chinese F1 fans are able to watch races for free online through the website of race promoter Juss Events, the sports marketing arm of the Shanghaiese local government.
Juss signed a seven-year deal with Formula One Management (FOM) last year to keep the race in China's financial hub till 2017. CEO Jiang Lan has pumped up the value of the Grand Prix in the city: "It is a calling card for Shanghai, which opens PR channels, develops local tourism and promotes local brands on the international stage."
Matthew Marsh, vice president of partnership development of Asia-Pacific at Just Marketing International, said that because F1 is not a mass sport in China, online access to the races in addition to CCTV-5's live broadcasts will encourage more local and international viewers. "F1 should not be the preserve of the wealthy, so online video makes it more accessible to the middle-class man on the street".
Although the fan base for the motor sport in China is relatively small and niche, it is drawn from an attractive demographic of young, wealthy, educated opinion leaders whose sophistication is beyond that of mere adrenalin junkies. Marsh revealed that the fans are knowledgeable even about the engineers, physiotherapists and public relations managers behind the F1 drivers.
More exciting a marketing opportunity is those who do not follow the sport, but may one day want to be associated with F1 brand values such as 'premium', 'speed', 'international', 'performance', 'glamourous', 'sexy' and 'technology'.
For HRT, the grooming of Ma is evidence of a marketing strategy to widen the reach of auto racing in China. "People here are nationalistic when it comes to sports consumption, and a local driver is a good fit for Chinese aspirations," Philpott commented.
As the Chinese economy develops, the event's commercial importance is growing, added Marsh. Swiss bank UBS currently takes the title sponsorship of the Grand Prix. Other brands will give more consideration to using F1 for promotional purposes in China when viewership figures stop being so pale against those for other popular sports. And Shangainese native Ma may just warm up the tracks.
