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.

China Jackie Chan DC Racing
Founded20 August 2015 (2015-08-20)
Founder(s)David Cheng
Jackie Chan
BaseWuhan
Former seriesAsian Le Mans Series
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
FIA World Endurance Championship
Teams'
Championships
2 Asian Le Mans Series (2015–16), (2017–18)
Drivers'
Championships
2 Asian Le Mans Series (2015–16), (2017–18)

History

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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

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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

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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

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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.[9] 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.[10] The No. 38's effort marked the first time a Chinese team won its class at Le Mans.[9] Chan, who was not present at the race, congratulated the team on its performance.[11]

Departure from motorsport

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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

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Jackie Chan DC Racing testing their Oreca 07 chassis at the 2019 World Endurance Championship Prologue in Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Year Entrant Team No. Car Drivers Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2016   Baxi DC Racing Alpine Signatech 35 Alpine A460-Nissan   David Cheng
  Nelson Panciatici
  Ho-Pin Tung
LMP2 234 DNF DNF
2017   Jackie Chan DC Racing Jota Sport 37 Oreca 07-Gibson   Alex Brundle
  David Cheng
  Tristan Gommendy
LMP2 363 3rd 2nd
38   Oliver Jarvis
  Thomas Laurent
  Ho-Pin Tung
366 2nd 1st
2018   Jackie Chan DC Racing OAK Racing 33 Ligier JS P217-Gibson   Nick Boulle
  David Cheng
  Pierre Nicolet
LMP2 355 12th 8th
34   David Heinemeier Hansson
  Côme Ledogar
  Ricky Taylor
195 DNF DNF
Jota Sport 37 Oreca 07-Gibson   Jazeman Jaafar
  Nabil Jeffri
  Weiron Tan
361 8th 4th
38   Gabriel Aubry
  Stephane Richelmi
  Ho-Pin Tung
356 10th 6th
2019   Jackie Chan DC Racing Jota Sport 37 Oreca 07-Gibson   David Heinemeier Hansson
  Jordan King
  Ricky Taylor
LMP2 199 DNF DNF
38   Gabriel Aubry
  Stephane Richelmi
  Ho-Pin Tung
367 7th 2nd
2020   Jackie Chan DC Racing Jota Sport 37 Oreca 07-Gibson   Gabriel Aubry
  Will Stevens
  Ho-Pin Tung
LMP2 141 DSQ[13] DSQ

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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Year Entrant Class Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Points WEP
pos.
2016 Baxi DC Racing Alpine LMP2   David Cheng
  Ho-Pin Tung
  Nelson Panciatici
  Paul-Loup Chatin
35 SIL
6
SPA
Ret
LMN
Ret
NÜR
7
MEX
5
COA
8
FUJ
9
SHA
8
BHR
6
42 9th
2017 Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2   David Cheng
  Tristan Gommendy
  Alex Brundle
37 SIL
8
SPA
10
LMN
2
NÜR
5
MEX
6
COA
5
FUJ
Ret
SHA
8
BHR
8
77 7th
LMP2   Ho-Pin Tung
  Thomas Laurent
  Oliver Jarvis
38 SIL
1
SPA
3
LMN
1
NÜR
1
MEX
9
COA
4
FUJ
3
SHA
4
BHR
2
175 2nd
2018–19 Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2   Jazeman Jaafar
  Weiron Tan
  Nabil Jeffri
  David Heinemeier Hansson
  Jordan King
  Will Stevens
  Ricky Taylor
37 SPA
3
LMN
2
SIL
2
FUJ
1
SHA
4
SEB
1
SPA
6
LMN
Ret
138 3rd
  Ho-Pin Tung
  Gabriel Aubry
  Stéphane Richelmi
38 SPA
1
LMN
4
SIL
1
FUJ
2
SHA
1
SEB
6
SPA
3
LMN
2
166 2nd
2019–20 Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2   Ho-Pin Tung
  Gabriel Aubry
  Will Stevens
  Ryan Cullen
37 SIL
4
FUJ
2
SHA
2
BHR
3
COA
2
SPA
6
LMN
DSQ
BHR
1
136 3rd

Asian Le Mans Series results

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Year Entrant Class Car Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 Points Team
pos.
2015–16 DC Racing LMP3 Ligier JS P3   David Cheng
  Ho-Pin Tung
  Thomas Laurent
1 FUJ
1
SEP
1
THA
1
MAL
1
103 1st
2016–17 Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2 Oreca 03R   Gustavo Menezes
  Ho-Pin Tung
  Thomas Laurent
35 ZHU
1
FUJ
2
THA
1
SEP
Ret
69 2nd
LMP3 Ligier JS P3   David Cheng
  James Winslow
  Pu Jun Jin
  Hiroki Yoshida
1 ZHU
1
FUJ
3
THA
6
SEP
3
63 3rd
2017–18 Jackie Chan DC Racing X Jota LMP2 Oreca 05   David Cheng
  Ho-Pin Tung
  Jazeman Jaafar
  Weiron Tan
  Afiq Yazid
7 ZHU
Ret
FUJ
3
THA
1
SEP
5
50 4th
  Thomas Laurent
  Harrison Newey
  Stéphane Richelmi
8 ZHU
1
FUJ
1
THA
2
SEP
1
95 1st
LMP3 Ligier JS P3   Patrick Byrne
  Guy Cosmo
  Gabriel Aubry
6 ZHU
3
FUJ
1
THA
3
SEP
1
77 1st
2018–19 Jackie Chan DC Racing X Jota Sport LMP2 Oreca 05   Jazeman Jaafar
  Weiron Tan
  Nabil Jeffri
1 SHA
Ret
FUJ THA SEP 0 8th
LMP3 Ligier JS P3   Yoshiharu Mori
  Hwang Doyun
  Neale Muston
37 SHA
DSQ
FUJ THA SEP 0 11th
  Neric Wei
  Hugo de Sadeleer
  Jake Parsons
  Jamie Winslow
  Rick Yoon
38 SHA
9
FUJ THA SEP
10
3 9th

References

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