On May 7-8, 2022, the 2022 WTCR Touring Car World Cup opener was successfully completed in the narrow streets of Pau, France. With a new lineup to play the new season of the Lynk & Co team, the first game showed excellent strength, harvesting a good result of 1 sub-2 seasons. Among them, Lynk & Co veteran Ivan Muller took full advantage of the starting position to win the first round of the third place. Potential dark horse Santiago Urusia teamed up with Chinese driver Ma Qinghua to finish second and third respectively in the second round, winning the double podium for the Lynk & Co team. Ma Qinghua, a Chinese driver who has attracted much attention in this game, drove the No. 55 Lynk & Co 03 TCR car to compete, not only in his first game back to WTCR, he reached the podium, giving a good start to the season, but also allowing the five-star red flag to rise in the international auto race.
Thrilling street racing The Lynk & Co team recreates the BLUE edge
The first game of the season is the street race, with many corners, big ups and downs, narrow roads, and it is an easy to defend and difficult to attack European Grand Prix track. In the face of a huge test, the Lynk & Co team once again showed the strong strength of the Blue Army, especially the debut of Chinese driver Ma Qinghua in the team was impressive.
In the first round of the main race, although the "little brother" who performed well in qualifying was surpassed at the beginning, the schedule was carried out to about the 11th minute, he found the right time, cleverly overtook in the corner, and completed the most exciting overtaking of the round. In the final lap, opponent Mikel Azcona launched a fierce attack on Ma Qinghua, but Ma Qinghua defended with the favorable terrain on the left and finished the round in 5th place. In the second round, Santiago Urusia finished second in the second round and joined third place with Ma Qinghua, who finished third. Currently, the two are tied for fourth place in the drivers' standings and are the best-ranked drivers in the Lynk & Co team.
In addition, the experienced Ivan Muller, who took full advantage of his strong advantage in qualifying, ran the full distance smoothly and finished 3rd in the first round of the main race. Ted Björk was sadly withdrawn from the first round due to damage to the vehicle during a collision in qualifying. But in the second leg, he bounced back from 12th to 9th with hard power, saving the team some points. Defending champion Jan Ehrasher didn't fare well this weekend, chasing all the way from 6th to 4th in the first leg, but in the second leg he was forced into the pit due to a flat tire – dropping to 15th.
In the end, Lynk & Co's Ivan Muller, Ma Qinghua, Jan Ehrasher, Santiago Urushya and Ted Björk finished 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 12th in qualifying respectively.
Chinese youth drive Chinese cars and realize their dreams in the WTCR international arena
2022 can be described as a big year for Chinese racing, following Zhou Guanyu's addition to F1, Ma Qinghua has also returned to the WTCR international arena, and WTCR also plans to hold two races in China this year. As one of the most high-profile Chinese drivers this year, Ma Qinghua represented Team Mulsanne in the WTCR for Team Mulsanne in the 2019 season, standing on the podium four times and winning the championship in Slovakia, which should not be underestimated. The addition of Ma Qinghua this year is a new opportunity for the Lynk & Co team.
At the opening match, Ma Qinghua drove the No. 55 Lynk & Co 03 TCR car to compete, performed well, once again let China's speed shine in the international arena, and realized the dream of Chinese driving a Chinese car to conquer the international arena. This not only enhances the confidence of the Chinese people in competing in the top auto races, but also has a milestone significance for promoting China's auto sports culture.
As a Chinese brand, Lynk & Co has been actively organizing motorsports since its listing in 2003 to promote the development of motorsport culture. As the first Chinese brand to send Chinese drivers to the world automotive stage, Lynk & Co not only showed the strength of Chinese brands, but also brought confidence and honor to the Chinese people.
From the track to the street, the performance of Lynk & Co products continues to improve
It is said that "the race field is the best platform to test the performance of the car", and the WTCR Touring Car World Cup is definitely the best testing ground for Lynk & Co. Here, Lynk & Co proved the hard power of the brand and the rise of China's automotive industry.
Nowadays, Lynk & Co will continue to feed back the tried and tested racing technology in the arena into Lynk & Co's mass production cars, providing users with the ultimate car experience with excellent technology and quality, so that users can personally experience the product performance strength of Lynk & Co.
As the prototype of the Lynk & Co 03 TCR, the Lynk & Co 03 is the first sedan product of the Lynk & Co brand and the first car built based on the CMA basic module architecture. With the upgrading and application of Lynk & Co technology, the Lynk & Co 03 family is also continuing to advance, from Lynk & Co 03 to Lynk & Co 03+ Cyan customized version, Lynk & Co continues to use products to show performance strength.
With niche love to drive public participation, leading the Tide of Chinese auto sports culture
Lynk & Co not only continues to create products with excellent performance, but also is committed to the construction of China's auto sports culture ecology, providing diversified auto sports culture experiences for users with different degrees of love and strength, driving public participation with niche love, and contributing to the development of China's auto sports culture. In the face of auto sports enthusiasts, Lynk & Co's pan-auto sports, such as "Speed Driving Track Special Training", "Peak Driver Program", "Racing License Training", etc., to explore the rookie potential of Chinese motorsport; in the face of professional users of motor sports, Lynk & Co launched the "Lynk & Co Auto Challenge" brand event, which provides them with a continuous challenge to the competitive stage; for professional masters and number one players, Lynk & Co has a complete training and participation mode of TCR professional racing, so that professional drivers can dream of TCR China and TCR Asia and other high-end events.
In the 2022 WTCR Touring Car World Cup, the BLUE of the Lynk & Co team swept the Pau circuit, once again allowing China's speed to shine in the world and continue the championship strength. Outside the arena, Lynk & Co Continues to Advance, Bringing Users a Full Range of Performance Products, while continuing to build an auto sports system, allowing more people to experience auto sports, feel the charm of China's auto sports culture, and further help China develop into an auto sports power.
About Lynk & Co
Lynk & Co is a high-end brand of Geely Automobile Group. "Collar" means leading and leading; "gram" means change and breakthrough.
In October 2016, the Lynk & Co brand was launched in Berlin, Germany, and in November 2017, the first model, the Lynk & Co 01, was launched in Ningbo, China.
In the past five years since its establishment, Lynk & Co has created a variety of "high-value, high-performance, high-tech, high-safety and high-value" products based on the CMA medium-sized vehicle electrification module architecture, spa large vehicle electrification module architecture, and BMA EVO small car architecture, and quickly formed a three-dimensional product sequence of fuel + new energy, SUV + sedan and performance vehicle.
In the Chinese market, Lynk & Co's cumulative sales have exceeded 700,000 units, in the international market, Lynk & Co has achieved the normalization of vehicle exports to Europe, and the first stop of the Asia-Pacific plan landed in Kuwait, so that Lynk & Co has taken a more solid step in the global market. With the goal of "continuing to change mobility and making people love travel more", Lynk & Co is calmly moving onto the world stage with a personality, openness and interconnection.