David Cheng (, born 21 July 1989) is a Chinese-American

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

driver who last competed in the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy. He previously competed in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

for

Jackie Chan DC Racing 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. T ...

, and finished on the overall and class podium at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans, becoming the first Chinese driver to do so. He is a three-time champion of the Asian Le Mans Series, having won the championship twice in the LMP2 class in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, and in the LMP3 class in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Racing career

Born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, Cheng moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

in the United States at the age of six and was introduced to

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

by a friend of his father; he had to do so in secret as his mother believed auto racing was too dangerous. In 2011, he moved up to sports cars, racing in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

(ALMS) and the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

. In the race, Cheng's team competed in the GT class, but the car suffered major damage before Cheng could drive; the team was able to overcome the damage to finish 21st. During the year, he also raced in China's Scirocco R Cup China, finishing seventh in points with a best finish of second at

Sepang International Circuit Sepang International Circuit () (known as Petronas Sepang International Circuit for commercial reasons) is a motorsport race track in Sepang District, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located approximately south of Kuala Lumpur, close to Ku ...

's Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race. A year later, he split time between the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and Scirocco R Cup. In 2013, Cheng joined

OAK Racing OAK Racing is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans Prototype, LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA ...

in the Asian Le Mans Series, driving for an all-Chinese stable alongside

Ho-Pin Tung Ho-Pin Tung (; born December 4, 1982) is a Dutch-born racing driver who races with a Chinese license. Career Tung was born in Velp, Gelderland, Netherlands, to Chinese parents with ancestry tracing to Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. Tung starte ...

. At Sepang, he won the Sepang 12 Hours and was named one of ten Outstanding Youth by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China is the first-ranked Ministries of the People's Republic of China, executive department of the State Council of China, responsible for the country's Foreign relations of China, f ...

. He also ran the ALMS'

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

and

Petit Le Mans Petit Le Mans (French language, French for ''Little Le Mans'') is a sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, United States. The race has been held for a durat ...

races, winning the former and claiming the Drivers' Championship for his co-driver in the latter by one point. Cheng and OAK ended the year by winning the LMP2 Asian Le Mans Team and Driver Championships. Cheng repeated the feat a season later. For the

2015–16 Asian Le Mans Series The 2015–16 Asian Le Mans Series was the fourth season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Asian Le Mans Series. It is the fourth 24 Hours of Le Mans-based series created by the ACO, following the American Le Mans Series (since merged with the Ro ...

season, Cheng formed DC Racing, racing a Ligier JS P3 with former OAK teammate Tung and Thomas Laurent. The team ended the season with the Team Championship and a guaranteed spot in the

2016 24 Hours of Le Mans The 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans () was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event held for teams of three drivers each fielding Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars from 15 to 19 June 2016 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, ...

. In March 2015, Cheng met actor and martial artist

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan,; is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically perf ...

, who discussed his enjoyment of

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...

's movie ''

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

'' as well as his interest in racing. After Cheng finished ninth in the LMP2 class at

that year, Chan raised the possibility of owning a team together for 2016, to which Cheng agreed. Together, the two entered DC Racing into the

under the Baxi DC Racing Alpine banner, partnering with Signatech Alpine and fielding Alpine A460s in the LMP2 class. In October, the team was rebranded as Jackie Chan DC Racing. In 2017, Jackie Chan DC Racing allied with Jota Sport. At

, the team's No. 38 LMP2 took advantage of problems striking the LMP1 field to lead overall laps, becoming the first lower-class team to do so at Le Mans. The car went on to finish second overall and win the LMP2 class, while DC's No. 37 car, driven by Cheng, finished fourth overall, but Rebellion Racing's No. 13 was disqualified after failing post-race inspection and Cheng's No. 37 was promoted onto the podium. The No. 38's effort marked the first time a Chinese team won its class at Le Mans.

Racing record

Racing career summary

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Cheng was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

( key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, David Living people 1989 births Sportspeople from Beijing American Le Mans Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers OAK Racing drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers Jota Sport drivers Chinese racing drivers University of Washington alumni Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Formula Masters China drivers Racing drivers from Seattle Racing drivers from Washington (state)