*Major online portal to stream live from the Shanghai paddock this weekend

*Both WTCC races plus qualifying to be broadcast live as they happen

*Local hero Ma Qing Hua to be the star attraction for viewers

One of China’s biggest online portals, QQ.com, will stream expanded live coverage of ROSNEFT WTCC Race of China this weekend.

QQ.com has been streaming live coverage of selected rounds of the WTCC in 2015 but the new arrangement for this weekend’s races at the Shanghai International Circuit will include additional broadcasting from a studio in the paddock plus live coverage of Qualifying.

WTCC drivers, including local hero Ma Qing Hua, will make appearances at the studio during the weekend, while two QQ.com presenters will be onsite in Shanghai throughout the event.

QQ.com is China’s second largest online portal – behind Chinese language search engine Baidu.com – and the world’s sixth biggest. It has streamed live coverage of the WTCC races in Slovakia, France, Portugal, Japan and now China.

The agreement with QQ.com, the first of its kind for the WTCC, will not only increase awareness of the championship in China, which has the world’s highest population at more than 1.3 billion people, it will also showcase the activities of the WTCC’s participating manufacturers and partners in an extremely important marketplace. Live streaming has become the biggest broadcasting platform in China and is particularly popular among the country’s younger generation.

The WTCC enjoys strong links with China. The country’s leading international driver, Ma Qing Hua, is a double race winner in the championship driving for the factory Citroën team, which can secure its second consecutive WTCC Manufacturers’ title in Shanghai this weekend.

QQ.com is part of Tencent Inc, which was founded in 1998 and aims to provide its users with a “one-stop online life service”. Its platforms, which also include QQ, QQ Games and PaiPai.com, have brought together China’s largest internet community.