Valerie Feng

**Valerie Feng** (born 25 December 2002) is a professional racing driver from the autonomous province of Hong Kong. Feng last competed in the Champ Car World Series with Cat Devil Racing, where she earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2022. Feng is best known for her victory in the 2020 Grand Prix of Macau, an annual invitational event for drivers in the Formula 3 system.

In 2022, Feng, alongside fellow Champ Car rookie, Shufen Zhang, became the first two drivers from the greater China region to represent areas outside of mainland China in the Champ Car World Series. Feng represented Hong Kong, while Zhang represented the nation of Taiwan.

## Champ Car career

### 2021 season

Feng made her Champ Car debut at the 2021 Indianapolis 500, being called up by Cat Devil Racing to race in that year's Triple Crown events. Feng qualified 29th in her first Indianapolis 500, but garnered attention for her ability to make passes around the outside lane during the race itself, moving up to finish 16th, earning US$340,000 for her efforts.

Her other two entries were mired in early retirements, after being taken out of both races early on by then-teammate Akira Sato, who Feng would replace for the 2022 season. Feng would be relegated to a 31st and 30th place finishes to wrap up her season before she embarked on a full-year rookie campaign in 2022.

### 2022 season

Feng slotted into the #16 Honda for Cat Devil Racing, pairing with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, and former Formula One World Champion, Kunimitsu Kinoshita. Feng would kick off her 2022 campaign in form, scoring back to back fifth place finishes at the season opening race in Melbourne, as well as at Twin Ring Motegi, before finishing seventh at the third race of the season Richmond Raceway.

Bad luck would fall Feng's path at Texas Motor Speedway, where Feng would be taken out in a multi-car crash early and credited with a 27th-place finish. The crash did not deter Feng's early season form, as she would follow up Texas with her first career podium, a second place finish at Kansas Speedway behind her veteran teammate Kinoshita. Entering her second Indianapolis 500, Feng showed incredible growth, moving into the Firestone Fast 6 for the first time, where she would qualify second, her first front row start at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Things wouldn't fall Feng's way during the race, as she'd only come home in seventh after the Team Impulse entries took over the race and dominated the later stages.

Post-Indianapolis 500, mechanical failures would handicap Feng, with consecutive 22nd place finishes at Detroit, and Valkenburg would leave Feng 5th in standings. The onset of the 2022 H1N1 global pandemic would leave the season at a standstill, scoring Feng her first award as the year's Rookie of the Year.

### 2023 season

Entering 2023, Feng was outlined as a driver to watch given her improvements in 2022. However, Feng would be relegated to a third driver role within the team, as Cat Devil Racing welcomed back Sakura Ishibashi to the team. With 2023 featuring pre-qualifying, the team prioritized Kinoshita, the defending World Champion, and Ishibashi, who'd finished runner-up in points in 2022. Feng would be forced to go through pre-qualifying, putting more pressure on the #16 team while resources were being reorganized to accommodate the new #17 car being driven by Ishibashi, as well as the partial schedule by another CDR developmental driver, Miia Vitsut. Conditions deteriorated between the team and Feng's camp, with Feng declining an extension offered by Cat Devil Racing in April. Feng would later open up and unleash a tirade against the team in the lead up to the Indianapolis 500, detailing the unfair treatment she had received compared to both Ishibashi, and newcomer Vitsut.

Despite the underlying tensions from the start of the season, Feng kicked off the season with a second career podium in the series, finishing third in Melbourne behind race winner Nicole Liechti, and rookie sensation Natalia Vulicevic. It would come to be one of Feng's only highlights early in the season as Honda's reliability issues amplified and forced multiple retirements in the first six races, as well as Feng's first DNQ at Richmond when a piston misfire on her pre-qualifying run costed her time.