Guanyu Zhou: The first Chinese racer to make the F2 podium

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Leading for the majority of the race, UNI-Virtuosi's Guanyu Zhou finished third in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Barcelona on Saturday. His completion of the podium made history as Zhou became the first Chinese racer to make podium in Formula 2.

This is Guanyu Zhou's rookie season in Formula 2 and he made it to the podium at the third weekend. Starting out in third place, Zhou flew through the middle of the front row, overtaking both his teammate Luca Ghiotto and Latifi on his way to the race lead.

It is not until the 30th lap of the 37 lap race when the DAMS driver overtook Zhou, and soon after, due to exhausted tires, Zhou's second place was taken by Aitken.

"All I was trying to do throughout the whole race was maintain the speed. I didn't try to do many defenses during the last four laps as the tires almost exhausted," said Zhou in post-race interviews.

"I am really happy with the third place in the end."

Zhou raced against the best since childhood

Guanyu Zhou elected to move to UK. at the age of 12 to pursue his racing dream.

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"I think the highest level of racing drivers are in the UK., so I went there to race against the best young drivers," 19-year-old Zhou said of his decision.

And it was not the challenges he faced against on the track which first gave him a headache.

"I only knew a few words of English. You have exams in school, which you can't do badly in. It was also quite a difficult challenge, especially getting used to how people live in Europe".

"My dream is to reach Formula 1"

Having previously been a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, in January this year Zhou signed with the Renault Sport Academy, which sees him combine his F2 racing program with a role as development driver for Renault's F1 team.

Speaking of this big decision, Zhou said it would give him a greater chance of securing an F1 race seat.

"I'm definitely more involved with Formula 1 now. Renault have given me a lot of opportunities driving F1 cars, and doing development for the team is definitely going to help me improve."

Born and raised in Shanghai, despite having spent so many years away from his homeland, Zhou remains fiercely proud of his Chinese roots and his mission to help promote the sport in China.

"My dream is to reach Formula 1," Zhou said. "Coming from where I started, and going through everything that I've been through in my racing career, if I can reach F1, it's definitely going to help Chinese motorsport to grow much more quickly".

So, Chinese fans have reasons to wait, as when the Formula 1 next visits China, there should be a homegrown hero to cheer for.

(With inputs from Xinhua)