At the home weekend of the Formula 1 team he is affiliated to, Renault, Guan Yu Zhou delivered another consistent weekend for UNI-Virtuosi, taking another podium to cement his position as top rookie in the Formula 2 Championship.
The Chinese driver scored his best qualifying position yet with second on the grid at Paul Ricard. The start didn’t go perfectly to plan as other drivers got away in front of him, but unfazed, the 20-year-old stayed calm and delivered a fourth place to start Sunday’s sprint race in fifth.
After falling back at the start, Zhou delivered a number of fantastic overtakes in race two to secure third, his third podium of the year, which leaves him fifth in the championship.
The team’s second driver Luca Ghiotto had a grid-position drop following from Monaco, and a crash in the first race ruined his weekend, despite being consistently one of the fastest drivers on track.
Performing on back-to-back weekends, Luca and Guan Yu now head to Austria and the Red Bull Ring.
Guan Yu Zhou:
Another good one in general. Three race weekends, we’ve had three podiums in a row. That’s some achievement. Qualifying, we put it on the front row with a lot of pressure there, with red flags. In Sunday’s race the start wasn’t great, I moved back in the first lap, but pulled off two aggressive moves to get back into a podium position. That was an exciting race from my point of view and I think I drove one of my best races so far. Especially with all the good overtakes and really happy with how everything went.
Luca Ghiotto:
We always have the potential to be in the top three. Austria is a track that I like and it’s a little bit like a second home race for me because it’s only a three-hour drive. That is a race that I’m looking forward to.
