UNI-Virtuosi Racing has re-signed Alpine Academy driver Guanyu Zhou to complete the team’s 2021 FIA Formula 2 line-up.
Zhou was honoured with the Anthoine Hubert Award for top rookie in 2019, after finishing the season in seventh place, and he was able to improve on this result in 2020, finishing sixth.
The Chinese racer enters his third year in Formula 2 having secured eleven podiums, including one win, with Norfolk-based UNI-Virtuosi Racing, and he will seek to add to his impressive haul this season.
In addition to his Formula 2 success, Zhou remained a member of the prestigious Renault Sport Academy (now Alpine Academy) in 2020, and served as Renault F1 team’s official test driver, a position that enabled him to gain a considerable amount of F1 experience in Renault’s 2018 and 2020 specification cars, the R.S.18 and the R.S.20. He has also previously driven the R.S.17.
Zhou remains a member of the newly-titled Alpine Academy for 2021.
UNI-Virtuosi continued to build on its success during the 2020 Formula 2 season. In its two years in F2 the team has secured eight pole positions, 26 podiums and eight race wins, earning second-place finishes in the teams’ championship both years. The team enters its third year with a strong line-up of Felipe Drugovich and Guanyu Zhou, and will return to action next month for pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Guanyu Zhou:
I'm really happy and honoured to continue working with such a professional team for another year. I think we showed our potential last year and there is only one target this year. We're going to keep pushing and try to win the title.
Andy Roche:
We are very pleased to confirm Guanyu Zhou for the 2021 F2 season. This will be the third year Guanyu has signed with us which shows the confidence he has in the team. We expect Guanyu to perform well and mount a strong championship challenge. We continue to be impressed by his attitude and ability, and we look forward to continuing our race- winning partnership this season.
