Alpine Academy driver Guanyu Zhou has re-signed with UNI-Virtuosi Racing for a third season, with the British team confirming that the Chinese driver will compete for them alongside Felipe Drugovich in the 2021 Formula 2 campaign.

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.

Continuing with Virtuosi for a third season, the 21-year-old will look to add to his tally of 11 podiums and one win in F2.

Zhou is a member of the prestigious Alpine Academy (formerly the Renault Sport Academy) and served as the Formula 1 team’s official test driver in 2020. Through his position with Renault, he has had the luxury of testing the team’s 2017, 2018 and 2020 cars.

“I’m really happy and honoured to continue working with such a professional team for another year,” said Zhou. “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.”

Zhou made the step up to single-seaters in 2015 and went on to finish as the Italian Formula 4 vice-champion that season. He’s also gained experience in ADAC F4, European Formula 3 and is currently competing in F3 Asia.

Team Principal Andy Roche added: “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.”