Alpine F1 junior Guanyu Zhou clinched the Asian F3 title in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, an achievement that added 18 points to the Chinese driver's superlicence tally.
Zhou entered the 15-round series that took place exclusively at Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina between January 39 and February 20 with local outfit Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema.
But Zhou, who won the opening two rounds of the championship, entered the final three-race meeting with a 32-point deficit to series leader Pierre-Louis Chouvet.
The Alpine charger set off from pole in the first race but lost out on the track to Evans GP's Patrick Pasma. However, the Finn was hit with a five-second penalty for failing to slow in a yellow-flag zone, a violation that delivered the win to Zhou while Chouvet could only finish 5th.
Zhou crossed the checkered flag P2 in the second race which was won by Pasma but then delivered a flawless performance in the third and final race, sealing the title with a 16-point advantage over Chouvet in the final standings.
"It's unbelievable to be the Asian F3 Champion, it was a great experience and I really enjoyed my time here," said Zhou.
"I want to thank my team, Abu Dhabi Racing by PREMA for all the hard work. The last few weeks had been tough and coming to the last round 32 points behind was not easy.
"I never gave up until the last race and today we made a perfect start, got to the lead, then head down to get the win."
Zhou's 2021 season will include a third campaign in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Virtuosi and the hope of taking the final step up to Formula 1 in 2022.
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