Renault DP World F1 Team will field an all-Renault Sport Academy driver line-up for this weekend’s Formula 1 Virtual Canadian Grand Prix with Guanyu Zhou and Caio Collet competing in the finale for the virtual racing series.
Chinese driver Zhou will partner with Brazilian Caio as the pair look to build upon a strong set of results for the Academy in the series. To date, Academy members have secured one win and three podiums in the ultra-competitive series, which has allowed Formula 1 fans to continue watching racing throughout the race postponements.
Zhou is no stranger to the Formula 1 virtual series having competed twice already, securing victory at the inaugural race in Bahrain and a podium finish at his home Grand Prix in China against several current F1 drivers.
On the other side of the garage team-mate Caio, last year’s Best Rookie in Formula Renault Eurocup, makes his debut on the official F1 game.
Both will be practicing and racing from Renault DP World F1 Team’s UK base in Enstone, where they have been preparing for their respective junior racing seasons to begin. This season Zhou is due to compete for UNI-Virtuosi in FIA Formula 2, and Caio for R-ACE GP in Formula Renault Eurocup.
Representing Renault Vitality for the Exhibition Race (17:00 BST) prior to the Virtual Grand Prix (18:00 BST), will be once again Frenchman Nicolas Longuet and Chilean Fabrizio Donoso.
Guanyu Zhou: “It’s good to be back for the final round of the Formula 1 Virtual Grand Prix series. The last two races for me were obviously great results, taking a podium in China and race win in Bahrain, so I’m looking to build on that this weekend with Caio alongside me. I’ve been training hard recently and focusing on my return to racing soon, so it’ll be good to cap the virtual series off with another strong performance.”
Caio Collet: “I’m very excited to be a part of the final Virtual Grand Prix and looking forward to working with Zhou as my team-mate for the race. He’s already shown his skills on the game after he won one of the races in the series and then secured a podium in his other race, so it’ll be useful to use his knowledge of the game as it’s my first time using the official F1 game. We will be racing together live from Enstone which will hopefully work in our favour.”
