By alley - Feb 15, 2016, 5:01 AM ET

F3: Ferrari protege gets Motopark seat

Chinese Ferrari protege Guan Yu Zhou will complete Motopark's lineup in this season's Formula 3 European Championship.

The 16-year-old, who was runner-up in last year's Italian Formula 4 Championship in his rookie season of car racing, joins Red Bull juniors Sergio Sette Camara and Niko Kari as well as Joel Eriksson in the Oschersleben-based team's line-up of Dallara-Volkswagens.

Zhou had an encouraging F3 test program with Motopark at the end of 2015, before heading to New Zealand for the Toyota Racing Series, in which he finished sixth with one race win.

"We noticed his talent when he was guesting in a few German F4 meetings," Motopark boss Timo Rumpfkeil said. "When he tested in our F3 car, we were mighty impressed with his speed and consistency, and we're convinced he will stand a good chance in this year's rookie championship.

"I'm very happy with our lineup. Thanks to our successful maiden Euro F3 season last year we got quite a lot of requests. Continuing with Camara was a logical choice, which we both wanted from a very early stage onwards.

"It would have been nice to have another driver with F3 experience, but after Eriksson, Kari and Zhou were so convincing during their tests we decided to support them on their first steps on the F3 ladder."

EUROPEAN FORMULA 3 LINEUP SO FAR:

Prema Powerteam: Lance Stroll, Ralf Aron, Maximilian Gunther, Nick Cassidy
Carlin: Ryan Tveter, Alessio Lorandi
Van Amersfoort Racing: Pedro Piquet, Harrison Newey, Callum Ilott
Mucke Motorsport: David Beckmann, Mikkel Jensen
Motopark: Sergio Sette Camara, Niko Kari, Joel Eriksson, Guan Yu Zhou
T-Sport: Arjun Maini
Hitech Grand Prix: George Russell, Nikita Mazepin, Ben Barnicoat