SAKHIR, Bahrain - Chinese F1 hopeful Zhou Guanyu started from pole position and earned his maiden feature race victory of Formula 2 at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday.

Zhou took the first pole of the year by just 0.003s on Friday. He was later reprimanded for taking the chequered flag twice after the session but remained the pole sitter.

"The victory is for everyone who has been supporting me," Zhou wrote on his Chinese social media Weibo. "This is a long and tough journey but I will keep at it and push my limits until I reach the top."

Starting on hard tires, the Alpine junior was overtaken on the first corner by Christian Lundgaard and dropped to fifth place. Zhou narrowed the gap after he switched to soft tires and claimed the lead on turn four with only five laps remaining.

"What a race," Zhou said on the podium. "We kept our heads cool even though with the safety car people were able to jump ahead. I just took my chances to move forward! Just so happy!"