After finishing the GB3 championship seventh with Hitech TGR (then Hitech Pulse Eight), China’s Gerrard Xie steps up to F3 for the 2025 season, partnering with F3 sophomores Martinius Stenshorne and Joshua Dufek.
Xie aims to “keep improving” himself in 2025 rookie season
As the only rookie on his team, Xie’s focus is not on wins or podium finishes, though he is not likely to refuse those if earned. Instead, the Chinese driver has prioritised improving his skills as a driver, alongside his two “amazing” and more-experienced teammates.
“I think for my first season, just keep improving myself with these two amazing teammates. And then, yeah, and we see how it ends.”
F3 “a big step up” for China’s first F3 driver since 2019
Xie’s step up is significant not just for him but for his home nation, China. He will be the first driver to compete in F3 under China’s flag since Zhou Guanyu.
Zhou, currently a reserve driver with the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team, went on to spend three seasons at Sauber. In 2024, he raced for the first time in front of his home crowd, just barely missing out on points in the sprint race before finishing 14th in the feature.
While speaking to the media, including Pit Debrief, Xie shared his thoughts on his latest career milestone. He described his move to F3 as “a big step up” but acknowledged that he was navigating a new and unfamiliar environment due to his limited racing experience in Europe.
“Yeah, I mean, for me, especially for the Chinese driver, it’s a big step up because I’ve never done F4 in Europe, and then it just dropped me into like an unknown environment.”
However, despite his relative inexperience compared to his European-based rivals, Xie believes that he has progressed well over his two years in Europe.
“But I think the past two years, we made a lot of progress.”
Xie expressed his pleasure at the opportunity to compete in the 2025 F3 championship and added that he is looking forward to seeing what he can achieve behind the wheel.
“And yeah, I think it’s just really, really great to be here. And then, yeah, let’s see how I can do in a new car.“
