One in a billion

He plays Chopin and Mozart when he is not at the wheel of a car. He also loves anything Andrew Lloyd Webber. But Tung Ho-pin is no classical pianist with a pop bent. Rather the 20-year-old is being touted as the first Chinese to race in Formula One.

'I will try my best to live up to all the expectations. I'm enjoying racing so much and I really hope to contribute to the growing popularity of motor racing in China,' said Tung in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Morning Post.

Tung, this year's runaway Asian Formula BMW champion, was expected to take part in Macau this weekend in the Formula Renault race but an unexpected call-up by F1 boss Frank Williams to test drive one of his cars next month put those plans on hold. The excitement in his voice was vivid, even long distance from Germany. 'To say I'm excited is an understatement. It is a dream come true, to get the chance to test drive a Formula One car. I will try to adapt to the increased power of this car as soon as I can and I hope I can give the team enough feedback,' said Tung.

'It has been my dream to drive an F1 car since I started racing. I think every racer dreams of that. But I never imagined it would happen so soon,' said the delighted Tung. 'It's going to take time for this to sink in. I'm speechless.'

He speaks flawless English, one of four languages he is fluent in. The others are French, German and Dutch. But what about Chinese? 'I'm working hard on my Mandarin,' he says. You can almost see the cheeky grin.

Tung was born in the Netherlands. His parents are in the restaurant business and their Chinese takeaways are a big hit. But an even bigger hit is Tung's Chinese face and heritage, which has endeared him to the publicists who hope he can be the first genuine Chinese Grand Prix hope.