Daniel Cao

Cao Zhuo
Born	(2001-12-06) December 6, 2001 Shanghai, China
Other names	Daniel Cao
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	2016–2022
Known for	Racing in F4 Chinese Championship, Asian Formula Renault Series, F3 Asian Championship

Cao Zhuo (; born 6 December 2001 in Shanghai), also recognized as Daniel Cao, is a former Chinese racing driver who last participated with Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute in the 2022 China Endurance Championship.

Career

Cao's karting journey started at the age of six at Quyang Park Karting Field. He made his first appearance in the China Karting Championship in 2010, securing the title in the 2011 NCJ-A category and finishing second in the NCJ-D class in 2012. In 2013, backed by Shanghai Volkswagen 333, Cao won the junior division of the Xeramic Challenge and took part in Japan’s Rotax Max Challenge Mizunami Series. He went on to claim championships in both the 2016 RMC Japan Junior and Shanghai Kart Endurance series before moving up to junior formula racing.

His single-seater debut came with Asia Racing Team during the final round of the 2016 F4 Chinese Championship at Zhuhai, where he earned pole position and finished third in two races. After turning 15, Cao joined Double R Racing for the 2017 F4 British Championship, achieving a highest finish of seventh place before returning to Asia Racing Team for the Asian Formula Renault Series. Despite missing early rounds, he won his first race at Zhejiang and added five more podium finishes, concluding the season fourth overall. Later that year, Cao competed in the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, dominating with ten victories to secure the championship by a margin of 131 points.

In 2018, Cao committed full-time to Asian Formula Renault with BlackArts Racing Team, where he collected six wins and clinched the championship by a 30-point advantage. He also briefly competed again in the F4 Chinese Championship, sweeping all three races during the opening round at Ningbo. That season included a one-off entry into the F3 Asian Championship with Pinnacle Motorsport.

Cao stepped up to full-time competition in the 2019 F3 Asian Championship with Absolute Racing alongside teammate Eshan Pieris. He secured pole position and his first podium at Sepang, followed by five additional podiums and two victories at Shanghai, finishing third in the overall standings. Returning to Absolute Racing for the 2019–20 season, Cao finished third in one event but missed several rounds due to academic obligations and did not complete that campaign.

In early 2020, Cao took part in Formula E rookie tests held in Marrakech with Nio 333 FE Team and was subsequently appointed as a Development driver.

Karting career summary

Season	Series	Team	Position
2013	RMC Asia Championship — Rotax Junior	Prodigy Racing	7th
2014	CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy	Cao Chaofan	15th
	Rotax Euro Challenge – Rotax Junior	Team TKP	50th
2015	Rotax Euro Challenge – Rotax Junior	Team TKP	46th
	IAME International Final – X30 Junior		NC

Full F4 Chinese Championship Outcomes

(legend) (Events shown in bold represent pole positions; events in italics denote fastest laps)

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2016	F4 Chinese Championship	Asia Racing Team	2	0	1	1	2	0	NC
2017	F4 British Championship	Double R Racing	14	0	0	0	0	7	18th
	Asian Formula Renault Series – Class A	Asia Racing Team	8	1	0	2	6	168	4th
	F4 Chinese Championship	BlackArts Motorsport Team	2	0	1	0	1	27	16th
2017–18	Formula 4 South East Asia Championship	Meritus.GP	29	10	2	8	21	508	1st
2018	Asian Formula Renault Series	BlackArts Racing Team	12	6	6	5	10	219	1st
	F4 Chinese Championship		6	3	1	3	4	min105	min7

colspan=12 |

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Final Position	Total Points
2016	Asia Racing Team	ZIC1 1	ZIC2 2	ZIC3 3	CGC 1	CGC 2	CGC 3	BGP 1	BGP 2	BGP 3	SIC 1	SIC 2	SIC 3	ZIC2 1 3	ZIC2 2 3	ZIC2 3 Ret							NC†	0
2017	BlackArts Racing Team	ZIC 1	ZIC 2	ZIC 3	CGC 1	CGC 2	CGC 3	BGP 1	BGP 2	BGP 3	SIC1 1 4	SIC1 2 3	SIC1 3 C										16th	27
2018	BlackArts Racing Team	NIC1 1 1	NIC1 2 1	NIC1 3 1	ZIC 1 2	get ZIC 2 "9"
7th	105

Full F4 British Championship Results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole position; races in italics denote fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final Position	Points Total
2017	Double R Racing	BRI 1 11th	BRI 2 12th	BRI 3 16th	DON 1 Retired	DON 2 9th	DON 3 7th	THR 1 11th	THR 2 11th	THR 3 10th	OUL 1 11th	OUL 2 9th	OUL 3 Cancelled	CRO 1 Retired	CRO 2 Retired	CRO 3 15th	18th	7

Full F3 Asian Championship Results

(key) (Pole positions are in bold; fastest laps are in italics)

Year	Team/Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final Standing	Points Accumulated
2018	Pinnacle Motorsport	SEP1 1 9th	SEP1 2 8th	SEP1 3 10th	19th	7
2019	Absolute Racing	SEP 1 3rd	SEP 2 4th	SEP 3 7th	CHA 1 3rd	CHA 2 3rd
3rd	187