Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung has been offered a test drive with the BMW Williams Formula One car after the 20-year-old dominated the inaugural Formula BMW Asia Championship this year.

As part of the BMW Williams F1 Team's winter testing program, he will drive a Formula One car for the first time, said a press release from Williams on Monday.

"We have been watching Ho-Pin Tung carefully," BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen was quoted as saying.

"He was the outstanding driver of the 2003 Asian Formula BMW series. In his Formula One test, he will be compared to other promising young drivers," he added.

Tung, driving for Team Meritus in the 2003 Formula BMW Asia, claimed twelve pole positions and ten wins in 14 races during the course of the season, which spanned five countries.

"Nobody can imagine what this opportunity means to me," said Ho- Pin Tung when he was informed of the offer of a test drive on Sunday at the final race of the season in Beijing.

"It's my lifetime dream come true, I can't be grateful enough. I'm now going to work hard, particularly on my physical fitness, to be well prepared for the test," he promised.

The test drive is likely to take place before the Christmas in Spain, according to the Williams team.

It won't be an easy transition for the young Chinese driver. The Formula BMW car is powered by a 140 horsepower BMW motorcycle engine while BMW's Formula One engine has an output of more than 900 bhp.

China will host its first F1 race next September in Shanghai, and the profile of the sport is growing in the most populous country in the world.

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