Virgin Racing

Virgin Racing, the trading name of Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, is a Formula One racing team, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. They were granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four new teams selected to race in the 2010 season. On 30 November 2009, the FIA released a revised entry list that stated the team's name as Virgin Racing. Richard Branson's Virgin Group is the title sponsor of the team, which was launched on 15 December 2009.

On 11 November 2010, it was announced that Marussia would take a controlling stake in the team that will lead to the team being called Marussia Virgin Racing from 2011 onwards.

History

Formation

The team was formed as Manor Grand Prix as a tie-up between Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research. Initially, Virgin's Alex Tai was the Team Principal, while Graeme Lowdon was the team's Director of Racing. Manor Motorsport boss John Booth was the Sporting Director, while former Simtek team owner Nick Wirth was the technical director. Less than one month after the Virgin partnership was officially launched, Tai left his position and Booth took over as team principal, with Lowdon becoming the CEO. The team will use engines supplied by Cosworth. Manor Motorsport are best known as a Formula Three team but currently running only one car in the British Formula Three Championship in co-operation with CF Racing. The team helped launch the careers of World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton. Car preparation and racing operations is run from its headquarters in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, while Wirth Research designed, developed and built the VR-01 from its base in Bicester, before announcing a relocation to new, larger premises in Banbury, Oxfordshire in July.

The teams also have plans to create a "Driver Academy", a series of racing teams starting in the new GP3 Series and advancing all the way up to Formula One.

2010

See also: 2010 Formula One season

Timo Glock testing the Virgin VR-01 during pre-season testing in Jerez, in February 2010.

Virgin's car for 2010, the VR-01, is the first F1 car designed entirely using CFD computer simulation technology. It was later discovered that the Virgin VR-01's fuel tank was too small, resulting in the team not being able to finish any races unless the cars are driven at a reduced pace to conserve fuel. The team was given the opportunity to redesign the chassis. On 17 November 2009 it was announced by the team that former Toyota driver Timo Glock would be the team's lead driver for the 2010 season. Glock was signed for two years and has a one year extension offer as well. Long-time Brazilian GP2 regular Lucas di Grassi joined him, while fellow former GP2 driver Luiz Razia fulfilled testing and reserve duties. Álvaro Parente was also signed as a test driver, but left the team prior to the launch of the VR-01. Andy Soucek was signed as his replacement, but left the team in August due to a lack of testing opportunities. The 2010 car was officially launched on their website on 3 February 2010, before running the car at a private event at Silverstone the following two days.

The team recorded its first double finish at the Spanish Grand Prix and had another double finish, best of the new teams at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Sponsorship

Timo Glock's VR-01 on display in partner UST Global's Trivandrum office.

Virgin purchased eighty percent of the team, as part of sponsorship arrangement.The official FIA entry list for 2010 announced on 30 November 2009 showed that Manor GP had been entered as Virgin Racing. The team's partners for 2010 include tyre supplier Bridgestone, IT services company UST Global, environmental technology company Carbon Green, shampoo brand Clear, information technology firm CSC, foreign exchange traders FxPro, clothing company Kappa, the Oxigen investment group and Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia. On 13 January 2010, reports emerged revealing that Virgin had paid an extra one and a half million pounds to Cosworth to have the CA2010 unit rebranded as a Marussia, though both Virgin Racing and Cosworth have denied the story.

On 14 December 2009, Lloyds Banking Group announced that it had invested ten million pounds in the team, reversing the recent trend of financial institutions such as ING and RBS withdrawing sponsorship. However, it remains unclear as to whether or not the Lloyds logo will appear on the cars.

On 7 May 2010, Virgin Racing announced that it had reached a sponsorship deal with Full Tilt Poker. As with further part of their plans the team annnounced on the final race of the season that they had formed a partnership with QNet. At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, QNet logos were displayed on the cars and on the racesuit of each driver.

Partnership with Marussia

Since the team was formed, it had been in a partnership with Russian car manufacturer Marussia. On 11 November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team and guaranteed the team's future until 2014. Marussia also stated that they plan to have the team racing under a Russian licence eventually. Director Nick Wirth announced that it was a major financial boost for the team and that it will allow it to step into launching Formula One in Russia. The team also announced that their computational fluid dynamics facility will be upgraded, to become the third largest such facility in the world.

Having previously driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010, Jérôme d'Ambrosio will replace Lucas di Grassi in the team's second seat alongside Timo Glock for the 2011 season.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(source:wikipedia)