Virgin Racing has confirmed its takeover of the Manor team and announced Lucas di Grassi will partner Timo Glock next season.
Virgin Racing is the rebranded Manor Grand Prix team following an investment by Sir Richard Branson’s company.
Glock was signed several weeks ago and the final piece of the jigsaw was put in place at a press conference in London on Tuesday.
Di Grassi tested for Renault in Jerez recently, but has opted to commit to the newly-formed Virgin Racing. He arrives at the team after four seasons in GP2, where he finished second in 2007.
Branson has been a long-term observer of Formula One, having worked with Brawn GP, and he is relishing the prospect of running a team in its own right.
“Our first year in F1 (with Brawn GP) was tremendous for the Virgin brand, so why not go in again with a new team from scratch?” Branson said. “If you look at the history of Virgin we’ve loved supporting technical breakthroughs, great engineers, and there’s something like 120 engineers working away on this project.”
Virgin Racing is one of four new teams on the 13-strong grid for 2010 and will be operating on the smallest budget of under £40 million.
Manor boss John Booth will be in charge of the team and is aware he faces no easy task in putting out a competitive car.
“I’ve been asking the question all night as to how we managed to arrive here,” Booth said. “But the budget restrictions have allowed us to get involved, and at the moment I’m on cloud nine.
“But we’re the new kids on the block and we need to earn our place on the grid.”
Source: ESPNF1
