The Virgin Racing team have completed the shakedown of their new VR-01 at the Silverstone track, with the team's two drivers completing almost a full day of running at Silverstone's Stowe circuit prior to them joining pre-season testing.
The shakedown test began yesterday with a few tentative laps, but today the team got a full session of running for each driver at the short Stowe course.
Timo Glock, the team's lead driver, completed 42 laps of the track in the morning after completing the initial shakedown yesterday, before handing over to Lucas di Grassi, who put in 36 laps at the wheel of the team's CFD-designed car.
No times were released, but speaking after the test run, di Grassi claimed that his first run in the Virgin F1 car felt "like home", and said that he was impressed by his first taste of the Nick Wirth-designed machine.
"It feels good. It feels like home!" the Brazilian screamed, "I’m really happy and our first impressions of the car are very positive.
"It’s amazing what the team has achieved in such a short space of time. I think we have a strong car and a great team to get things started in Jerez. It was important for me to learn as much as possible here so I can start to put some real mileage on the car next week."
The Virgin team boss John Booth claimed that the short test "couldn't have gone better" and expressed his pride in his new team.
"Our shakedown provided our very first opportunity to work together as a trackside operation and it couldn’t have gone any better," Booth claimed, "The way the team has come together to achieve such a successful shakedown has been commendable.
"I’m very proud of what we have achieved and we’re looking forward to taking our place alongside the other F1 teams in the pitlane next week."
The Virgin team will now head to the Jerez track in Spain, for a full four days of testing starting next Wednesday, which will be the first time one of F1's new 2010 teams will have gone up against the established names of the sport.
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