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Marussia unveils new car at Silverstone filming day

The new Marussia MR01 © Marussia

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• Drivers:
• John Booth
• |
• Timo Glock
• |
• Charles Pic

• Teams:
• Manor

Marussia has unveiled its 2012 car at a filming day at Silverstone, but the MR01 still needs to pass its final crash test to be able to race in Australia next weekend.

The team missed all of pre-season testing due to failed crash tests earlier this month, but is allowed to give the new car a shakedown at a filming under the testing regulations. It has another day at Silverstone lined up on Tuesday, but technical consultant Pat Symonds, who led the MR01's design process, confirmed to Reuters that the car still needs to pass one more test in order to race.

"The component in question has actually passed an 'unobserved' crash test but has been performing inconsistently in the observed tests," he said. "The fail has only been marginal but, nonetheless, we need to completely eradicate that margin and as such we are taking the time we have to ensure we have an even more robust solution in place."

The MR01 is Marussia's first car to be built under its new technical partnership with McLaren and is the only car other than this year's McLaren not to feature a stepped nose.

"We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning," team principal John Booth said. "It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team but we can now get back on track - literally - and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.

"Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won't be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne. Nevertheless, this is an important day for us and we'll enjoy every minute on track with the new car."

The team will have to use promotional tyres during its filming days and will be limited to 100kms per day under the testing ban. Both Timo Glock and Charles Pic will get time behind the wheel.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.