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Virgin takes the wraps off its 2011 car

Virgin's all-new MVR-02 © Virgin Racing

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• Drivers:
• John Booth
• |
• Jérôme d'Ambrosio
• |
• Timo Glock

• Teams:
• Virgin

Virgin has launched its 2011 car, the MVR-02, at the BBC Television Centre in London.

The car has again been designed using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) rather than a wind tunnel and carries the hopes of Timo Glock and new recruit Jerome d'Ambrosio this year. Technical director Nick Wirth is expecting a big step forward in performance after having access to double the computing power he had for the development of the 2010 car.

"We have addressed every single issue that troubled us last year, but in our own unique digital way," Wirth said. "For example, the hydraulics and gearbox oil problems of last year have resulted in us doing more CFD in these areas alone than we used in the entire aero design program our first digital race-winning sportscar in 2008. In Abu Dhabi we took the opportunity to prove out these digital improvements by successfully track-testing a number of systems for the MVR-02. So we start 2011 as we mean to go on - rather more ahead of the game - by going testing in Jerez this week with many parts already proven on the race track, or by an upgraded and more comprehensive rig-test program.

Virgin finished last in the constructors' championship last year with zero points. Team principal John Booth is hoping for a more reliable package this year and is confident his drivers will perform.

"2011 is all about moving forward and starting to achieve solid results," he said. "We have a very exciting driver line-up in Timo Glock and Jérôme d'Ambrosio. Timo did an exceptional job in difficult circumstances last season and contributed a great deal to the car's development and that of our racing team. We will certainly benefit from the continuity that Timo brings.

"The MVR-02 is a clear step forward in every area and a credit to all the hard work that has gone into our car development programme over the past 12 months. We are delighted to be working with our engine supplier Cosworth for a second season of collaboration. Despite the freeze on engine development they have been working hard on reliability and performance optimisation over the winter and we fully expect a continuation of the success they enjoyed in their return to the sport in 2010. The sport has the added challenge of a new tyre supplier in Pirelli but we have made good progress with tailoring our mechanical package to suit the new PZero tyres in the group tests in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2010 and in Valencia last week.

"Generally, we have every reason to believe that 2011 will be a very exciting and positive experience for our team."

The car was launched alongside the road-going Marussia B1 supercar, underlining the presence of new shareholders Marussia. As part of the deal Virgin will race under a Russian licence this season.

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