Virgin Barcelona test, day 4 report

Data Captured - Barcelona Test, Day 4

Marussia Virgin Racing concludes four days of testing in Barcelona

Marussia Virgin Racing concluded four days of pre-season testing in Barcelona today, having amassed a wealth of crucial data to feed back into the MVR-02 development programme.

The fourth and final day of running at the Circuit de Catalunya got underway today in cool but sunny conditions. Jerôme D'Ambrosio was back to complete the second day of his programme, having opened the test for Marussia Virgin Racing on Friday.

This morning the team got off to a positive start as Jerôme and the team focused on set-up runs, pitstop practice and practice starts. Late morning a gearbox problem surfaced which confined the MVR-02 to the garage, but a big effort by the team saw the car back on track mid-afternoon in order to continue the good work from earlier today.

Jerôme completed 50 laps in total. Whilst the lap tally was less than previous days, the team is encouraged by what has been a very productive test overall with very positive mileage achieved.

Jerôme D'Ambrosio

"It was a shame not to have more time in the car today, but I have to say that I'm happy with my last test day in Barcelona. The car has improved a lot if we compare it to the first day of testing, and that is a good sign. The immediate focus will be working through all the data we have gathered and I'll be spending time in the simulator later this week to ensure we keep moving forward."

John Booth, Team Principal

"We lost a bit of running today but we have to be happy with what we've achieved at this test. It has been extremely productive and the lessons learned will improve our performance significantly in readiness for the first race of the season. What we take away from this test most of all is how far we've come as a team in the space of just 12 months. This time last year, a problem like the one we encountered today would have brought us to our knees, but it's a measure of the strength of our operation now that we came back from this setback and got ourselves out on track again in such a short space of time to bank crucial development mileage. We have gathered an enormous amount of information to review and feed back into the development cycle. With the landscape having changed significantly with regard to the season opener, we will use the extra time to review every aspect of our racing operation to ensure that we are fully prepared and ready for when the lights do go green."

-source: virgin