Virgin Barcelona test notes day four

Virgin Racing today concluded its three-test, pre-season programme at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, the team's final day of running ahead of the season curtain-raiser in Bahrain in two weeks' time.

In consistently warm and dry conditions, Lucas di Grassi completed 49 laps and set a best time of 1:26.160.

The past three weeks have witnessed a monumental effort by the whole team to ensure Virgin Racing arrives in Bahrain in the best possible shape. Despite a few mechanical trials and tribulations along the way, the team takes away many positives from the programme, particularly in the areas of aerodynamic performance and validation.

Nick Wirth, Technical Director for Virgin Racing, commented: "Once again, our running today has been heavily compromised by the reoccurrence of the hydraulic leak. We have new components designed to fix this issue on their way for the Bahrain race and we're looking forward to putting that particular story behind us. Lucas did manage to conduct some productive race work but we leave Barcelona having never run a qualifying simulation or the super soft tyres that all our competitors are likely to have set their times on. Now both Virgin Racing and Wirth Research have a busy two weeks preparing both race cars and spares for our debut in Bahrain."

-source: virgin