Virgin Racing Barcelona test notes day one

Virgin Racing got down to business at its third and final pre-season test in Barcelona today. The dry and sunny conditions were in welcome contrast to the weather the teams experienced during the last two tests in Jerez and so Lucas di Grassi had been looking forward to getting some good mileage under his belt. There were a few smaller issues to contend with early this morning but then Lucas was finally able to take to the track in earnest. He completed 31 laps before a spin at turn nine brought an end to the day's running and this meant he was unable to improve on his best time of the morning - a 1:27.057. The early conclusion spells a long night for the team as they replace damaged parts ready for Timo to join the programme tomorrow.

Nick Wirth, Technical Director of Virgin Racing, commented: "We are continuing to debug the car hydraulics and making good progress in our understanding of the issue. Unfortunately when we were running some experimental control settings on the car, which were adversely affecting its handling, this caught Lucas out on the entry to turn nine resulting in a spin and contact with the barrier. We're going to need to spend the time before tomorrow replacing some broken suspension and wings. We should be back on track tomorrow morning when we hope to really start building up our mileage."

-source: virgin racing