Timo Glock

John Booth, Team Principal
"We have taken the decision today that we will not attend the first test in Jerez, taking place from 7-10 February."

"We had been looking to take part in that test with the 2011 MVR-02 for the purpose of providing Charles with some valuable running to assist with the preparation for his debut season. This was with a view to introducing the new car, the MR01, at Barcelona two weeks later.

"As our Technical Consultant Pat Symonds has stated publicly, the MR01 will be almost entirely 'new', with very little carryover from 2011. The new car also has some interesting and complex mechanical concepts and it is taking time for us to get to grips with these.

"Unfortunately our programme has slipped and there seems little point in fielding the new car before we can optimise the run plan for it.

"For that reason we have decided to commence our on-track testing by attending the second test in Barcelona with the MVR-02. We then aim to introduce the MR01 at the third test in Barcelona on 1 March.

"Whilst this is not ideal, and not the timescale we had intended to work to, we will at least get some important running with the new car ahead of Australia and hopefully gain more constructive track time than we might otherwise have achieved had we rushed the car out for the second test."

Marussia Racing consultant Pat Symonds believes that the team's 2011 car had very good potential in some areas but was badly hamstrung by poor aerodynamics.

After relying solely on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for its first two designs, the ex-Virgin team is embracing windtunnel technology as part of its design restructuring, which has also seen the exit of former partner Wirth Research and the announcement of a new collaboration with McLaren.

Former Renault technical chief Symonds said it was only poor aero that was holding the 2011 Virgin back.

"I think it's true to say we do a lot of competitor analysis, a lot of analysis of where we are, and I think mechanically the car was much better than a back-of-the-grid car," he told AUTOSPORT.

"The performance in the slow corners was much closer to the norm than it was in the fast corners. The car responded to changes pretty well, it used its tyres pretty well, it wasn't a difficult car to drive, so I think our low-speed performance was reasonable. The high-speed performance wasn't good - and then of course you look at aerodynamics.

"Let's face it, most of the performance from an F1 car now comes from aerodynamics, that's where we were lacking and that's where it put us back."

Symonds added that Marussia also had a fine asset in lead driver Timo Glock, who has stayed on for a third season.

"He's good. He's very communicative, and he pushes hard," said Symonds of Glock. "He's a good yardstick for the team. I am very, very pleased we have got him.

"I think when you are trying to develop a car and develop a team, if you don't have a yardstick, some continuity, it can get pretty difficult. Timo is a very important part of our progress forward."

Quelle:www.autosport.com

Timo Glock:
„Hello everyone!
Done any good deeds this year? From Wednesday on (28.12.2011), you can buy yourself a Meet & Greet at auction, for the Formula One tests with me in Barcelona! Get to meet me personally and experience an unforgettable day of motorsports. I’ve been the proud patron of the Zwerg Nase Foundation since 2011, so all the proceeds will go to it.
Don’t miss out on this unique auction opportunity: http://www.unitedcharity.de/Home/Alle-Auktionen/Rennfahrer-Timo-Glock-in-Barcelona-treffen
Good luck!
Yours, Timo“

Timo Glock:
„Hallo zusammen,
habt ihr dieses Jahr schon was Gutes getan? Ab Mittwoch, 28.12.2011 könnt ihr ein Meet & Greet bei Testfahrten der Formel 1 mit mir in Barcelona ersteigern! Lernt mich persönlich kennen und erlebt einen unvergesslichen Motorsport-Tag. Da ich seit 2011 stolzer Schirmherr und Mitglied im Kuratorium der Zwerg Nase-Stiftung bin, geht der komplette Erlös an die Stiftung.
Verpasst es nicht, mitzusteigern: http://www.unitedcharity.de/Home/Alle-Auktionen/Rennfahrer-Timo-Glock-in-Barcelona-treffen
Viel Erfolg!
Euer, Timo“

Unfortunately Timo had to retire after a problem with the left rear wheel during his first pit-stop on lap 22.
Clouds were threatening before the start of the race, but the showers kept away from the track, allowing Jérôme and Timo to start the race on the Pirelli P-Zero Soft tyres. They both got off to a good start, running 21st and 23rd respectively.
Jérôme pitted for the first time on lap 20.
Timo followed him in one lap later, but his left rear tyre wasn’t properly fitted and he was forced to retire.
Jérôme’s second pit-stop was on lap 41. He drove a strong race to maintain and increase the gap to the HRTs until the end of the race.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“A very disappointing way to end the season. It’s a real shame to have had to retire after losing the left-rear tyre after my first pit-stop but unfortunately these things happen. So it wasn’t the way I would have liked to end the season but, anyway, I want to thank the team for all the effort they have put in during the whole year. It has been great to work together.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“Both drivers had excellent starts and were it not for Timo being over to the left into Turn 1 I’m sure they would both have emerged n front of the HRTs. Jérôme drove another strong race and really proved that yesterday’s qualifying positions were an anomaly for us this season.

We apologise to Timo for the incident in his pit-stop which cost him the chance to end his season on the high note that would have been reflective of his commitment all year.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our team on their hard work and dedication right through to the end of what has been a long and challenging season. We may have suffered one final disappointment here today, but ultimately we have achieved a great deal in terms of laying important foundations for a more successful future.

I would also like to thank our Partners for their unfailing support and we look forward to rewarding their faith in the steps we are taking to ensure we can all look forward to some very positive times ahead.

Our thanks also to Cosworth and Pirelli for the positive working relationship we have shared this season.”

Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Timo Glock will start tomorrow’s final Grand Prix of the season in Brazil from 23rd and 24th positions respectively. As soon as the lights went green for the start of the qualifying session Timo and Jérôme went out on track for an initial five lap run. It looked like the rain was getting closer so they both went out on track for their second and final run a bit earlier than planned. They each completed a total of 10 laps. Previously, in this morning’s final Free Practice session, Timo and Jérôme continued their race preparation work for tomorrow’s race and completed 23 and 26 laps respectively.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“A bit of a disappointing Saturday I would say. The car was bad to drive this morning - suddenly from one run to another it had no stability any more. So it was difficult to go into qualifying with confidence, even though in the first run the car felt okay. I got a safe lap in then I tried to push on the second set of tyres.
I had a very good first three corners but then one of the Toro Rosso’s came out of the pits right in front of me and just stayed there during his out lap, so I couldn’t go quicker and lost some time. It’s a shame as I had to cool the tyres down before doing another lap, but the tyres are never as good as they are in the first lap, at least for me this weekend. So we have to start last, which is very disappointing, but we have to see what we can do tomorrow. Maybe the weather helps us a bit but in general it’s a shame.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“A disappointing afternoon for the team and not what we hoped for going into this weekend. Timo had struggled with the balance of his car this morning and so needed to do some significant changes for qualifying, which is far from desirable although his balance did improve as a result. Unfortunately Timo’s second run was disturbed by Buemi on what would have been his quickest lap and this was unfortunate. At some points today the weather did look like it would play a part in the proceedings, however this was not the case. Looking to tomorrow again, the threat of rain is there and we will be looking to gain back the places on the grid to finish the season as strongly as we can.”

Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio got Marussia Virgin Racing’s last race weekend of the 2011 season underway today with the first two Free Practice sessions for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
With an air temperature of 26°C and a track temperature of 39°C, both Timo and Jérôme got straight down to their respective programmes, with both of them completing their first 29 laps of the weekend.
In the afternoon the team continued to prepare for the race ahead. With the track temperature at 47°C, Timo and Jérôme continued to fine-tune their respective set-ups as well as understanding the behaviour of the Pirelli PZero tyres. Timo added a further 45 laps to his tally and Jérôme completed 39.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“I had quite a normal FP1 and FP2 today.
I struggled a bit with the tyres; their behaviour was a bit difficult and in terms of managing them right for a qualifying lap it is not easy. But in general today was okay, we were able to work through our programme. Now we have to keep an eye on the weather and decide what direction we want to take.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“Both sides of the garage have had a good opening day in Brazil with the drivers and engineers completing the intended programmes with no issues. The prototype hard tyres which we ran at the start of each session appear to be a step forward from the current hard tyre and enabled the drivers to ease into the circuit and track conditions before using the intended compounds for this race. Both cars have tried various different set-ups today with some focused towards how a wet set-up would perform in the dry, since we are expecting changeable conditions for the remainder of the event. The long run pace on the soft tyre appeared to be pretty consistent and the degradation much lower than we predicted coming into this circuit. As with most other runners we seem to be experiencing instability at the rear and both cars need to dial in the balance overnight. Overall we are happy with the day and look forward to what the weather brings us for tomorrow and Sunday.”

“It’s a unique track: the anti-clockwise layout, the bumpy surface and the famous Senna S make it a true test of driver skill and a real challenge for the drivers.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“I always look forward to the Brazilian Grand Prix. It has provided some excellent racing in both wet and dry conditions in the last few years. It’s a unique track: the anti-clockwise layout, the bumpy surface and the famous Senna S make it a true test of driver skill and a real challenge for the drivers.

“This is of course the final race in what has been a tough but eventful year for the team. We’ve put an awful lot in place for the future however and whilst it’s always sad to end one season, I’m already looking forward to the next.

“Reliability has been the watchword of our 2011 campaign but, disappointingly, we have experienced a couple of problems in the last two races which have prevented us achieving the two car finish that we have been consistently racking up through the year. I hope we can reverse that situation and end 2011 on a high by getting both cars to the finish next weekend.”

“It’s a really fun track to drive and I would say it’s one of the best circuits of the year in terms of the atmosphere. The Brazilian spectators are passionate about racing and it really is amazing to drive here.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.

“I really enjoy racing at the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo. Even though it’s not a very long lap, it is one of the most demanding challenges on the F1 calendar, with some great corners - for example turn 6, an uphill double right hander, which is fast and blind. The car has to be stable through the twisty middle section as well as being quick on the straights, so a good balance will be key.

“It’s a really fun track to drive and I would say it’s one of the best circuits of the year in terms of the atmosphere. The Brazilian spectators are passionate about racing and it really is amazing to drive here. I can’t believe it’s already the last race of the season - the year has raced by and I hope to end the season with a positive result.”

Marussia Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock finished today’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 19th position at the Yas Marina Circuit. Jérôme didn’t have the same luck and was forced to retire on lap 18.

Timo got off to a fantastic start, climbing up to 16th position during the first lap and maintaining good pace. Jérôme also managed to gain positions but unfortunately his race was cut short when he suffered a problem with the front brakes and he was forced to retire.

Timo followed a two-stop strategy, pitting on laps 22 and 44, before bring car number 24 home.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“Overall it was quite a good race today. I had a strong start, the speed was not too bad and I was in front of a couple of quicker guys, even though in the end they caught us up. I just drove my race and my engineer kept me updated about the gap to the guys behind, which was quite easy to manage. In the second pit-stop I think Ricciardo pushed a bit more, but I still managed to stay in front of him as well as keeping an eye on the rear tyres. In the end I got the best out of the car even though I have to say it was a bit difficult with the last set of tyres because the Medium compound combined with all the blue flags made it difficult to get them up to temperature. But it was a good race and the team did a good job.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“A good start to the race saw Timo running as high as 16th in the opening laps. Unfortunately, Jérôme was left behind both of the HRTs, however he was pushing them hard during the early laps. Then on lap 17, Jérôme reported some difficulty with the brakes and also that there was some debris coming out of the left front wheel. We immediately pitted him, instigating a pit stop with inspection of the front braking system. It was clear though that it was not possible to continue and we retired him. Meanwhile on track, Timo was having a good opening stint, pulling a comfortable gap out over Liuzzi and Ricciardo, who had stopped very early. A small issue at his first stop lost him a bit of time, however he still came out in front of Ricciardo. For the second stint Timo managed his tyres to ensure that he could get as far as possible. It was a little like India in that by staying on the Soft tyre, he would be quicker than the HRTs, which again had stopped early for the Medium tyre. However, we came up against Trulli - again on the Medium tyre - so we had to stop earlier than we would have liked. At this point with the HRTs clearly behind, we opted to save gearbox and engine, turning everything down for the last five laps. Given our record of reliability it is disappointing that we haven’t achieved a two-car finish in the last two races, however this will be our strong focus for Brazil.”

Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio qualified in 20th and 22nd positions respectively in Abu Dhabi today, but will start the only twilight race on the Formula One calendar - the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - from 19th and 21st after the grid shakes out with penalties.

Another hot and sunny day greeted the teams for the final 60-minute free practice session, with an air temperature of 27°C and a track temperature that climbed to 42°C. After an early installation lap, both Timo and Jérôme were out on track again 12 minutes later, continuing to fine-tune their set-ups as well as practising qualifying runs. Timo completed 23 laps and Jérôme, 22.

The track temperature fell to 31°C as the sun went down during qualifying. Both Timo and Jérôme were out at the start of the session for their first run, before returning to the garage for another set of Pirelli P-Zero soft tyres. Timo was first back out for his final three lap run. He completed nine laps. Jérôme went for a single timed lap and completed eight laps.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“Today the car was a bit more difficult to drive than yesterday. We already struggled this morning with the braking - I just didn’t have the confidence to go to the maximum and push. Depending on the corner, the rear end behaved differently, making it quite difficult for me to judge. But my qualifying lap was a good one and I am happy to be in front of HRT and pleased with the lap. It was good and no mistakes. But I’m sure that if we have more confidence in the car we can push more, so we have to look into this and understand why it changed overnight.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“A good result for the team in qualifying today. Jérôme progressed well over the course of this morning and it was pleasing to see him opting for the bold strategy of a single hot lap right at the end of the session. Timo was less happy with the car on his first run in qualifying and this forced him to be slightly more conservative with a final three-lap run. Looking at his time, and correcting it to a more optimal single timed lap, I think we can be pleased with where we are relative to our competitors. We spent a lot of time before coming here analysing our performance in recent races in order to make the most of the last two rounds of the season. As a consequence, we took the decision yesterday to focus our set-up towards the race rather than qualifying, so we’re optimistic that we can enjoy a strong two-car finish tomorrow. As always here in Abu Dhabi, the track and its spectacular backdrop will add an extra special dimension for ourselves and the fans.”

The first two Free Practice sessions for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place today at the Yas Marina Circuit, where Marussia Virgin Racing Reserve Driver Robert Wickens got the chance to take part in the morning session as a reward for winning the 2011 World Series by Renault FR 3.5 Championship.

Robert made his Formula One weekend debut, becoming the first Canadian since Jacques Villeneuve to do so. Alongside Timo Glock, Robert was out for an early installation lap before returning to the garage for the usual systems checks. 32 minutes into the session he set his first timed lap and from then on continued to get to grips with the MVR-02 and the track. Due to a driveshaft problem, Timo wasn’t out on track again until the last 35 minutes of the session, completing a total of 20 laps. Robert completed 23 laps.

In the afternoon Jérôme D’Ambrosio was back at the wheel of car number 25 and joined Timo for the second Free Practice session of the day. The sun went down and the floodlights illuminated the Yas Marina Circuit, with the track temperature cooling down to 28°C. Timo continued to prepare for the race ahead, completing a further 34 laps, while Jérôme, who was initially struggling with lack of grip, completed his first 32 laps of the weekend.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“This morning I had a bit of trouble. I had a technical problem so I had to wait a bit longer to go out on track. So it was a bit of a difficult first practice, the car wasn’t that great and it needs a different set-up here to what we were running in the past. So it was a little difficult to get anything out of the car. At the end I also had to do some system checks which made it hard for me to improve my lap time. So it wasn’t the best of starts to the day. FP2 was a more standard programme. We made some set-up changes that proved to be a better direction and made the car more driveable. It was good to see Robert in the car today. I think it is well-deserved after winning the World Series Championship. So it was a great day for him I’m sure.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“Robert acquitted himself very well this morning. He made good progress throughout the session and worked well with his engineers to get a good basic understanding of the car. I’m sure he will be pleased to have a good grounding before his full day of testing next week. With Timo in FP1, we found an issue on the right hand side driveshaft after the installation lap. This involved a fair amount of strip and rebuild during the session, which was completed relatively quickly and lost him little time. He continues to be developing the set-up in new directions, which may seem quite odd at this time in the season, but this is just a demonstration of his tenacity. Obviously Jérôme needed to hit the ground running in FP2 and he struggled initially, particularly with one set of the development tyres. However, by the final Soft tyre run, he seems to be happier with the car, although there are a few key corners which need looking at overnight. Overall, a positive busy day for the team. I’m sure with a clean FP3 session tomorrow, we will continue to improve.

Der deutsche Formel-1-Pilot Timo Glock und der zweifache DTM-Champion Timo Scheider gehen beim Race of Champions im Nations Cup an den Start.
Die Teilnehmerliste für das Race of Champions am 3. und 4. Dezember in der Düsseldorfer ESPRIT Arena wird immer interessanter.
In den Fight der besten Rennfahrer der Welt werden zwei weitere deutsche piloten eingreifen, die als "SAT.1 Team Deutschland 2" im Kampf um den Nations Cup (3. Dezember) antreten werden.
Formel-1-Pilot Timo Glock und der zweifache DTM-Champion Timo Scheider wollen, wie ihre internationalen Kollegen, einen weiteren Sieg der beiden Titelverteidiger verhindern: Michael Schumacher und Sebastian Vettel gewannen vier Mal in Folge und setzten damit eine neue ROC-Rekordmarke.
Im Kampf um den Titel des "Champions der Champions" werden beide nicht eingreifen. Scheider wird dann vom amtierenden DTM-Champion Martin Tomczyk abgelöst. Tickets für beide Tage sind ab 19 Euro im Vorverkauf erhältlich.

Mit Timo Glock und Timo Scheider geht ein überaus stark besetztes "SAT.1 Team Deutschland 2" an den Start, das sich auf dem winkligen Indoor-Kurs in der Multifunktionsarena in Düsseldorf durchaus Chancen ausrechnen darf.
"Ich freue mich auf den Start gemeinsam als zweites Deutsches Team", blickt Audi-Werkspilot Timo Scheider voraus.
Der gebürtige Lahnsteiner ist dabei insbesondere auf die motorsportliche Herausforderung gespannt und zollt Michael Schumacher und Sebastian Vettel grinsend Respekt: "Klar, dass wir den beiden Formel-1-Weltmeistern im Nations Cup die Teamnummer "1" gerne überlassen - das heißt aber nicht, dass wir uns hinten anstellen."
Der DTM-Champion von 2008 und 2009 wird in der Landeshauptstadt von NRW sein Debüt beim Race of Champions geben, an das er allerdings selbstbewusst herangeht. "Ich glaube, mit Timo habe ich einen irre schnellen Teamkollegen, mit dem ich nicht nur viel Spaß haben, sondern auch sportlich eine gute Figur abgeben werde. Jedenfalls werde ich sicher bei meinem ersten Start im Rahmen des ROC alles daran setzen, schnell und erfolgreich zu sein."

Auch Virgin-Formel-1-Pilot Timo Glock musste nicht lange nachdenken, als ihn die Anfrage der ROC-Organisatoren erreichte.
"Zum Race of Champions werden traditionell die besten Rennfahrer der Welt eingeladen - es ist eine große Freude, zu diesem Kreis zu gehören", freut sich der Odenwälder.
Er wird in der ESPRIT Arena mit Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher, Witali Petrow und Sebsatian Vettel gleich vier Piloten begegnen, gegen die er in der aktuellen Formel-1-Saison auch auf der Strecke kämpfte.
Glock: "Mit einigen der Piloten habe ich auf der Formel-1-Rennstrecke ebenfalls zu tun und ich bin sehr gespannt darauf, wie der Vergleich ausgeht, wenn wir in identischen Fahrzeugen an den Start gehen. Abgesehen davon freue ich mich darauf, die Kollegen in entspannter Atmosphäre abseits des Grand-Prix-Zirkus zu sehen. Wir werden deshalb sicherlich nicht nur sportlich auf unsere Kosten kommen."

“It’s going to be an interesting and busy couple of weeks ahead as straight after the race we will remain at the Yas Marina Circuit for the Young Driver Test before heading to Brazil for the season final.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“We head to Abu Dhabi looking forward to the last two races of the 2011 calendar. It’s going to be an interesting and busy couple of weeks ahead as straight after the race we will remain at the Yas Marina Circuit for the Young Driver Test before heading to Brazil for the season final."
“One of the most demanding aspects of the weekend is that the race and qualifying are held at sundown so the track is cooling rapidly. This means that the car balance and tyre grip levels are changing throughout the stints and one of the challenges of the weekend will be to keep adjusting wing angles and tyre pressures to keep everything consistent. As with Turkey, Singapore, Korea and Brazil, the Yas Marina Circuit also runs in an anticlockwise direction, giving the drivers the additional physical challenge to their neck muscles, even though they do extra training to compensate for that."
“Having not had the best of luck in India, we hope to get back to our usual two-car finish again in Abu Dhabi as
every little bit counts in terms of carrying information through to the 2012 car development programme.”

“I have to say that this circuit reminds me of different F1 tracks: the temperature is very similar to Bahrain, the track surface is like Hungary or Korea and in terms of lateral forces it is very close to Valencia.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.

“The season is coming to an end but there are still two quite spectacular races ahead of us. We now head to another Hermann Tilke designed track, the Yas Marina Circuit, which I enjoy a lot. I have to say that this circuit reminds me of different F1 tracks: the temperature is very similar to Bahrain, the track surface is like Hungary or Korea and in terms of lateral forces it is very close to Valencia. It features a very long straight between turns 7 and 8. The only fast corners are turns 2 and 3, which are taken at full throttle, so given the fact that many of the turns are low speed, the set-up is similar to how we would run at another medium-downforce track like Interlagos. I hope we can seal the season with two positive results.”

Marussia Virgin Racing’s Jérôme D’Ambrosio crossed the line in 16th position today in the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in New Delhi. It was a less fortunate outcome for Timo Glock however, who was forced to retire after Kamui Kobayashi drove into him. Timo got caught up in the melée that took place at the start of the race into Turn 1. He pitted straight away as his front wing was damaged, but had to make a second visit to the pits one lap later and retired.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“An unlucky day again today after a disappointing qualifying yesterday.
I just came down into Turn 1 on the outside and all of a sudden I saw bits flying around. I braked a bit earlier than normal and when I turned, suddenly Kamui Kobayashi drove straight into me and I couldn’t avoid the crash. My front wing was damaged so I came back in to change it, and we realised that we also had quite a lot of damage on the left side of the car, so we decided to stop.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“After a challenging start to the weekend, it all came good in the last few laps of this incredible circuit, where our strategy came to fruition for Jérôme. In most of our pre-event work, we had identified that only a handful of laps on the Hard tyre would be the way to go, however, in a racing situation, sometimes it is difficult to hold your nerve. Nonetheless, the engineers selected and executed the best direction and having trailed Karthikeyan in the mid part of the race, we certainly made the right call to stop on the penultimate lap in order to get ahead of him.
“On the flip side, the weekend has continued to be frustrating for Timo. He showed a great deal of promise on Friday but since then he simply hasn’t had the opportunity to demonstrate what he could do. I have no doubt that he will put these difficulties behind him and come back fighting again in Abu Dhabi.

Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Timo Glock will start tomorrow’s inaugural Indian Grand Prix from 21st and 22nd positions respectively after today’s qualifying session at the brand new Buddh International Circuit in New Delhi. During the third and final Free Practice session the team continued to work on the set-up of the cars before the qualifying session and tomorrow’s race. With the installation lap completed both Timo and Jérôme reported over the radio that the track was dirtier than expected and that it felt different to yesterday. They continued to work with the evolving conditions, putting both the Pirelli P-Zero Hard and Soft tyres through their paces at the same time. Timo completed 23 laps. Timo was only able to complete one flying lap before having to head back to the garage and end his session prematurely due to a loss of fifth gear on his first run. Jérôme was able to complete 14 laps but struggled with a changing car balance all day and this allowed the HRTs to gain advantage.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“A very disappointing qualifying for the team. We had a very good Friday yesterday, but today we have been very unlucky as fifth gear broke in qualifying and I could only do one flying lap. The first flying lap was already quite positive - the car felt okay and I didn’t have any problems. We won’t be starting where we wanted to be but I think we are quick enough to beat the HRTs and we kept a set of the Soft tyre back, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. Obviously, it’s a real shame for me and my car crew, but that’s racing.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“A challenging day overall with a great deal of disappointment on Timo’s side of the garage. This morning he continued working through more set-up items, each being positive, so going into qualifying he was pretty confident of a good result. Unfortunately he was forced to return to the garage after just one flying laps and we are looking into what appears to be a fifth gear drive failure. We’ll are making a decision as to how we address this during the course of the afternoon. In an otherwise very positive year in terms of reliability, this is very frustrating way to end the day. It is also the second issue of its kind, so we have to get on top of this. Obviously we have saved even more soft tyres than we intended to with our qualifying programme and Timo will no doubt be fully focused on achieving the best result possible."

Marussia Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock enjoyed a positive opening day of practice at the Buddh International Circuit in preparation for Sunday’s inaugural Indian Grand Prix in Delhi. He was able to complete his full programme of tyre and aero evaluation at a circuit which, coming into the weekend, was an unknown quantity for all of the teams and drivers. It was a more frustrating day on the other side of the garage however, as the positive start Jérôme D’Ambrosio had made came to an abrupt end following a crash midway through FP2.

After many weeks of virtual preparation for this new Grand Prix, the team set out to gather as much hard data as possible to help them establish the optimum set-up for the weekend ahead.

Both Timo and Jérôme were out on track early this morning and were able to complete their installation laps just before the session was red-flagged due to a stray dog making its way onto the track. The session was restarted at 10:10h (local) and Timo and Jérôme completed a total of 24 and 19 laps respectively.

The team continued preparing for the race in the afternoon session, benefitting from improved grip from the track. Jérôme broke the silence and was the first out of the pits. Timo joined him shortly after and they continued to fine-tune their set-ups. Unfortunately, Jérôme ran wide on the kerb at Turn 11 and hit the wall, ending his session prematurely. He had completed 12 laps. The session restarted at 14:46, with Timo able to add a further 32 laps to his tally.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It’s been a good first day here in India. The track is just awesome and really good fun to drive. It’s been an enjoyable day without any problems. The car felt okay, it has a reasonable balance to it and we were able to get through the entire programme and achieve good set-up work. Now we just have to analyse the data overnight and see what we can do for tomorrow. I can’t wait to get back in the car again here!”

John Booth, Team Principal
“From the moment we arrived in India and finally got to see the track at first hand, we’ve all been incredibly impressed with the layout of the circuit and the two days of preparation seemed like an eternity before we were able to see the cars in action. Certainly watching the cars here you can see that the drivers are enjoying this track, however it has caught a number of them out during the two sessions today. FP1 was a fairly straightforward programme for both our cars with a few aero experiments on front wings, followed by runs on the hard tyre to familiarise the drivers with the track. Into FP2 we split the programme, with Timo concentrating more on set-up work with two sets of the Soft tyre and Jérôme conducting some of the long run tyre work. Unfortunately, Jérôme ended up being one of the drivers that was caught out by the track, however I’m sure he will maximise his time tonight looking through the data and completing his final preparations in FP3 tomorrow ahead of qualifying. Timo and his crew have had a fantastic day and he seems to be pushing his set-ups in a new direction, which is working well for him. Hopefully he will continue building this into a solid qualifying performance.”

“We are all incredibly excited to be heading to New Delhi for the first Indian Grand Prix. We always welcome a new addition to the calendar, taking Formula One into exciting new territories and broadening its reach and accessibility. The fans there have some great racing to look forward to.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“I think we have a very interesting weekend ahead of us and I’m sure India is going to present some surprises that even the best preparation cannot cater for. It’s the first time here for everyone and a level playing field is always most welcome. The track provides an undulating lap with a combination of slow turns and high-speed straights, with many elevation changes that will make it a real challenge for the drivers. We can’t wait to experience it for ourselves during the first Free Practice session on Friday, but from our data and simulations the circuit looks quite interesting.
“The season is coming to an end very quickly - it is unbelievable how the time has flown by!
Reliability has been our watchword this season, so we hope to continue like this until the end of the season and aim for a positive result at the first ever Indian Grand Prix.”

“I always enjoy the challenge of a new circuit and this is certainly true of India, which promises to be a very exciting racing and cultural experience - a real journey into the unknown.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.

“A new race is always a big challenge for the whole team but at the same time it’s always very exciting to get to know a new country and drive at a new track. There are always some big unknowns but this time it’s the same for everyone, so what we have to do is focus hard on finding the right set-up for the weekend.
“I’m really looking forward to discovering this new circuit-it looks like an exciting one, as it will have one of the highest average speeds in Formula One and there are a couple of challenging corners and good overtaking
opportunities.
“We are getting to the end of the season we continue to push to get the most out of the car and to take forward valuable lessons and information for next year.”

Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio finished 18th and 20th respectively in the
Korean Grand Prix today. It was a bright and sunny start to the day but the sun was slowly usurped by some clouds as well as spots of rain just before the start of the race. Both Timo and Jérôme had a good start and were running in 20th and 23rd position respectively during the initial laps.
The Safety Car was deployed on lap 16 as there was debris on track after Vitaly Petrov had a coming together with Michael Schumacher. Timo and Jérôme completed their first pit-stop on that same lap and went back out on another set of Pirelli P-Zero Soft tyres. The race restarted on lap 20, with Timo in 18th position and Jérôme, 21st. On lap 38 Jérôme pitted again and joined the track with a set of Supersoft tyres fitted. Timo followed him in only three laps later and also went out again on Supersoft tyres, running all the way to the end of the race.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It has been a good weekend for us. Strategy-wise I think we made the right choice. I had a very good car the whole race – very consistent to push until the last lap and all the problems that we thought we had before were less of an issue. The Pirellis were very good and very consistent. I had a lot of fun and could push until the end, until the last lap. We had a bit of a fight with HRT in the middle of the race, who were suddenly very quick, and I had to push more and more. Overall I’m happy and got the maximum out of the car. The pitstops were good so we made a big step forward in that area too. Now we’re off to our big adventure in India, which I think the whole team is looking forward to.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“A positive race on both sides of the garage today, to slightly varying degrees. Timo drove a hard race all the way to the end and we were managing the gap to Ricciardo behind him. With Jérôme it is disappointing that we finished behind the HRT, however we must take the positive that the performance today far exceeded that in qualifying. He had a hard battle with Ricciardo, overtaking him after the Safety Car, but only to lose out whilst battling with Kobayashi. On the back of a disappointing weekend last week, everyone in the team stepped up their game for this weekend. The strategy was improved, the pitstops were slick and all this has been borne out of a great deal of introspection and redoubling of effort for the last few races. We’ll be back in the UK this week preparing for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix and the whole team – from the engineers to logistics – are looking forward to the challenge of this voyage into the unknown.”

This afternoon’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix ended with the two Marussia Virgin Racing cars of Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio classified 21st and 22nd respectively. In contrast to yesterday, bright and sunny skies greeted Timo and Jérôme this morning, and they were able to test the Pirelli P-Zero Soft and Supersoft tyres on a dry track as well as preparing for qualifying and tomorrow’s race. Timo completed 19 laps. At the start of Qualifying, with a dry track at a temperature of 29°C and the air temperature at 23°C, Jérôme was first out of the garage followed by Timo three minutes later, both on the Pirelli P-Zero Supersoft tyres. In the dying minutes of the session, Jérôme was back on track for his second run with only 3:30 minutes remaining, whilst Timo opted to cut things even finer with only 2:27 on the clock when he exited the garage.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It’s been a great weekend so far and today went very smoothly compared to the last few weekends where we had a few more set-up troubles. The car was very good in wet conditions yesterday, which made me very comfortable for today, because if the car is very good in the wet it should also be good in the dry – and it was this morning, straight from the first lap. We just fine-tuned the set-up as for us there is quite a lot of grip here and that suits the car. I got a good qualifying lap; a slight mistake into turn 5 which cost me a bit of time, but in general today we are 0.9s from Team Lotus. The team did a good job and in particular my engineers worked well together to get everything right. Now we have to focus on looking after the tyres over a race distance and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“This morning’s FP3 was a very busy session as a consequence of the weather conditions we experienced yesterday. Both drivers stepped through a quick-fire series of set-up changes and overall they ended the session reasonably happy. They were suffering from some understeer and having spent some time looking through the data and examining the tyres we could see some evidence of where this was coming from. Going into qualifying, Jérôme retained his set-up, while Timo made a few adjustments to his. Both drivers got good, clean opening laps in what was a planned three-lap run. They embarked on their crucial final runs having planned to complete only one and two flying laps respectively. Jérôme didn’t seem to find the big improvement on the second run and we will go through the data from the car to understand if there is anything obvious. On a more positive note, Timo achieved a good lap, which he is happy with. It was obviously quite a surprise to see some of the top runners fitting the option tyre for Q1 and that may give us some clues as to what we can expect
tomorrow in terms of tyre choice.”

Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio got Marussia Virgin Racing’s race weekend underway today in the first two Free Practice sessions for the Korean Grand Prix.

It started raining in the early hours of the morning and the track was declared wet at the beginning of the first Free Practice session of the day. The rain remained constant and both Timo and Jérôme were confined to the garage after going out for an installation lap. It wasn’t until the final 20 minutes when Jérôme went out for a first and only run, completing 7 laps. Timo followed him out three minutes later and completed 4 laps.

The weather conditions improved for the second Free Practice session of the day, but the track was still damp, with some standing water remaining. Both Timo and Jérôme were out early and on the Pirelli P-Zero Intermediate tyres as the team had to make up for lost time. A drier line was forming around some sectors of the circuit, with the track getting quicker, allowing Timo and Jérôme to make the most out of the session and complete 25 and 26 laps respectively.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It’s been a difficult first day in Korea today with the wet conditions because I think that tomorrow, and on Sunday, it will be dry. We will have to do a bit of catching up tomorrow, but today was okay even though we had a bit of a problem on the front left suspension where we had to change some parts and it cost us a bit of time. The wet conditions also make it more of a challenging track but the day went well and it was good to be able to evaluate some developments for 2012. Tomorrow we have to concentrate on qualifying and our race preparation.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“We had some quite changeable weather forecasts coming into this event and an ambitious Friday programme planned, looking at items for 2012 as well as trying some different set-up approaches. However, as we left the circuit last night and saw the latest weather updates, we realised that today might be a bit challenging in terms of completing this programme. That said, we’ve had a reasonably productive day and Timo has still worked on a different set-up direction albeit in the wet. We will have to wait until FP3 in order to compare it to our normal dry set-up to see how we will continue through the weekend. With Jérôme there is still a better balance to find, but some pre-planned overnight changes will help to fix these issues, I’m sure. Although we’re pretty confident that the rest of the weekend will be dry, there is a chance of some rain tomorrow afternoon and at least today has prepared us for that.”

“The championship may have been decided but we can still look forward to some great racing in the remaining four races.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“The team has done an excellent job getting from one race venue to the next in just over 12 hours. It’s been a very tight turnaround but we are now here in South Korea ready to go racing again and hopeful of a positive weekend ahead. The championship may have been decided but we can still look forward to some great racing in the remaining four races.

“We learnt a lot about the track in 2010 but of course this year we go there with the Pirelli tyres for the first time. We’re expecting to encounter a few challenges; finding the right set-up compromise is quite interesting here given the mix of long straights and tight, twisty sections. The track surface will have bedded in now, having been freshly laid just prior to the race last year, so we will see how the tyre choice plays out. The weather played a defining role in last year’s race but so far the forecast indicates a chance of rain earlier on in the weekend.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate our reserve driver Robert Wickens, who won the WSR FR 3.5 Championship last Sunday while we were in Japan. He has done a great job this season and was a very worthy victor after a hard fight all year. We look forward to celebrating with him this weekend.”

“On the way to Korea I went to Kyoto. I took my bike with me and did a bit of cycling and training. I enjoyed last year’s race here in the rain. Let’s see what happens this year, but I’m sure it will be another interesting weekend for us again.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.

“I’m looking forward to Korea; it’s still a young race and the track is quite good. It combines long high-speed straights and slow corners like the start of sector 2: three extremely slow zig-zag turns where you need to find a good rhythm, attack the kerbs a little as well as keeping the speed up. Then you have to accelerate hard out of Turn 6 towards a very fast sequence of turns where it’s very important to get them as clean as possible otherwise there’s a high risk of going off track. So in general there’s hardly a breather to be had in Korea, which makes it even more of a challenge.

“On the way to Korea I went to Kyoto. I took my bike with me and did a bit of cycling and training. I enjoyed last year’s race here in the rain. Let’s see what happens this year, but I’m sure it will be another interesting weekend for us again.”

In today’s Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio finished in 20th and 21st positions respectively.

It was a clean start to the race and both Timo and Jérôme got away from the line well. Timo was first into the pits on lap 13, putting another set of Pirelli P-Zero Soft tyres on his MVR-02. Jérôme came in a lap later, and in an action-packed day for the pit crew, it was only seven laps later when Timo completed his second pit-stop, with the team again fitting the Soft tyre.

Timo and Jérôme were running in 22nd and 20th positions respectively and just after Jérôme pitted for another set of Soft tyres, the Safety Car was deployed due to debris on track at Turn 7 and near the final chicane.

The action restarted on lap 28. Timo and Jérôme pitted for a third and final time for Medium tyres on laps 36 and 37. Jérôme joined the track behind Timo in 22nd position and that was the order until the end of the race.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“I had a good start, got on the outside and managed to get Jérôme in the first part of the first two corners. I nearly hit Trulli; he pushed me out and I went out on to the grass and unfortunately couldn’t stay on track, so I lost position again and was behind Jérôme. I was stuck behind him for the first stint, which destroyed my tyres in the first five or six laps because I was a bit quicker than him and then he started to pull away. We went for an early pitstop but the right rear tyre didn’t go on well and I lost 4-5 seconds, the position against Ricciardo and then Jérôme was able to pull quite far away. Then the safety car came out and we switched to a three-stop and the hard tyre. I was able to get in front of Jérôme but at the end it was quite difficult against all the blue flags and I had a few tough moments. Anyway, we got both cars home no problem and we got the best out of the cars. I’m looking forward to Korea but we have to look at the car set-up again as it was okay, but not magic.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“This hasn’t been the most straightforward of weekends for us and today’s race continued in much the same vein. Our strategy didn’t play out in the way that we had hoped and we lost some time with our pitstops as well. Early in the race we suffered a problem with our timing information on the pitwall and unfortunately this was at a critical time in the tyre lifecycle, so we really had to think on our feet. Despite all of these problems, we were still able to finish ahead of our nearest competitor and with both cars, which are positives to take away from the race. We’ll be back on track in Korea in just a few days’ time so we will regroup quickly and implement the necessary improvements.

“It has been extremely heart-warming to return to Japan and receive such a typically warm reception from the fans here. They deserved a great race and they got one - the Championship decider to boot. Congratulations to Sebastian on his second world title. For us, we now head to Yeongam with quite a tough turnaround ahead but hopefully a positive weekend.”

Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Timo Glock will start tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix from 20th and 21st position respectively after today’s qualifying session in Suzuka.

In the morning, with a track temperature of 38°C and an air temperature of 23°C, Timo and Jérôme started the session with an early installation lap before going out again to continue optimising their set-up for tomorrow’s race. After a first run, the session was stopped due to a red flag caused by Bruno Senna. The action resumed at 11:33 but it wasn’t until the last 20 minutes that Timo and Jérôme went out on track again to continue refining the car, ending with a final run on the Pirelli P-Zero Soft tyres. Timo completed 16 laps and Jérôme, 17.

Both Timo and Jérôme were among the first out at the start of the qualifying session for two runs on the Pirelli P-Zero Soft tyre, setting their fastest lap in the dying moments of Q1 and adding a further 15 laps to the team’s tally.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“For me I think it was a good qualifying session. Going from Free Practice 3 to Qualifying was a bit blind again because we tried something overnight which didn’t really work out as we had hoped, so we had to go back on that between sessions. In the end the car was really good and my lap was pretty spot-on. There’s not much to say apart from I think today Jérôme was slightly quicker and he did a good job. I’m happy with the car so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“After probably one of Jérôme’s more challenging Fridays, he spent a lot of time last night going through the data with his engineers to see where he needed to improve. Throughout P3 he did an impressive job to close the gap to Timo and into qualifying he had a good second run to finish 0.07s ahead of him. We anticipated a reasonable level of track improvement throughout Q1 so we left the final run right until the end with only one timed lap, which worked out perfectly for the traffic and enabled both drivers to get the most out of the car. Timo reverted to his P2 set-up for qualifying, having tried a slightly different direction in FP3 which proved not to be the way to go. We’ve seen the track throw up many incidents during the course of the three practice sessions so tomorrow we’ll be looking to ensure that both cars have a clean race and are in a position to take advantage of any opportunity.”

The first two Free Practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix took place today as Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio got to grips with the track and completed their first laps of the weekend at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. Both Timo and Jérôme were out on track early this morning to complete their respective installation laps. Unfortunately Timo was confined to the garage because of a water leak. The problem was fixed as swiftly as possible and he was able to go back out on track for the last ten minutes of the session. Jérôme completed 24 laps and Timo, 13. In the afternoon Timo was able to make up for time lost in the morning and he continued his preparation for the race ahead. With a track temperature of 37°C, Timo and Jérôme went out with the Pirelli PZero Soft tyres on for their last two runs of the day, adding a further 30 laps each to the team’s tally.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It wasn’t a trouble-free first session as I had a water leak and I wasn’t able to run much. This cost us a bit of time and we had to carry work over to the second session in the afternoon, so we had a very tight schedule this afternoon. I think we are heading in a reasonable direction even though we still have to improve the car. The team did a great job today and fixed the problems very quickly. Let us see how it goes tomorrow.”
John Booth, Team Principal
“Overall quite a pleasing Friday. Both cars have managed to complete their full programmes and, particularly with Timo, we have arrived at a good set-up for this track. The morning was as ever taken up with trying various aero
components and we still have quite a lot of data from this work to analyse overnight. In the morning we had a small issue with a water leak on Timo’s car which meant that he had to finish part of his FP1 programme in FP2. However, he worked well with his crew and engineers to recover this time - even adding extra runs to fine-tune the set-up before his qualifying simulation. Jérôme has been less happy on the Medium tyre in FP2 and we will need to go back through his runs carefully tonight to try and understand the differences to Timo.”

“Japan has always held a special place in the hearts of the F1 teams and drivers. It’s a fantastic driver’s circuit – one of the classics – and the enthusiasm of the fans is incredible. The F1 fraternity was heartbroken to see the devastation caused by the earthquake and Tsunami eight months ago and the widespread suffering as a result, so our return there this year will be all the more poignant.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.
“Suzuka is one of the driver’s favourite tracks on the calendar and it’s easy to understand why. It’s a very challenging and technical circuit with frequent directional changes. Two critical points are the S-turns, a flowing combination of five corners where it is important to get the entry right; and the Spoon Curve, a double left taken as one, where it is crucial to find the perfect line and carry momentum into the following straight. “We are in that final phase of the season now where the races are just flying by – it’s hard to believe there are only five remaining. Timo will be keen to make up for the disappointment of having to retire early in the race at one of his favourite tracks.” ‘‘I look forward to driving again at this very fast circuit. It was disappointing for my race to end so early in Singapore and not be able to help the team. This means I look forward to the Japanese Grand Prix even more and I’m now 100% focused on the weekend ahead.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.
“Suzuka is such a fun and challenging circuit, I really enjoy racing here. The figure-of-eight layout is really unique and with the Spoon Curve and high-speed 130R corner, it’s a really demanding circuit with a thrilling fast-flowing lap, similar to circuits like Silverstone or Spa. 130R is one of the fastest corners in Formula One and you really have to think about how you approach it – it’s a real buzz to take the corner carrying so much speed. “I’ve been back to Europe in the break to continue to work on my fitness for the long-haul races, which means a lot of cycling in Switzerland of course. The next two races, being back to back, are tough ones for the team so I’m as prepared as I can be to support us with what I hope can be two strong race performances.”

Timo Glock was forced to retire after 18 laps following damage to the car sustained when he was struck in turn 1 which rendered his car undriveable. It was a surprisingly clean opening lap to the 14th race of the season with both Timo and Jérôme getting off to a good start. At the first corner Ricciardo drove into the right rear of Timo’s car and it wasn’t long before he radioed in with handling problems with his MVR-02. He persevered with his race but his car was a handful and when he braked for turn 18, he lost the rear and hit the wall.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It’s a disappointing end to the weekend for the team and for me. I had quite a good start but I lost my positioning with Jérôme because I was on the outside. Then, unfortunately, in the second sector Ricciardo drove into the rear right of the car and from that moment my steering wheel was not straight, it was quite a lot to the right, and in all the left-hand corners the car was really difficult to drive. I had a lot of degradation on the rear right tyre and then suddenly I lost the rear under braking and when I hit the wall I think it broke the rear suspension and that was it. It’s a real shame for the team that has been working hard all over the weekend, but this is racing and now we just have to look forward to the next race in Japan.”
John Booth, Team Principal
Unfortunately, Timo’s race was over on the first lap with the impact from Ricciardo. It’s a great shame we didn’t get the chance to see him in action at his favourite track. It’s certainly been a very hot and humid weekend for all of the guys in the garage, however they have done a fantastic job to keep to our normal high standards of operation.”

Marussia Virgin Racing driver Timo Glock will start tomorrow’s night race in Singapore from 21st position on the grid after a tense qualifying session on the city state’s streets today. Earlier in the day, the track temperature had reached 34°C at the start of the third and final Free Practice session. Jérôme led the pack of cars out on to the track for an installation lap, with Timo joining soon after. Jérôme went on to complete 19 laps and Timo added a further 16 to the team’s tally as they optimised their setups for qualifying and tomorrow’s race. With the humidity reaching 71%, it was a hot and sticky qualifying session, and also a challenging one for Timo and Jérôme, both of whom suffered some issues with the braking stability of their cars.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“A difficult weekend so far, starting from the first outing. I haven’t been completely happy with the car´s rear and we didn’t manage to get it right yet, so qualifying was not perfect. I made a small mistake at the hairpin at Turn 13 but beyond that I think we had the most from the car. I love this race so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Singapore can throw up all sorts of things so we just need to be ready.”
John Booth, Team Principal
“What we learned from yesterday is that the degradation on both the Soft and Supersoft tyres looks reasonably high and we therefore opted to save sets of the Soft tyre for the race. Earlier, in FP3, we focused our efforts more on preparation for qualifying, with both drivers using only one set of each compound. They seemed to be suffering with identical issues and unfortunately we don’t seem to have made much progress towards resolving them, so it’s not surprising that in qualifying we were somewhat disappointed. The Singapore Grand Prix is normally fairly chaotic and we’ll be looking to ensure that both cars stay as reliable as ever and with a good strategy I hope we can create some opportunities in the race.”

The first two Free Practice sessions for the Singapore Grand Prix got underway today and Marussia Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio completed their first laps of the weekend at the only night race on the calendar. The first session started with a 30-minute delay as some of the temporary kerbing at turns 3 and 14 had come loose. Once repaired, the session got underway at 1900hrs, with the stewards deciding to shorten the session to one hour. Down by 30 minutes on the clock, it was necessary for the team to spend as much time as possible on track. Jérôme was one of the first out and Timo followed him soon after. With 31 minutes remaining, the session was red-flagged due to a brake fire on Kovalainen’s car and all drivers were confined to the garage. Timo was already back, having suffered a puncture after being hit by Webber. Another red flag was deployed with only eight minutes to go, as more kerbing came loose, this time at turns 7 and 8. When the session restarted, Jérôme went out on track again, completing a total of 13 laps, while Timo stayed in to save tyres after having completed only six laps. The second Free Practice session was all about making up for lost time. With an air temperature of 30°C and a track temperature of 31°C, this was a more useful session, with Timo and Jérôme completing 25 laps each.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“Not a great first practice session. It was a pretty short one due to the problems on the track and then the incident with Webber, which in the end made us lose a lot of time. The rear left tyre was punctured and I didn’t run again as we didn’t want to waste a set of tyres in FP1. FP2 wasn’t great but it was slightly better. We did some variations in terms of set-up and the direction is not bad, but it’s still difficult on a long run as we suffer on the rear tyres. We have to look into it and try to fine-tune the car for tomorrow.”
John Booth, Team Principal
“At this type of circuit you always hope that your practice sessions are going to go exactly to plan in order to maximise track time and enable the drivers and engineers to arrive at the optimum set-up. So it’s fair to say that it’s been more than a little frustrating. Whilst we’ve collected some good data on higher fuel runs for the tyres with both drivers, what we ultimately missed out on with both cars was the low-fuel Supersoft run. Unfortunately both drivers had started their laps when the yellow flags came out for Buemi. We thought the Yellow would be out for some time given the position of his car so we aborted both cars’ runs and in doing so we effectively missed the sweet spot of the tyre life when we went back out. We’ve spent quite a bit of the day stepping through some combinations on the upgrade package but mainly to help with the engine cooling demands of this circuit. We now look forward to a smooth FP3 tomorrow and getting some better qualifying runs completed.”

“We head to Singapore with a great deal of momentum after an upturn in performance and it’s always encouraging to know that there is more improvement to come.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“It has been a busy end to the European season, as well as a logistical challenge. As well as preparing for Singapore, part of the team stayed on in Italy after the Grand Prix for our third straight-line test of the year. We completed more aerodynamic correlation work and continued to optimise the upgrade – all of which was extremely beneficial.

“We head to Singapore with a great deal of momentum after an upturn in performance and it’s always encouraging to know that there is more improvement to come.

“Singapore is unique as the only night race on the calendar and it’s a race we really look forward to every year. The circuit characteristics are reminiscent of Monaco. The short straights and many first and second-gear corners require a very high level of downforce to give good braking stability and traction. It is a hard circuit on the brakes as there are so many braking zones and so few straights to cool them down again. It really requires the drivers to focus during the whole lap as any mistake can be crucial - but that’s what street circuits are all about.”

“The Singapore Grand Prix is clearly one of the highlights of the year and my favourite track on the calendar. It really is an amazing experience and I just can’t wait to get in the car and drive through the streets of Singapore at night again.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.

“It’s great to be back in Singapore where I finished in second position in 2009. The Singapore Grand Prix is clearly one of the highlights of the year and my favourite track on the calendar. It really is an amazing experience and I just can’t wait to get in the car and drive through the streets of Singapore at night again. It’s great fun!

“The Marina Bay Street Circuit is very challenging. Just the fact that it is a street circuit already makes it very demanding, but if we add the fact that it’s a night race it just adds to the excitement. Car set-up is tricky, as with any other street circuit, so Friday will be a busy day. It’s an anti-clockwise stop-start layout which demands a high level of downforce and even though the average speed isn’t the highest, it’s really enjoyable. I am looking forward to the final leg of the season.”

In today’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the last European race of the season, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock finished in 15th place. It was a chaotic start to the race as a multi-car incident in Turn 1 meant the Safety Car had to be deployed for 4 laps. Timo got off to a good start and avoided the mayhem, running in 14th position. At the restart Timo drove a steady race and after two pit-stops, the first on lap 20 and the second on lap 38, he brought the car home in 15th place, which provides the team with plenty of data with which to confirm the initial signs that the latest upgrade has been a step forward.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“The race today was okay, even though the car was a bit difficult to drive, which is a little disappointing after the qualifying yesterday. Over the weekend we have definitely seen a step forward. The car felt better, but we have to look at why the car wasn’t so good in race trim and see how we can develop the package for Singapore.”
John Booth, Team Principal
“Timo had an absolutely outstanding start and picked his way through the chaos in the first corner to end the lap in 14th position. From this point on, unfortunately we didn’t quite have the pace to stay with Heikki, however Trulli’s early stop meant that at least we were racing him. We perhaps could have pitted a little bit earlier on the first stop, but overall we didn’t quite have the pace to stay in front. Nonetheless, the very fact that we are back racing with Team Lotus shows the improvement we have made for this weekend. We have a very busy week ahead, with half of the team moving on to an aero test in Vairano, Italy, on Tuesday
and the other half will be back at base to finalise our preparations for the final flyaways. The team and the drivers are very much looking forward to heading to Singapore where, if our simulations are correct, this upgrade should yield greater gains.”

The last Qualifying session on European soil took place today at the Autodromo Di Monza in Italy. Marussia Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio will start tomorrow’s race from 21st and 22nd positions respectively.
This morning, in the third and final Free Practice session, both MVR-02 cars took to the track with the new upgrade package. Jérôme had a smooth practice session but unfortunately Timo had an issue with the DRS on his final run with the Pirelli P-Zero soft tyres. With a track temperature of 44°C and an air temperature of 29°C, both drivers left the garage when the light went green for the start of the Qualifying session. Timo experienced the same problem with the rear wing as in the morning and after 9 difficult laps qualified 21st.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“A disappointing qualifying. We had a problem with the rear wing – it just stayed open and didn’t close again. Then after a certain speed it just closed on its own. We have never had a problem with it before and didn’t have anything wrong yesterday, so we have to look at this and resolve it because it’s not very comfortable to experience that. It was very difficult and frustrating because we were very close to Kovalainen today and close ‘enough’ I think. With the wing working properly, who knows?”
John Booth, Team Principal
“Both cars stepped through more set-up work this morning. Timo experimenting with wing levels and Jérôme establishing a good balance on the new package. Unfortunately, we had an issue on Timo’s soft tyre run with the DRS system not
deactivating correctly, which cost him significant time as he effectively ran with no DRS. We spent quite a bit of time over lunch going through his rear wing in detail and found some issues which we corrected and everything seemed fine in the garage before qualifying. As is often the case with these fairly complicated systems, there can be more than one fault and during qualifying Timo again experienced the issue. We clearly have to get to the bottom of the issue before the race. In terms of our competitiveness, the field seems to have closed up and the gap to the guys in front does seem less. However, as always we will treat this with some caution until we get back to a more representative circuit. Given the smaller gaps in the field and hopefully with Timo’s issue fixed, both drivers can look forward to what should be a more interesting race
tomorrow.”

The first two Free Practice sessions for Marussia Virgin Racing’s last European race of the season, the Italian GP, took place today at the legendary Autodromo Di Monza. The team brought some new development to this high-speed track, so this morning Timo Glock didn’t do much performance run- ning as the focus was on completing installation laps to check the car and collect valuable ontrack data. It was a frustrating start to the weekend though as Jérôme experienced an issue with the engine after 22 laps, while a sensor problem in the exhaust system confined Timo to the garage after completing only 12 laps. The team worked hard in-between sessions to have both cars ready in time for FP2 and in the afternoon Timo was able to continue focusing on the upgrade while Jérôme evaluated the behaviour of the Pirelli P-Zero tyres. Both Timo and Jérôme were able to complete plenty more laps than in the morning – 25 and 34 respectively.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“Not one of our best Fridays. I think we struggled quite a lot in FP1 with some technical and sensor problems and we couldn’t really complete the programme this morning. I was just hanging around for 45 minutes in the pits and I could not run, so that left a lot of work to be done in the afternoon. In FP2 we put the car quite quickly in a good direction and I felt quite comfortable. It’s a bit difficult against the top guys here - they are quicker and the top speed difference can be quite big, so we have to look into that for tomorrow and try and make the car better and quicker. It’s still early to talk about the upgrade as we have to study the data, but I hope for a smooth Saturday.”
John Booth, Team Principal
“The morning session was more than a little frustrating! Due to the unique demands of Monza on downforce level and our revised rear aero package, both cars had essential data to collect in P1. With Timo, a sensor problem on the new exhaust meant that essential logging runs took a little longer than they should have. Over the break, both sets of crews did a fantastic job to change Jérôme’s engine and also resolve many of the early teething problems we had on Timo’s car to allow both drivers to run a full session in P2. Overall, we’re fairly pleased with the data collected in FP2 and we are happy with the performance and re- liability of the revised package. We will now apply it to both cars overnight and look forward to continue working with the upgrade in FP3.”

Als Formel-1-Profi braucht Timo Glock jede Menge Ausdauer.
Die holt er sich bei seinen Trainingsrunden auf MERIDA-Bikes.

Es gibt Jugendliche, die kaufen sich von ihrem Konfirmationsgeld ein Mofa, andere bringen es zur Bank. Timo Glock tat nichts davon – er kaufte sich ein Kart. Und deshalb sitzt er seit 1997 am liebsten in und auf allem, was schnell ist. Von 1997 bis 1999 bewies der heute 29-Jährige sein Talent im Kartsport, 2000 bestritt er Rennen in der Juniorenklasse der Formel BMW und wurde auf Anhieb Meister. Spätestens mit diesem Erfolg war für Timo Glock klar: Er wollte Formel-1-Profi werden.

In der Formel 3 zeichnete sich der Odenwälder gleich als bester Neueinsteiger aus, indem er mit drei Siegen Gesamt-Dritter wurde. Auch der nächste Schritt war erfolgreich: Platz fünf in der Gesamtwertung der neu gegründeten Formel-3-Euroserie. Dann endlich war es so weit… Als Testfahrer bei Jordan kam Timo Glock 2004 gleich in seiner ersten Formel-1-Saison zu vier Renneinsätzen in der Königsklasse, wobei er von der Premiere in Montreal sogar zwei WM-Punkte mitbrachte. Als „Rookie of the Year“ machte sich Glock in der US-„Champ Car World Series“ 2005 einen Namen, indem er bei zwei Rennen aufs Podium fuhr – und das, obwohl sein Rennstall Rocketsports nicht unbedingt zu den finanziell schlagkräftigen zählte.

Die Meisterschaft in der GP2-Serie verschaffte Timo Glock 2007 erneut erhöhte Aufmerksamkeit verschiedener Formel-1-Rennställe. Zunächst als Testfahrer bei BMW Sauber und später als deren Ersatzfahrer,wechselte das Nachwuchstalent 2008 „ganz offiziell“ in die Königsklasse: Mit dem Toyota Racing Team gelang auf Anhieb mit Rang zwei beim GP Ungarn ein Riesenerfolg. Am Ende seiner Premierensaison wurde Glock mit 25 Punkten Zehnter, und auch 2009 konnte er beachtliche Erfolge wie etwa Platz drei in Malaysia oder die schnellste Rennrunde beim GP Europa einfahren. Als Toyota Ende 2009 aus der Formel-1 ausstieg, fand Timo Glock mit Virgin Racing seinen neuen, aktuellen Rennstall.

Damit Timo Glock bei seinen Rennen topfit am Start steht, ist Sport enorm wichtig. Logisch, dass Rennradfahren als Ausdauertraining und somit als Vorbereitung auf lange Einsätze bestens geeignet ist. Mit dem MERIDA REACTO steht dem sympathischen Formel-1-Pilot ein Trainingsgerät zur Verfügung, das bestens zu seinem Charakter passt – eben immer in und auf allem sitzen zu wollen, was schnell ist!

Nähere Infos auf www.merida-bikes.com

“After coming back from the summer break and achieving the ninth double finish of the season in Spa, we clearly know the way to continue and we just have to demonstrate our excellent reliability until the end of the season.” says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.
“From the legendary Spa-Francorchamps we move on to another historic and prestigious track, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. It’s another classic Grand Prix of real racing which we all look forward to and it’s a special track with a wonderful atmosphere and where all the teams receive some support from the Tifosi.
“Monza is the fastest circuit of the year, with four long straights and fast corners that enable the cars to reach high speeds. Drivers are on full throttle for most of the lap, making it a very demanding track for the engine. So
here the emphasis is on engine power and aerodynamic efficiency, which require the cars to be set up with a special low-downforce aerodynamic profile to minimise drag. This can make the car a bit difficult to handle, particularly on the brakes for the first and second chicanes. The famous Lesmos, Ascari and Parabolica turns are
all about balance: if the driver has the right balance then he has the confidence to carry speed through the corner and into the next straight.
“So we face the final part of the season with confidence and ready for the flyaways which we have already started packing for. After coming back from the summer break and achieving the ninth double finish of the season in Spa, we clearly know the way to continue and we just have to demonstrate our excellent reliability until the end of the season.”
‘‘I always enjoy driving at this fantastic track as it’s the fastest on the Formula One calendar so it’s always a
real challenge.” says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.
“Monza is a fantastic track situated in the heart of the town, just outside Milan. The track is generally flat, but
has gradual gradient from the second Lesmos to the Variante Ascari and the grip here is very low due to the aerodynamic profile needed. Understeer is also more of an issue here than at other tracks, however, we do experience oversteer in the second sector.
“I always enjoy driving at this fantastic track as it’s the fastest on the Formula One calendar so it’s always a real
challenge. The Variante Ascari is probably one of my favourite parts of the track as well as the Parabolica, where the real challenge is to brake as late as possible.”

Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Timo Glock finished in 18th positions in a fascinating Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit today.
Unfortunately, Timo had a difficult start when he locked his front tyres at Turn 1 and crashed into Paul Di Resta. He was forced to pit for a new front wing and to enable the team to check for damage but was able to continue in the race, although he did incur a drive through penalty. With Jérôme in 17th position chasing the HRT cars, Timo was in 22nd position. A Safety Car period which closed the field again provided the perfect opportunity for both Timo and Jérôme to pit. From then on they both ran a solid race, achieving Marussia Virgin Racing’s ninth two-car finish of the season.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It was a bad start to the race as I made a mistake into Turn 1. I hit the brakes, locked the front tyres and had no
chance to avoid the crash with Paul Di Resta. Unfortunately I destroyed his car and his race a bit, so I have to say sorry for that - it was my mistake. But I got a penalty for it and had to pit to get a new front wing and check the car as it felt a bit strange after we hit. But in the end I just tried to bring the car back home, closing the gap and overtaking one of the HRTs. I have to say the boys did a great job with the pit stops and overall I’m happy with
the result.”

John Booth, Team Principal
"Timo had a very good start but was perhaps a little ambitious with his braking for the first corner, and his ensuing coming-together with Paul di Resta meant that he had to stop for a nose change on the first lap. The Safety Car enabled him to get back into the race and, once he had overtaken Liuzzi, his race was really about trying to catch up to Jérôme. We’re pleased with the reliability of both cars, however we didn’t quite get our fuel consumption predictions correct from the Friday data, which meant for the second half of the race both drivers were having to work hard on their fuel saving. Again the pit crew performed well in what was quite an eventful race for them.”

The qualifying session for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix proved a challenging experience for drivers and engineers up and down the pitlane this afternoon, thanks to the changeable climatic conditions and track incidents.
Marussia Virgin Racing were no exception. The wet conditions in Free Practice 3 this morning provided Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio with the opportunity to put both the Pirelli P-Zero Intermediate and Extreme Wet tyres through their paces and prepare for similar conditions in qualifying should they arise. For a time it looked likely that qualifying may remain dry but then rain started to fall just a few minutes prior to the start of the session. Intermediate tyres were fitted to both cars but the conditions were mixed across the lap, with the pit lane being much drier than sector two, which was actually quite wet. The rain ceased but the track was never dry enough for slicks and seven minutes before the end of Q1, Timo decided to come in for a new Intermediate tyres, having been unhappy with his first set. On the last lap of his second run he posted a time good for 20th position.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“In general today’s qualifying was quite okay, but for some reason we had a lot of trouble in the first stint, on the first set of tyres, because we made a change from Free Practice 3 to qualifying and maybe it wasn’t the correct one. It was really difficult. I then came in for a new set of Intermediate tyres and in general I think the lap was okay, even though on the data the lap looked more like a Rally lap! Nevertheless we got the most out of the car and I’m happy with the result.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“This morning, with the rain at the start of the session being quite heavy, we opted to give both drivers a run on
the Extreme Wet tyre to give them some preparation for these conditions should they arise in qualifying. In the
event, qualifying was slightly tricky in that the rain at the start of the session was not necessarily so evident in the pit lane but certainly in the second sector it was clear the track was rather wet. We started both cars on the
Intermediate tyre and it was our expectation that the track would dry. In actual fact, the second sector remained quite wet. Timo was very unhappy with his first set of Inter-mediates so we opted to fit a new set close to the end of Q1. We are expecting a dry race tomorrow and this will provide a further challenge for both the drivers and the engineers, since we have gathered very little dry tyre or set-up data this weekend.”

The first two Free Practice sessions for the Belgian Grand Prix took place today at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit,
marking the start of the second part of the 2011 Formula One season following the summer break.Thanks to the typically changeable Ardennes weather conditions, both Timo and Jérôme were only able to complete 13 laps each. At the start of the second Free Practice session the track was still damp but the sun was shining. Both Timo and Jérôme were able to spend more time on track than in the morning. It started raining halfway through the session and it was Timo who broke the silence and went out under these tricky conditions, unfortunately touching the white line and spinning. But he recovered well to complete 23 laps.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“It’s been a typical Friday in Spa and we could say that the weather dictated the day today. We were able to drive in wet and dry conditions and the car felt good. The morning session was not too bad and in the afternoon we tried to do some running in dry conditions, which was okay. The tyres are not perfect at the moment so we still have some work to do.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“A slightly frustrating day in some respects, as most of our planning as usual was based around a dry session and we had plenty of items we wanted to evaluate, in particular in P1. But at least we have furthered our knowledge of the Pirelli Intermediate tyres. Most of the day was centred on trying different rear wing levels, as well as trials of some different front wings. The tests of these components are perhaps not as scientific as we would like due to the changeable conditions but we have gained some useful information which we will use overnight. There is a chance of rain tomorrow in Qualifying so both drivers have had a reasonable amount of time to prepare their wet set-ups. However, with the race looking almost certain to be dry, we will have to take some decisions and
compromises overnight.”

Am Mittwoch findet die Feier „50 Jahre Kart-Club Kerpen-Manheim“ statt. Leider wird Timo Glock nicht teilnehmen können, da er kurzfristig nach England zu seinem Team fliegen muss. Timo wünscht dem Kartclub und den Fans eine tolle Feier und seinen Kollegen viel Spaß beim Racing!

“After having a couple of weeks off over the factory shutdown period, we’ve all come back refreshed, ready and looking forward to the second part of the season. We are raring to go and want to put in another good performance at the Belgian Grand Prix to continue with the good run of double-car finishes we enjoyed in the first part of the season. From Canada onwards we have been able to finish every single race with both our cars staying out of trouble and showing good reliability, so we’ve got to make sure we hang on to our good form." says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“Spa-Francorchamps is an excellent track to start the eight-race run to the end of the season. It’s a classic race of the Formula One season, with a mix of high and low-speed corners separated by long straights, making it a proper mid-downforce track. It’s important to have good change of direction at this 7.004 km track as so many of the corners lead into one another and having a stable rear end in high speed is also vital. The weather is always unpredictable so we will have to be ready to react during the weekend.

“To come back racing in Spa is a perfect way to pick up the rest of the season. It’s one of my favourite races, it’s a fascinating layout and a historical circuit.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver.

“After the back-to-back races of Germany and Hungary it was really nice to have a break and relax, but now I can’t wait for the second part of the year. To come back racing in Spa is a perfect way to pick up the rest of the season. It’s one of my favourite races, it’s a fascinating layout and a historical circuit.

“The track is very fast and long, with some very tricky corners, so any small mistake ruins the lap. The weather is often a factor, especially due to its changeable conditions. Rain can come very quickly here, but this is part of the thrill of racing here. I’m really excited and I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead.”

Marussia Virgin Racing driver Timo Glock 17th at the Hungarian Grand Prix today in Budapest.

Timo started the race on Pirelli P-Zero Intermediate tyres as it was drizzling with rain minutes before the start of the race. With a wet and slippery track at 18°C, Timo got off to a good start and were running in 17th positions at the end of the first lap.

With the track drying and the weather forecast indicating that it wasn’t going to rain for the following 30 minutes, both drivers pitted on lap 11 and put slick tyres on.

After 17 laps on the Option tyres, both cars came in for Primes and were running well in 18th position. Timo stayed out and pitted a third and final time towards the end of the race. Timo finished in 17th position, Marussia Virgin Racing achieved its 8th double finish of the season.


Timo Glock

“A very interesting race today, I have to say, and very good fun. I got a great start and got ahead of Heidfeld and some other guys in faster cars and was able to stay in front of them. They obviously were able to get past me after it started to dry and I just concentrated on my own race, managing to hold the gap behind me. Then when it started to rain, we made the right decision, staying on the slicks. It wasn’t easy to stay on track today as we saw, but we got the right result in the end. A great team performance in tricky conditions, making all the right decisions and some great pit stops which made all the difference. Thanks to everyone for their hard work in the long run up to race 11 and now they deserve an enjoyable break so we can come back fighting again in Spa.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“An incredible start for Timo on the opening laps of the race. In wet conditions he managed to fight with cars which are normally several seconds quicker than us in the dry. The rest of Timo’s race went pretty seamlessly with both him and his engineers on the wall making good decisions, particularly in the period where we had rain at around two thirds distance, and he remained out on slicks. Jérôme was also performing well, but his decision to fit intermediate tyres wasn’t correct. However, in the position he was in, had there been any more rain, it could have worked. The pit crew have been exemplary today, with good consistent stops under difficult conditions. The final pit stops for both drivers were affected by a slippery surface on the way into the pit box and unfortunately this caught Jérôme out.

“Overall, at this point in the season we are very happy with our reliability but realise there’s still work to be done in terms of performance. It’s been a rollercoaster ride of a last few weeks for the whole team but with plenty of highs. Now everyone leaves for a well-deserved break and I’m sure all the batteries will be recharged ready for Spa.”

The track temperature was already up to 33°C this morning at the start of the third and final Free Practice session. After both Timo and Jérôme wrapping up an early installation lap, they were quickly out on track again to optimise their set-ups for qualifying and tomorrow’s race, completing 20.

At the start of qualifying the track was slightly cooler at 31°C due to the wind that had picked up late morning, Timo and Jérôme opted to run two sets of Option tyres and both drivers set their fastest times in the second run. Despite qualifying 21st today, Timo will start tomorrow’s race from 20th position as Sebastien Buemi will drop five grid places on his qualifying position as penalty for his collision with Nick Heidfeld in last week’s German Grand Prix.


Timo Glock

“It hasn’t been an easy weekend so far. Yesterday the car was okay, not perfect, but at least we had a good baseline for today. But then unfortunately the wind picked up this morning and it felt like it just blew our car off the track a little bit. It was very difficult this morning as I had no balance and I really had to work around the set-up. We tried a lot of different combinations and I have to say that my engineers did a very good job. As a team we picked the right set-up in the end and I had a very good qualifying lap. I got the best out of the car and collected a lot of data, and now we have to see why the car is more difficult to drive under these conditions. But I’m happy with my work today.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Both cars started taking a set-up direction that had seemed positive in FP2. This morning, while Jérôme was happy with his balance, Timo was less so, and this may partly be due to the strong wind conditions seen today. Going into qualifying, Jérôme kept his FP3 set-up , while Timo made some significant changes to improve his balance from FP3. Both cars got clean laps and Timo was happier with the car in qualifying. We opted to save a set of new Option tyres for the race tomorrow and we hope this decision will ensure both cars have a strong race.”

After an early installation lap, both Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio spent part of the morning session conducting aero tests. It wasn’t until halfway through the session that Timo established his first timed lap. Timo completed 30 laps.

In the afternoon, and with the track providing more grip than in the first session, the drivers continued to complete their programme, using the data gathered in the morning session to improve the overall performance of the car. Timo added another 33 laps to his tally.


Timo Glock, Race Driver #24

“This morning was all about aero runs, which is always useful as we are able to collect plenty of data. In the afternoon we worked on the set-up and on some ideas for tomorrow. The main issue at the moment is the tyres, as they are proving to be quite difficult to handle this week, so we will have to have a good look before tomorrow.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“It’s been a busy Friday for us. In the morning we completed plenty of pre-planned aero tests on both cars. Unfortunately, Jérôme’s changes took longer than expected and he also had a small issue with the set-up of his steering, but in general it was a positive first session. In the afternoon fortunately the weather remained dry and we were able to continue the set-up work on the two cars. At times in the session, we have had the two cars set up quite differently and we need to analyse carefully the data gathered in order to decide how we approach tomorrow. This weekend the tyres are going to play a big part and this will also influence the decisions we take. It’s clear that our pace is not quite what we’ve been used to for the last few races, so we need to try to add some significant performance to the cars overnight.”

Timo Glock

“Hungary is always one of my favourite races of the season. In 2008 I scored my first ever Formula One podium here, so the Hungaroring holds very special memories. Budapest is also a unique city and I always enjoy the race weekend here, where the atmosphere is always great.

“It’s a very challenging and physical track but its always good fun to drive. The circuit generates an incredible amount of grip as the weekend gets underway, which can provide a real challenge in finding the right set-up for the race. It combines very short straights and many corners that require a lot of focus as one leads into the next without any recovery time. After my home race in Germany, I feel very positive looking forward to the weekend ahead.”


John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal

“This is the last Grand Prix before the summer break, so we hope to put in another good performance before a well-deserved rest for the team.”

“The Hungarian Grand Prix will be the conclusion to a very busy and positive period for the team following the important announcements that have taken place this month. We are clearly taking strong and steady steps forward and this makes us confident.

“After packing the garage and trucks and heading to Hungary in the space of only two days, we arrive to what is going to be one of the toughest races of the season in terms of technical and physical demands. The tight and twisty layout makes it a real challenge for the drivers, which have to drive to the limit during the whole lap.

“This 4.381 km track requires a high downforce level as well as good mechanical grip. The surface is quite bumpy and even though overtaking has traditionally been very difficult here, this should change now with DRS and the Pirelli tyres. This is the last Grand Prix before the summer break, so we hope to put in another good performance before a well-deserved rest for the team.”

Marussia Virgin Racing celebrated its new long-term agreement with Timo Glock by achieving its seventh double finish of the season at today’s German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, with Timo finishing in 17th position.

It was spitting with rain on the grid minutes before the start of the race, but both Timo and Jérôme decided to start the race on the Pirelli P-Zero Option tyres. Timo got off to a good start and gained two positions straight away.

Timo’s first stint was extended because of his good pace on track and he finally pitted on lap 22. Timo put Options back on and rejoined the race in 18th positions. Timo was comfortably pulling away from Vitantonio Liuzzi.

With only 12 laps remaining, Timo stopped for Prime tyres. Both drivers set their fastest laps of the race on their final laps.


Timo Glock
“After a positive start to the day with the announcement about my future with the team, it was quite a difficult race today. I struggled with the braking system from the middle of the race onwards and I wasn’t able to push late on in the race, so we have to look into the problem. Otherwise thanks to the team for a good weekend at my home Grand Prix. A shame it was so cold for everyone but we head to Hungary now for better weather and I hope we can have another good result there.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“This is a great way to end Timo’s home race weekend. After announcing a new long-term contract with him this morning, the day ended in a positive way as we achieved another double finish. We knew that the Option tyres would work better, which is why we completed most of the race with them and waited until the very end to use the Primes. We had a small issue with Timo’s braking system towards the end of the race and this slowed his pace. Overall, a pleasing result with the team working well under pressure. We now complete a quick turnaround and travel over to Hungary for what we hope will be another good weekend.”

Vertragsverlängerung um drei Jahre!
Timo Glock hält Marussia Virgin die Treue


Timo Glock: “Ich fühle mich bei Marussia Virgin Racing sehr wohl. Deshalb habe ich mich dazu entschieden, in den nächsten drei Jahren weiter am Aufbau des Teams mitzuwirken. Ich bin stolz, ein Teil dieses Teams zu sein und freue mich auf alles, was wir in Zukunft miteinander erreichen werden. Insbesondere durch das Engagement von Marussia Motors sowie die Partnerschaft mit McLaren sehe ich sehr große Chancen für eine erfolgreiche Zukunft!“



Contract extension for three more years!
Timo Glock keeps faith with Marussia Virgin


Timo Glock: “I feel very comfortable with Marussia Virgin Racing. This is the reason why I decided to contribute to the development of the team for the next three years. I am very proud to be a part of this team and I am looking forward to all we will achieve together in the future. With the direct involvement of Marussia Motors, together with the new partnership with McLaren, I see a great opportunity for a very successful future.“

The Qualifying session for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix took place today in chilly conditions at the Nürburgring. Timo Glock will start his home race from 20th position on the grid.

During this morning’s third and final Free Practice session both drivers continued working to finalise the set-up for qualifying and the race. With an air temperature of 12°C and a track temperature of 19°C, the main difficulty again was to get heat into the tyres.

Timo and Jérôme were the first drivers out on track at the start of the qualifying hour, which was held in very similar temperatures to this morning – air 14°C, track 22°C. Both drivers completed a total of 12 laps each using the Option tyre and set their fastest times in the second stint.


Timo Glock
“The car was not easy to drive today, by any means. We had the same problem in Silverstone in similarly windy conditions and our car is just very sensitive to that. We have to understand why because without the little mistakes, too much oversteer and being too much over the limit to trying to get the maximum out of the car, we could have been four or five tenths quicker. I was pushing hard and I drove a good lap I think. I just want to get more out of the car. We still managed to split the Lotus cars and in better conditions I think we could have a good race, so we will see what tomorrow brings. The fans have been great here and thanks to them for their support in my home race.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“We spent a lot of time last night going through all of the information we had collected during Friday, paying particular attention to the aerodynamic data. As a result of this, we made some quite significant changes to both cars overnight. The drivers were happy with these and were able to work on further set-up improvements during FP3. We seem to be starting to understand where some of our issues lie, particularly during the last two race weekends when we’ve experienced cold track temperatures and windy conditions. These aren’t suiting our car at present but we will keep working to solve these issues. We chose to do two long runs during the qualifying session to take advantage of the Option tyres that are being so consistent. Both drivers did a good job today managing the traffic and we achieved a good result, ending up with one car in front of a Lotus. We are happy with today’s performance and we look forward to tomorrow’s race.”

The first two Free Practice sessions for Timo Glock’s home Grand Prix at the Nürburgring took place today in the typically cool conditions provided by the Eifel mountains.

With a track temperature of only 19°C, the morning session started with both Timo and Jérôme focusing on engine and aero mapping tests. Both drivers tried out different set-up directions based on what the team learned last week at the straight line test at RAF Cottesmore in the UK. After deciding to save the Pirelli P-Zero development tyres for the second session of the day, the main difficulty for the drivers was getting the Prime tyres up to temperature when they were out on track. Timo completed 23 laps and Jérôme, 22.

In the afternoon the track conditions improved, with both drivers on Option tyres improving on their morning lap times. Timo completed a further 32 laps, achieving a total of 55 laps.


Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“This morning we wanted to focus on our aero program and therefore we didn’t do any real set-up work, so we only used the Prime tyres, which are slower than the two soft options. I think the second session was reasonable for us. I’m not 100% happy but I think it was a good start to the weekend. I felt comfortable in the car and I’m very happy to be in Germany and racing at home in front of the fantastic German fans.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“The morning session was spent in part going over some old ground, confirming the engine mapping direction to ensure we were getting maximum aero performance. We also experimented with some set-ups which we arrived at from the data we collected at the straight line test. There is certainly quite a significant difference between the Prime and Option tyres, particularly at the start of the run, and in fact with Timo we opted not to run the Prime tyres in the second session to get more useful set-up work. At the end of the session we’ve acquired even more data than we would normally achieve on a Friday to go through, which we are hopeful will yield some improvements that we can apply overnight.”

“We have seen an improvement in pace over the last few races and after our sixth double finish of the season last time out, we have clearly demonstrated strong reliability. So we arrive in Germany in high spirits and with the desire to put in another good performance.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“After a positive weekend on home soil at Silverstone, we are looking forward to getting to Germany to continue with our positive progress. We have seen an improvement in pace over the last few races and after our sixth double finish of the season last time out, we have clearly demonstrated strong reliability.

“So we arrive in Germany in high spirits and with the desire to put in another good performance after a weekend in Sochi engaging with our Russian fans. This is also Timo’s home race, so he will be even more encouraged to do well in front of his home crowd. The Nürburgring, where the weather is always notoriously unpredictable, is a historical circuit with a good mix of corners, mostly slow and medium speed. The cars tend to understeer here, so a well matched mechanical and aerodynamic balance is needed to compensate this. It’s a track with quite a lot of grip and it’s not particularly demanding on the brakes.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the German fans. It will be great to feel their support and to have my friends and family around me. It’s always such a special feeling, it’s hard to describe.”
says Timo Glock

“I’m really looking forward to my home Grand Prix in Germany. It’s great to be back at the Nűrburgring, a track where I’ve enjoyed some very good races and a lot of success in the past in Formula BMW, F3 and GP2 as well as F1. The track itself is good fun. The first part is quite technical and the rest is really quite easy to drive.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the German fans. It will be great to feel their support and to have my friends and family around me. It’s always such a special feeling, it’s hard to describe. As I do at every race, I will do everything possible to achieve another strong result for the team.”

Next weekend (16-17 July), the Marussia Virgin Racing Formula One team embarks on the journey towards Sochi 2014 - the venue for the much-anticipated inaugural Russian Grand Prix – by taking part in the Formula Sochi Speed Festival on the city’s streets.

The team’s Race drivers Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio will provide the Russian fans with the breath-taking experience of seeing a Formula One car at close quarters on a temporary circuit built around the Black Sea resort on Sunday 17 July.

The first ever Russian race will become a home Grand Prix for the only Anglo-Russian team on the grid, which has taken some bold steps in recent weeks to match its bold ambition to be in a position to compete for a podium finish in Sochi in three years’ time.

In addition to the on-track action, Timo and Jérôme will take part in a busy programme of promotional activities which, in keeping with the team’s fan-friendly personality, will be key to connecting Formula One with the sport’s burgeoning Russian following. Marussia Motors, a major investor and title sponsor of the Marussia Virgin Racing team, will also showcase its first Russian supercar.


John Booth, Team Principal

“This is our first trip to Russia as a team and we are very excited about it. Marussia Virgin Racing’s first Russian connection was made at the team’s inception in 2010, when Marussia Motors became one of our sponsors. During the course of that year they witnessed at close quarters the tremendous passion, commitment and determination within the team and in November last year decided to invest in us. We are now extremely proud to be competing under a Russian licence and to underline our determination to succeed we have recently announced a new Technical Partnership with McLaren and a new technical base for the team. This is just the start of what we hope will be a very warm relationship with the Russian fans. We are honoured to be bringing the Formula One experience to them in Sochi next weekend and we hope that they will take Marussia Virgin Racing to their hearts.”


Nikolay Fomenko, Marussia Virgin Racing Engineering Director, Marussia Motors President

“Holding the 2014 Russian Grand Prix in Sochi is a huge step towards getting the Russian public really interested in motorsport. Both Marussia Virgin Racing – the only team with a Russian licence in Formula One – and Marussia Motors, the first Russian supercar producer, are doing all they can to develop young racing talent and very soon we hope to have the next generation of Russians represented on this ladder to success. We set ourselves some challenging aims as Marussia Virgin Racing intends to compete for the podium of the first Russian Grand Prix, and we are working very hard to achieve this.”


Timo Glock

“Having competed in Formula One for five seasons, I can honestly say that one of the best things about the sport is the fact that it blends the more traditional circuits with some fantastic new international territories and I love experiencing new cultures and meeting new fans. I can’t wait to visit Sochi and show the Russian fans what a Formula One car can do. I’m sure we’ll get the chance to put on a really good show and start to build an important relationship with a country that the team is already starting to think of as home. Watch out Sochi!”

Marussia Virgin Racing achieved its sixth double finish of the season today at its home Grand Prix at Silverstone as both Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio crossed the line after a consistent and well-fought race.

A rain shower an hour before the start of the race meant that the track was still very wet around the old start-finish straight when the cars made their exploration laps. The choice of tyres was by no means certain, with the final decision being made on the grid.

They both started the race on the Pirelli P-Zero Intermediate tyres. After eight laps a dry line was beginning to form and the challenge was to find the optimum time to stop for slicks. On lap 11 both Timo and Jérôme stopped for soft ‘Option’ tyres and shortly afterwards. In order to minimize time lost due to blue flags, the team wanted to run a two-stop strategy, using two sets of Options. Towards the end of the race, Jérôme suffered from degradation of his front left tyre, but both Timo and he were able to get to the finish in 16th and 17th positions respectively.


Timo Glock

“A good race for us today and a good result for the team in getting both cars to the finish in our home Grand Prix. It was quite a normal race for us I would say. I got a good start and a good first lap. The first couple of corners were a bit of a mess but when everything started to settle down I was in front of Jarno and could hold my pace okay to stay in front of him. After they were out of the race I had a relatively easy time. It wasn’t possible to gain places so I didn’t push too hard; I just concentrated on achieving our objective today which was another two-car finish. I’m happy for us and hope for more of the same in my home race in Germany in two weeks’ time.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“A good finish to the team’s home race weekend, not only with both cars finishing but also a clear positive in terms of an improvement in pace. Timo managed the 17th fastest lap in the race. The engineers coped well with the decision that had to be taken on the grid with the tyres and determined a good strategy. This was all helped with some good pit-stop work by the mechanics, including some late calls and coping well with both drivers stopping on the same lap. We’ve got a busy week ahead before the next race in Germany, with an aero test at RAF Cottesmore and also further rig tests. We are all looking forward to maintaining our current form at Timo’s home race.”

Timo Glock and Jérôme d’Ambrosio enjoyed a positive qualifying session for Marussia Virgin Racing’s home race, Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The day had dawned brighter than the cool and damp conditions in which the first two sessions of Free Practice were held yesterday, meaning that the team had an hour of Free Practice this morning to optimise a dry set-up for qualifying and tomorrow’s race. The two cars ran faultlessly through the reduced programme, and both drivers were able to evaluate the behaviour of Pirelli’s Hard and Soft compound P-Zero tyres during the session. There was limited scope for evaluating tyre degradation though, which means that a flexible strategy will be required for tomorrow’s race. During the session, Timo completed 18 laps.

Shortly before qualifying was due to start, the skies darkened and there were forecasts of rain mid-session. All teams were able to complete their first runs, but as Timo began a run on his second set of tyres he reported that rain was falling. Very soon the rain had spread over the whole circuit and it became clear that no further improvements could be expected. Timo completed seven laps in the session and was classified 20th; Jérôme was 22nd after six laps.


Timo Glock

“I’m quite happy with where we are today - I’m P20, I got Trulli and it was a pretty good lap. The car didn’t feel great in the dry this morning, so we made some changes, but it still wasn’t quite there. I gave it everything for that one lap though and did quite well. We’re never quite sure what Silverstone will bring in terms of the changing weather, so I like this kind of qualifying where you just have to hammer down for a lap to get a banker in early and sure enough the rain came. With a new set of tyres you have this one magic moment to make it all come good and I just made the best of it at the right time. There was a small mistake on my part but I got ahead of my immediate competitors so I have to be pleased. I’m very excited for our home race tomorrow.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“With better conditions today we were able to start our dry set-up work and tyre evaluations, although FP3 wasn’t without rain and this did mean that we haven’t quite got all the data we required from the tyres. Timo performed well in FP3 but was never really with the way the car felt, particularly compared with the well-balanced car that he had in Valencia. Working with his engineers he made some fairly comprehensive set-up changes before qualifying, which is always a risk. However he was happier with the car in his first run and posted an impressive lap. The rain at the start of FP3 cut short a planned long run for Jérôme, which would have given us more tyre data. However, Jérôme used the opportunity to complete some set-up work that ultimately both cars benefited from. It’s a shame Jérôme didn’t get the second run in qualifying, as I’m sure he would have improved.”

Timo Glock and Jérôme d’Ambrosio got Marussia Virgin Racing’s home race underway in the first two Free Practice sessions for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone today, the first time that the impressive new pits and paddock complex had been used in anger for Formula One.

The unseasonal weather conditions confined Timo and Jérôme’s MVR-02 racecars to the garage for much of the day, with Timo completing 17 laps.

Pirelli have brought the Hard and Soft compound Pirelli P-Zero tyres as Prime and Option, but the team did not use any of their allocation of dry tyres, running only on Intermediate or Extreme Wet tyres throughout the day, depending on the amount of water on track at the time.

The weather was varied throughout the day, with damp and rainy spells interspersed with sunshine. There was no dry line on the track, which had a peak temperature of 20°C and the air temperature climbed only as high as 18°C.

The second session started just a few minutes after a heavy shower and Timo was the first driver to venture out on track for a systems check. Periods of sunshine allowed occasional running, and by the end of the session Timo had added 10 more laps to his tally.


Timo Glock

“We’ve experienced typical English weather today. It was quite wet in the first session, even though it dried towards the end, and I was generally happy with the car. During the second Free Practice we were waiting for better conditions and at the end I went out again on my first set of tyres from this morning. I was just driving around and waiting for the conditions to improve. My tyres were very worn and I ended up with a lot of aquaplaning, so I just focused on keeping the car on track.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Although the rain has provided us with the opportunity to conduct some further wet weather set-up on the Pirelli tyres, it has rather disrupted our planned programme. In FP1 we had intended to do some more aero evaluations on certain parts of the car and also gather some of the basic numbers we require due to the new pit lane layout. Both cars have stepped through some pre-planned wet set-up work, which we had in the bag should we encounter a wet session. Apart from Canada, which is a fairly unique circuit, we hadn’t had the opportunity until now to perform these tests, so I’m sure these will provide useful information which may not necessarily be applied here, but which may be used later in the year. It looks like the weather is set to improve over the next two days so tomorrow morning will be a busy session. I’m sure the engineers and mechanics will relish that first opportunity for some dry running in order to set the car up for qualifying.”

Lightning McQueen, the star of Disney.Pixar’s ‘Cars 2’, arrived in the Silverstone Paddock today to meet up with the Marussia Virgin Racing team. Drivers Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio, in their new Disney.Pixar ‘Cars 2’ branded racesuits, posed with Lightning, one of the stars of the film, and some of his fans at the start of the team’s home Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone.

The Marussia Virgin Racing Weekend at Stowe School is the next stop for Lightning McQueen later today where he will spend time with the drivers and team as well as 400 members of the Marussia Virgin Racing fan fraternity, who are gathering for three days of racing, music and entertainment.


Timo Glock commented:

“It’s great being involved with a film like Cars 2 which introduces car racing to a whole new audience.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of racing in front of the British crowd many times and for British teams and it’s a very special feeling to know that everyone is rooting for you regardless of nationality.”
says Timo Glock

“It already feels like it’s been a great week for the team and we haven’t even started racing yet. I’m very pleased about everything that is happening right now as I believe we can really start to move forward. We’re very clear about where we need to get to and how we’re going to do it, so I’m feeling very excited for the future of our team.

“These next two races are going to be pretty crazy – it’s the team’s home race and then my own in Germany just two weeks later, so I should lose a few kilos because of the schedule alone! I’ve had the pleasure of racing in front of the British crowd many times, and for British teams, and it’s a very special feeling to know that everyone is rooting for you regardless of nationality. Last year was pretty special because it was our team’s first home race and its where our fan activities really began with the Stowe event, which was incredible. I hear it’s going to be bigger and better this year, so I’m looking forward to that.

“Essentially not too much about Silverstone has changed with the modifications – the track is much the same, although we start and finish the lap at a different place. It has always been one of the best circuits on the calendar – a lot of fun with some very challenging corners. There’s usually a bit of English weather to throw into the mix - the cool and windy conditions can be quite unsettling for the cars through the long exposed straights, not to mention the rain which is coming for the weekend. It should be a great event on and off the track.”

Formel-1-Rennfahrer Timo Glock lädt über Facebook zum Radeln ein

Meckenbeuren / lix Da geht was: Rennfahrer Timo Glock ist am Sonntag in Meckenbeuren von vier heißen Formel-1-Reifen aufs Rennrad umgestiegen. Der Bike-Hersteller Centurion Merida hatte dazu auf Facebook eingeladen. Und gut zwei Dutzend Radrennfahrer waren dieser Einladung gefolgt, um von Meckenbeuren Richtung Bregenzer Wald und über Romanshorn mit der Fähre wieder zurück an die Schussen zu radeln. Rund 125 Kilometer legten die Radrennfahrer zurück. Nach der Premiere hofft Timo Glock auf ein Wiedersehen im kommenden Jahr.

Quelle: www.schwaebische.de

JOIN THE RIDE !!! MERIDA und Ich laden ein zur Bodensee-Ausfahrt am Sonntag, 3. Juli 2011. Treffpunkt: Saikls Meckenbeuren (http://www.saikls-meckenbeuren.de/) um 9.30 Uhr, Abfahrt: 10 Uhr. Wir fahren eine Strecke von etwa 125 km mit flachem bis welligen Profil.

www.saikls-meckenbeuren.de

Voraussetzung: Du bist das Fahren in einer Gruppe gewohnt und hast schon ein paar Kilometer Grundlagen in den Beinen. MERIDA behält sich vor, die Größe der Gruppe zu reglementieren, um die Sicherheit aller Mitfahrenden nicht zu gefährden. Achtung: Helmpflicht! Wir freuen uns auf euch - FEEL THE HEAT !!!

Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Timo Glock and Jérôme d’Ambrosio increased the team’s season tally of double finishes to five today when they took the chequered flag at the European Grand Prix, held on the Valencia Street Circuit.

Timo Glock got off to a fantastic start, gaining three positions on the first lap, moving up to 18th position. Unfortunately he was unable to hold off his rivals once DRS had been enabled.

From this point on, both drivers were effectively running on their own, using a two stop strategy to good effect to get to the flag. The race was finished by all the cars on the grid, only the third time in the history of Formula One that this has happened.


Timo Glock

“Quite a positive weekend for us I think. Everything ran smoothly and I had no real problems during the three days. In the race itself I had a very good opening lap and I overtook both the Lotus cars and a Toro Rosso, although he got right back past me straight away. Once the DRS was enabled I couldn’t keep Heikki and Jarno behind me and after that I just ran my own race. I was quite comfortable being able to run at a good pace although at the end we had a bit of a fuel pick-up problem and I had to save fuel. But in general I’m very happy with the weekend and I’ve retained my lap record here. It’s a bit of a shame to have a good race and still finish 21st where you started, but with nobody having technical issues or first lap incidents, that’s all you can do.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Overall a pleasing result with both cars taking the flag and Jérôme improving from his qualifying position yesterday by overtaking Liuzzi on track. This means that the cars finished in the correct pace order compared to our direct rivals. Looking on the positive side, we seem to have moved closer towards our nearest competitor ahead of us on the grid, however with such strong reliability throughout the field it’s a little disappointing to end up 21st and 22nd. We got the strategy about right, although perhaps we should have stopped Jerome slightly earlier in the first stint as he was just falling into the second stage of tyre degradation but unfortunately we were already stopping Timo on that lap. Towards the end of the race with Timo we spotted an issue with fuel dropouts in turn 1, which meant he was having to back off. We now head back to the factory for a longer than usual period, ahead of our home race at Silverstone. We are all very excited about working in the new pits and we’re hoping to keep up our current momentum for the next few races.”

The qualifying session for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix in Valencia ended with the two Marussia Virgin Racing cars of Timo Glock and Jérôme d’Ambrosio classified 21st and 23rd.

In the morning session, the team worked through a busy programme without any problems to finalise the set-up for qualifying and the race. As in yesterday’s afternoon session, the team ran both Medium and Soft Pirelli P-Zero tyres over various distances, including simulation of a qualifying run.

By the start of qualifying, the track temperature had risen to 44°C - much higher than during the previous session - but both drivers were immediately up to speed. The number of laps required on each set of tyres meant that three qualifying runs is not a viable proposition and both drivers expected to set their fastest laps on their second run. Timo was able to achieve this, despite encountering traffic.


Timo Glock

“I’m very pleased with how things have gone so far this weekend and today my car crew did an amazing job, so thanks to them as everything has been very smooth. One little mistake we made was sending me out in a bit of traffic on my second run. Petrov blocked me into turn one which put me in the way of other cars which were on a fast lap and I had to get out of the way, so I didn’t get the best chance on my second set of tyres and therefore set my best time on my third timed lap. Overall though a much better day. I was only 0.3s away from Trulli, my lap was good and hopefully we can have a good race with Lotus tomorrow.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“As we’ve seen on a number of occasions this year, it’s a case of mixed results. Timo continued his good start to the weekend and stepped through some set-up changes in FP3 which seem to have improved the car again, so going into qualifying he was happy with the balance of the car. Unfortunately we made a little mistake with the timing of his second run which undoubtedly lost him some time as he was unable to set his time on the optimum lap for the tyres. With this in mind we are looking forward to the race tomorrow where I’m sure further improvements will be seen.”

After crossing the Pond to Canada, the Formula One Championship headed back to Europe this week for the second of two Grands Prix to be held in Spain. Action for the European Grand Prix weekend got underway today at the Valencia Street Circuit with the first two sessions of Free Practice for Sunday’s race.

The street circuit is not used between Grands Prix, and the location of the track in a partially industrial area of the city inevitably means there is a lot of dust on the circuit at the beginning of a race weekend. Although conditions were dry and warm, there was little grip early in the session, so Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio concentrated on gathering aero data during the initial short runs. Afterwards the team worked on car balance making several planned set-up changes throughout the session.

Pirelli have brought the Medium specification P-Zero tyre as Prime and the Soft specification as Option, and the team took the opportunity to use both types of rubber in the second session, with Jerome looking at tyre degradation and Timo evaluating set-up options. As expected the track improved throughout the day and at the end of the second session Timo was classified 21st.

The weather was warm and sunny with an air temperature of 26 °C and a track temperature of 36°C,.


Timo Glock

“It has been quite a busy Friday, especially this afternoon. We went through the normal programme and everything feels fine so far. The tyres feel a bit different but the rest is okay. I think we got a lot of good data out of some aero runs we did this morning, and that will hopefully give us a good direction for the future. So far, so good.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Overall we’re pleased with how both practice sessions went today. In general we seem in a slightly better position than in Canada – perhaps more like where we were in Monaco –so we are feeling positive for the rest of the weekend. In the absence of any in-season testing, Fridays are now more important than ever and we spent the first part of P1 collecting some valuable aero data on the rear wing which will help us make better set-up decisions in the future. This afternoon, despite Jérôme running the Option tyre fairly early on, he had a good lap and progressed well through his programme, gathering the tyre data which, as ever, will be vital for Sunday. With Timo we focused more on set-up, in particular trying some different exhaust options. We will study the data tonight and use it to optimise the set-up on both cars for tomorrow.”

“This is our second visit to Spain in the space of just five weeks but the Valencia Street Circuit, which works its way around the unique setting of the port, poses an altogether different challenge than the Circuit de Catalunya.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“After a thrilling race in Canada two weeks ago, everyone at Marussia Virgin Racing is pleased to be back racing on European soil next weekend in Round 8 of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship - the European Grand Prix in Valencia. This is our second visit to Spain in the space of just five weeks but the Valencia Street Circuit, which works its way around the unique setting of the port, poses an altogether different challenge to the Circuit de Catalunya. Unlike most street circuits, the 5.419km track is relatively wide, similar to permanent race tracks. The circuit has fast and flowing parts which, coupled with the proximity of the barriers, makes this an interesting and challenging experience both for drivers and their teams. There are no fewer than 25 turns – the highest number of any current Grand Prix circuit – and these present an entertaining mix of long fast straights and slower corners. The track calls for good traction and we also need to keep an eye towards the brakes here because of the stop-go sections of the circuit. Right now our focus has to be on doing the best job possible at every stage of the weekend so we are in a comfortable position come race day, then converting that into a strong two-car finish whilst keeping our immediate competitors behind us.”


Timo Glock

“Valencia is a race that often divides opinion but I really like the circuit and find it an interesting challenge. It’s a track where we really have to keep our eye on the ball – much like Monaco – because the fast straights and the closeness of the barriers mean you can easily become unstuck. This is usually a very hot race, which adds to the challenge, and a great and very up and coming city. For us it’s a case of doing the best job possible with our equipment, bringing both cars home and continuing to make good calls from the pitwall to ensure we are there to take advantage of opportunities along the way.”

Today's rain-soaked Canadian Grand Prix was one of the most enduring races in recent history. It lasted over four hours from lights to flag, and when the cars weren't running behind the safety car there was action on almost every lap. With the winner of the race only being decided on the last lap, it will certainly be one of the most talked-about races of the season.

The Marussia Virgin Racing team once again brought both cars home, with Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Timo Glock classified 14th and 15th. During the race both drivers were fighting for position with cars from several teams and were able to avoid any contact in the often chaotic conditions.

The team initially benefited from the wet set-up chosen earlier in the weekend, but ultimately in the drying conditions the resulting lack of top speed, coupled with worn and flat-spotted tyres, left both drivers unable to defend their hard-earned positions.


Timo Glock

“It was an unusual and difficult race. I think it’s one of the longest races I’ve ever raced in! It was a bit of a shame in the last part of the race as I had quite a good pace and I managed to catch and pass Trulli. But then I had a massive lock-up on both front tyres which cost me badly at the end. I couldn’t go flat any more on the straights because of all the vibrations, so when Karthikeyan came up behind me I tried to stay in front but he made a move into the last corner and pushed me off the track. He shortcut the chicane when he overtook me and Jérôme got by in that incident too. On the last lap there was nothing I could do as the tyres were completely destroyed.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“An eventful race to say the least and one that initially looked to be playing in our favour given the level of downforce we had chosen to run. With Timo we held our nerve during the first part of the race, waiting for the rain that was obviously coming on the radar as we felt that a stop for intermediate tyres would have been costly. This proved to be the case with Timo being 15th at the restart. The second part of Timo’s race initially didn’t go well, with him losing places when we stopped for intermediates, however with the stops for slicks he managed to get back past Trulli. Unfortunately, during the final safety car period, we noticed in the data a flat-spotted tyre and we advised Timo but given his position we needed to try to race to the end as a pitstop would have dropped us to last. Jérôme had quite an eventful race – starting last and finishing 14th. He did a good job considering the events of the weekend. We used him at times to try out strategies with intermediates and even with this he managed to achieve a good result. All credit to him.”

After a long night preparing a new chassis for Jérôme d’Ambrosio to race in tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix, the Marussia Virgin Racing team had both cars ready for today’s third free practice session. After an initial installation lap, during which the race brakes were bedded in, the team completed its evaluation programme, with Timo Glock focusing on shorter runs and setup changes while Jérôme concentrated on tyre degradation over a long run. Both cars ran with the Soft and Super-Soft Pirelli P-Zero tyres, although Jérôme only had a short run on the Option tyre at the end of the session.

Although the skies were darker than in the morning and temperatures cooler for qualifying, the expected rain had not materialised, meaning that the team’s strategy of focusing on a wet race could cause problems with the 107% rule. Both cars ran with Option tyres over two runs with Timo setting the 22nd fastest lap.


Timo Glock

“Quite a tough day for us I think. We tried to concentrate on getting a setup for wet conditions as the forecast was strongly indicating rain and so our downforce level is more suitable for wet conditions than for dry. The predictions are still uncertain but we hope this will work in our favour. It will probably be quite difficult to turn it around tomorrow, but at least we have enough downforce to save the tyres. We just have to see what tomorrow brings.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“It was a long night for the team but in the end both cars were ready to run in time for Free Practice 3 this morning. Jérôme’s crew did a fantastic job to prepare his car to our usual standards, so all credit to them.

“With the disruptions in the session yesterday we devoted some of this morning’s Free Practice 3 session to preparing for the race and perhaps in hindsight we should have allocated further time to our qualifying setup.

“We’ve seen quite a few varying weather forecasts over the last few days and on Friday afternoon, when deciding on the ratios we would run for the rest of the weekend, we opted to use our high downforce rear wing as at the time weather forecasts for Saturday and Sunday indicated a chance of rain. Overnight these forecasts changed slightly to say the qualifying session would be dry so we knew it would always be tough for us in these conditions. As they always say you can never predict the weather and the latest forecasts are suggesting that the conditions may swing back in our favour.

The Park Jean-Drapeau, where the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is located, was today the venue for the first two sessions of Free Practice for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.

The circuit is not a permanent race track and is always dirty at the start of the Grand Prix weekend, so after an installation lap at the beginning of the session both Timo Glock and Jérôme d'Ambrosio opted to wait for the track to clean up. Both cars were out on track 40 minutes into the session, working through a planned programme of aerodynamic evaluation as the circuit requires a low-drag setup. Jérôme and Timo were classified 21st and 23rd in the session.

Pirelli, in addition to supplying the Soft and Super Soft tyres as Prime and Option, also provided a development Medium specification tyre for use today. Jérôme ran this tyre in the morning session, and both drivers used it in the afternoon.

The programme progressed well in the afternoon, although the session was red-flagged twice, the second instance being due to Jérôme hitting the wall at Turn 4. He was unhurt but the damage will require a new chassis to be built up overnight. Timo managed to set a time on Option tyres and was classified 21st, Jérôme was unable to complete the session and was 24th.


Timo Glock

“I would say today was a bit of a crash fest, and that messed up our programme quite a bit, especially in the second practice. In the morning we were just trying to evaluate a bit of downforce and I think we got enough data to be able to work on a reasonable setup for the rest of the weekend. The second practice was all about trying to see how the tyres behave here on a long run. Unfortunately due to the red flags we were not able to complete a proper run and I had to rush to try to get at least a run on the Super Softs. The weather looks like it might play its part in what could be an interesting rest of the weekend, so I think we can expect an exciting race.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“It has been a particularly tough start to our weekend in Montreal and as a consequence the mechanics and engineers have a long evening ahead of them to get us back on track.”

“The back to back nature of the last few weeks has continued into this week as we prepare to head off to Canada for the latest flyaway. We’ve had just four days to play with to strip, paint, NDT the cars and rebuild them before packing them up alongside our trackside infrastructure and sending everything on its way. Canada is one of our favourite favourites though, so as tough as the week has been, everyone has done it with a very warm heart because what we can always look forward to in Montreal is a fantastic weekend of racing and entertainment.

“We have a low downforce package for this race to suit the characteristics of the circuit and we have made some good strides with our car setup in recent races. So the challenge then becomes one of looking after brake and tyre wear and temperatures as this track is renowned for being hard on the cars. Doing a good job in these areas may provide us with a good opportunity in the race. Concentration is the key for the drivers as the barriers are very close – as is the ‘Wall of Champions’!. But they rose to this challenge impeccably in Monaco so I’m looking forward to seeing them in action next weekend. It’s always good to be in North America and next year of course we will have two pitstops here when the United States Grand Prix returns to the calendar in Austin, Texas, and these two races will form a much-welcomed back to back.

“I’m delighted that Marussia Virgin Racing will have such a major presence in the city this weekend as Virgin Mobile Canada will be sponsoring the Crescent Street Festival, which is always the cornerstone of Montreal’s Grand Prix celebrations. This is a big part of our fan programme and we’ll have a car on the stage and our full driver line-up will be mixing with our loyal followers throughout the weekend.”


Timo Glock

“It’s always a challenge to drive closely past the Wall of Champions without actually touching it.”

“I have very good memories from Canada, but not only because I like the track but because I have had some of my best results here, with points in my Formula One debut in 2004, second in Champ Car a year later and fourth in F1 in 2008 where I also led the race for some laps. So it’s always special to come here to Montreal and I love the city also. It has a really exciting vibe and everyone loves to experience time after time.

“At the beginning of the weekend the track is always dirty, as it is located in a park on an island and it’s not used as a racing circuit outside of the Grand Prix. It combines long straights with chicanes and slow corners and it will be interesting to be able to use DRS at two different points of the track. It’s always a challenge to drive closely past the Wall of Champions without actually touching it. I hope our low downforce package works well and we can have a good weekend.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Concentration is the key for the drivers as the barriers are very close. But they rose to this challenge impeccably in Monaco, so I’m looking forward to seeing them in action next weekend.”

Today’s 69th Monaco Grand Prix promised spectacle and certainly delivered it by the boat-load, including a restart with only six laps of the race remaining.

The streets of Monte Carlo basked in ambient temperatures peaking at 23°C, with the track high reaching a blistering 44°C. Marussia Virgin Racing drivers Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio both got off to a good start, managing to keep their noses clean during the opening lap and maintaining their positions.

Timo was demonstrating good pace after starting on the Super Soft Pirelli P-Zero tyres and was able to keep in touch with the cars ahead. On lap 22 he made his first and, as it turned out, only pit-stop, as just 12 laps later he was forced to retire due to right rear push-rod failure, pulling up in the Swimming Pool section of the track.


Timo Glock

“I was having a good race until the problem with the rear suspension. Even though the cars in front were slightly quicker, we were keeping up with them and we could have a bit of a fight. But unfortunately the right rear push-rod was damaged and collapsed in the chicane in the harbour - lucky it happened at a slow part of the track. So it’s a bit disappointing after what has been a good weekend for us. We had a good qualifying yesterday and today we had a good possibility to finish the race. Unfortunately this was not the case. I want to thank the team for a good weekend after two very busy weeks for all of us.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“We predicted yesterday that the race would be incident-filled and that we would need to be ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came our way, and this is exactly what both drivers did today. It was a difficult decision to start both cars on a split strategy, but one that ultimately paid off at different stages in the race. We had information from Timo’s first stint on the Option tyre that made us feel confident that, when the safety car came out, we could switch Jérôme to a one-stop and take the track position that we were getting from the strategy.
All in all it has been a challenging but rewarding couple of weeks of back to back racing and we will return to our base to prepare for the trip across to Canada in two weeks’ time.”

After Friday’s break from on-track action, Marussia Virgin Racing took to the streets of Monte Carlo again today for the third Free Practice session and Qualifying for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, round six of the 2011 Formula One World Championship.

With the track at 43°C and in much better condition than on Thursday, Timo and Jérôme geared up for qualifying during the final hour of practice. They both completed 21 laps each in a session that was interrupted by two red flags.

For qualifying both cars ran the Option tyre, with the drivers choosing to run twice, setting their fastest time in the last laps of their second runs.


Timo Glock

“That was pretty much the perfect Saturday for me. Free Practice went well this morning and that was one of the best qualifying laps I’ve ever driven here at Monaco. I put everything into it. A couple of times I just brushed the wall and had a couple of slides close to the barriers and in the end I just got a massive lap out of it. Just before the crucial lap I said to my engineers “This is all or nothing”, and it turned out to be four tenths quicker than the lap before! Big thanks to the team - they did a good job and I took my chance to make a bit of a difference. In the end we are only a tenth away from one of the Toro Rossos and right with Lotus, so I’m quite happy with my job today.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“First of all, that was a very big crash for Perez today and we wait for positive news regarding his condition. For our team, after a day spent looking through all the data, we applied most of the setup changes that we had done on Friday to both cars this morning. Whilst initially both drivers reported a loss of track grip, both were reasonably happy with the setup of the cars. The red flags interrupted our programme slightly but we still came out of the session reasonably happy. In a place where mechanical setup makes a huge difference, the engineers have done a good job to optimise both cars. Timo’s lap in qualifying was perhaps one of the best we have seen from him and it’s good to see him enjoying himself around a circuit where the driver can make the most difference. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we will be looking for a solid race from both cars. There’s been a lot of action on the track so far and we’ll be staying sharp to maximise any opportunity that comes our way.”

Marussia Virgin Racing is pleased to announce that it has agreed a new partnership with musicMagpie, the number one, free-to-use cash for CD’s, DVD’s and Games website which offers customers a quick, easy and rewarding way to make money from their unwanted entertainment products.

After its huge success in the UK, musicMagpie is expanding globally and most recently launched in Germany. Founded by Steve Oliver and Walter Gleeson, who are shortlisted for 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year at the Ernst & Young Awards, it’s an original and smart way of recycling music, films and games.

As part of this new agreement, the musicMagpie logo and branding will be on both drivers’ crash helmets for the remainder of the Formula One 2011 season and on the nose of the Marussia Virgin Racing car from the Canadian Grand Prix onwards.


Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“I’m thrilled to be working with musicMagpie; a new and exciting online company which has taken the UK by storm. I am sure musicMagpie will have the same effect in Germany enabling everyone to scan their unwanted CDs, DVDs and games to see how much money they can get for them.”


Steve Oliver, CEO, musicMagpie
“musicMagpie is extremely excited to become a Marussia Virgin Racing team corporate partner at this significant stage in the team’s development. Technology drives everything we do and our partnership with Marussia Virgin Racing team demonstrates this core value. In the UK and Germany we offer our customers a simple and quick way to make space and earn extra money from their unwanted CDs, DVDs and Games. We look forward to this partnership increasing our brand awareness globally through on car branding, a social media drive, online video development and above the line activity. Everyone at musicMagpie wishes the team the best of luck in the Championship this season.”

After making its way up the Mediterranean coast from Barcelona to Monaco, the Marussia Virgin Racing team was on track again today in the streets of Monte Carlo only four days after racing in Spain. The two first Free Practice sessions got underway under very hot and sunny conditions, with the track temperature reaching 40°C.

At an always challenging street circuit, both Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio began their preparation for the race ahead in this morning’s session. Timo completed 17 laps.

In the afternoon both drivers were out on track early. The track conditions had improved, allowing them both to bring down their morning session times straight away. It was also a session to study the behaviour and degradation of both types of Pirelli P-Zero tyres. Timo completed 35 more laps in the afternoon, and Jérôme added another 40 to his tally.


Timo Glock

“Generally it’s been a good day. We didn’t have any problems on the car in either the first or the second practice session. We were running at a similar pace to the guys at the top when we were on soft tyres, so in general I think it all went well. It was a good Thursday.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“First of all I’d like to say what a great job the team have done to get both cars ready in Monaco specification in the space of time we’ve had. There was a lot of work necessary at the front due to the changes in steering setup required for this circuit. The cars showed great reliability today so we could work through our full programme, maximising the track running with both cars. We split the two setup programmes, Jérôme mainly focusing on set ups to help ride and Timo concentrating on optimising the mass distribution. From the results of these two programmes we will decide on the best setup to apply to both cars. As part of Timo’s programme he ran Option tyres very early on, so I’m sure there’s a bit more to come from him. Jérôme did a great job again as a rookie round Monaco, which is by no means easy. Both cars completed long runs on the two types of tyre at the end. We seem to be seeing nearly double degradation on the Super Soft than the Soft. Overall we’ve got a huge amount of data but also an extra day to go through it all, which is how we will spend tomorrow.”

“After five races at purpose-built race tracks it’s always nice to come to a street circuit, which provides a huge challenge for the drivers but which also gives the engineers an opportunity to shine in terms of perfecting the mechanical setup of the car. Whilst aero is as important as ever and will require our highest downforce settings, the engineers also have to pay a lot of attention to the ride of the car and also allow for the cambered nature of the road surface that we run on here. For the mechanics the challenge is to be as prepared as possible ready for any misfortune given the very tight and twisty nature of the circuit here, with extra assemblies on standby. This race always requires an extra level of preparation which, coming as it does just a week after the Spanish Grand Prix, makes it a tough logistical challenge. You never know what you might get caught up in at this circuit and track time for the drivers is absolutely crucial; a missed session can result in heavy penalties for them in terms of honing their car for the race. We have taken the decision to run with our previous version of the blown diffuser; as was the case in Barcelona we will run according to the technical directive from the FIA in terms of the engine settings. Whilst we are realistic in terms of the gap to the midfield at present, we will be looking to keep our noses clean and aiming for another two-car finish.”


Timo Glock

“The thrill of racing here never fades no matter how many times you drive here. I think we are in for an exciting race weekend with plenty of action.”



“It was good to get both cars to the finish in Spain and having performed a little better than expected, so it’s a nice basis for heading to one of our favourite races, the Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco is a race that every driver wants to do well in, but generally it’s just huge fun and a great spectacle. It is also one of the busiest races as we have a lot going in with promotional activities and guests. The thrill of racing here never fades no matter how many times you drive here. I think we are in for an exciting race weekend with plenty of action.”

“I’m really looking forward to racing in the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time. It is really something very special and though I’ve raced here before in GP2, the thrill of driving an F1 car in the streets with the narrow track and very close Armco is pretty hard to beat. It will be a real test for me - you have to be very quick but you can’t afford to make any mistakes. We have the additional interest value of using the DRS here. I don’t think it will significantly help overtaking here because of the nature of the circuit, but it will add to the workload whilst driving and that in itself will be quite tricky.”

Marussia Virgin Racing achieved another double finish today to add to its tally at the fifth race of the 2011 Formula One season, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.


The grandstands were full in honour of local hero Fernando Alonso and they were rewarded with sunshine and an air temperature of 27°C. The track had been warmed to 41°C and a major concern was to save the tyres in order to optimise the pit-stop strategy.


The race got off to a clean start, and both Timo and Jérôme followed a three pitstop strategy, using the Hard Pirelli P-Zero tyres only for the last stint. They ran at a similar pace throughout the race and the two cars performed reliably, allowing Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio to cross the finish line in 19th and 20th position respectively.



Timo Glock

“I had a reasonable race - although it was a bit of a struggle going into turn one. Liuzzi got past me as he had a better line but I got past him after the first pitstop, which was good as it meant that we could then go at our own pace. In general I think we got the best out of the car today and we had a good strategy in terms of managing the traffic, so overall I'm quite happy with my day.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Timo got a particularly good start on the run down to turn one, but unfortunately Liuzzi got past on the outside. He struggled in the first stint with a set of tyres which had a small vibration issue. We picked this up after qualifying but since we needed to run all three sets of our Option tyres today, we elected to use that set in the stint which we thought would be most plagued by traffic. It looks in general that our pace was a little bit better than we thought compared to the front-runners and we also didn’t see the traffic we expected in the first stint. After stopping for a new set of Option tyres Timo made light work of getting past Liuzzi and was able to run at his true pace for the rest of the race.

“In terms of the team performance, another strong weekend in which we have completed the first five-race cycle on the gearbox, which is a huge improvement compared to last year. Now we have our reliability issues behind us, we need to focus on performance developments for the car.”

The second day of running at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona started off with the third and final Free Practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix. It was another hot and sunny day, with an air temperature of 24°C. Jérôme D’Ambrosio reported that the track was still slippery at the beginning of the session, so both he and Timo Glock waited in the garage for the conditions to improve. With 20 minutes into the one hour session, they were out on track and completed a total of 38 laps between them as they continued to prepare for the race ahead.

For qualifying, the track temperature had climbed to 38°C but the session didn’t start as expected for Jérôme, as he experienced a hydraulic issue caused by a cut O-ring when he was just about to start his first timed lap. Meanwhile, Timo was able to complete a trouble-free first outing and after the improvement he made on his second run he was classified in 20th position. With only five minutes to go before the end of Q1, Jérôme joined Timo back out on track and was able to set a time on the Option tyre. He will start tomorrow’s race from 23rd on the grid.


Timo Glock

“I think we had a good qualifying today. We had a bit of trouble with the first set of tyres as they didn’t work as they should and I was a little worried. The second lap was pretty spot on I have to say, although I made a small mistake in turn 7 as I was pushing so hard. We spent pretty much the whole of Friday not being able to concentrate on set-up and it’s been quite hard to get the old package working well again. We tried our best this morning and in the end it wasn’t too bad in qualifying. Now we have to focus on the race and just stay positive as we chip away at improving the car step by step.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Timo had a better session, although he had slightly less rear grip than we expected on his first run, but a tyre pressure adjustment enabled him to set a quicker lap. As for the race tomorrow, a two-car finish continues to be our goal. We are operating both cars in a specification that complies fully with the technical directive regarding engine/exhaust configurations issued to the teams last week by the FIA. We will continue to refine our recent upgrade over the forthcoming races."

After conducting its first ever straight-line aero test at the Idiada Proving Ground in Spain five days ago, Marussia Virgin Racing was back out on track today at the Circuit de Catalunya for the first two Free Practice sessions of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

As a result of the aero test, some modifications had been made to the new floor and exhaust package, to cure the heat-management issues experienced in Turkey. In order to maximise the data gained today, the team opted to run Timo Glock’s car with the new package, and use the previous floor and exhaust design on Jérôme d’Ambrosio’s car.

With warm and sunny conditions and a track temperature of 27˚C, the morning started with both Timo and Jérôme out on track early for their installation laps. They then waited in the garage for the track conditions to improve. Both cars ran faultlessly and by the end of the session Timo had completed 25 laps and Jérôme had managed 18.

In the afternoon session, the track temperature had crept up to 44˚C and again both cars were able to complete their planned programmes. Jérôme put in 36 laps during the course of the session and Timo 28.


Timo Glock

“At the moment we are focusing on getting to grips with the new exhaust, so we can’t do much in terms of setup or balance work. Today has mainly been about gathering data. It’s not easy but I think we made some progress and we are starting to understand the philosophy of it. Now we have a lot of work to do overnight before we decide whether to keep the system on the car for tomorrow and the race.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“As a result of our recent straight-line test, we decided to run a split programme whereby Timo would run with the new aero package and work on engine mappings and diffuser setup with Jérôme focusing solely on tyres due to the new Hard compound we have here in Spain. It looks to have less degradation than the previous version although initial lap times with it aren’t as good. That should again provide for an interesting race with a variety of strategy options. Overnight, we’ll be looking at the data and comparing the two exhaust and diffuser packages, as well as making a careful check of the components. We’ll then decide which specification to put on the car. The new package certainly has a lot of potential; it’s a great pity that Timo was hampered by so much traffic when he was running the Option tyre and was unable to show its true potential.”

“We had a positive aero test at Idiada last weekend, which should help us extract more from our upgrade package in Barcelona.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“We head to Barcelona this week optimistic that we can continue to make another step forward. We had a positive aero test at Idiada last weekend, which we hope will help us extract more from our upgrade package at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“We’re on proper European soil now for a couple of races which, coupled with the fact that we’re very familiar with this track through testing, makes things easier. The fact that this circuit is a known-quantity and we have a lot of data from 2010 and the two pre-season tests to work with means that we have a good knowledge base from which to set the car up. This track is also a good barometer of overall car performance so we will have a more representative perspective of how well our updates are working.”

“Our objective will be to try to get more from the package and hopefully get the new developments working well because the early signs were quite promising.”
says Timo Glock.

“The Circuit de Catalunya is still one of the best tracks on the calendar because we drivers have raced and tested there so many times and can get straight down to it. The track has a bit of everything - very slow sections mixed with quicker sections and two very fast straights - particularly the start/finish - which is one of the fastest straights on the calendar. The weather can be mixed at this time of year, which makes it unpredictable and quite interesting for the race. Our objective will be to try to get more from the package and hopefully get the new developments working well because the early signs were quite promising.”

The fourth race of the 2011 season - and the first in ‘Europe’ - got underway today at Istanbul Park in Turkey. It was a bright and sunny day with a track temperature of 33°C, but things soon clouded over for Timo Glock when he experienced a gearbox issue on his grid reconnaissance lap. He returned to the garage where the team’s dogged determination was on full display as they attempted a gearbox change, with the intention of starting from the pit lane. Whilst any sort of ‘race’ would be out of the question, the team wanted to test the new developments in a race scenario in order to gather vital data. They worked for around 40 minutes to get Timo back on track, but in the end there were too many obstacles to overcome while his team-mate Jérôme D’Ambrosio was still in the race.


Timo Glock

“A very short race for me. It was very frustrating to experience a problem with fifth gear just as I was making my way to the grid. I have to say the team did an amazing job to try to get me back on track but in the end it just wasn’t possible. Overall I think we have made some progress this weekend but there is still plenty of hard work ahead of us if we are to keep pushing forward. Everyone is very committed to seeing that happen though, so we stay focused and look ahead to Spain when I hope we will have made enough progress to reintroduce the new floor and exhaust which should help us a little more.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“When the pit lane opened ready for the start of the race we had no reason to suspect that we would have anything other than a relatively straightforward grid procedure, so it was a surprise to hear Timo report a broken fifth gear on his reconnaissance lap. Back in the garage we attempted to change the gearbox, which is no mean feat in the pre-race window and when Jérôme’s car was lining up on the grid as normal. With the two car crews split between the two different situations, Timo’s crew worked calmly and methodically under extreme pressure to take the rear of the car apart. Despite a Herculean effort, in the end we took the decision not to compromise the car that was still in the race because the way things were panning out with the tyres, it looked likely that we would have some last minute calls from the pitwall and we needed the full crew to be on ready alert. We’re disappointed for Timo after his efforts and we’ll look into the data now to understand why this happened. Having experienced many gearbox issues last year and then to make such made enormous strides with the quality of the preparation this year, it is highly unusual that we should experience this problem.

Day two of Marussia Virgin Racing’s preparations for the Turkish Grand Prix began with the third and final Free Practice session and, unlike yesterday, the sun was shining and the air temperature had risen to 16°C. The team continued evaluating the upgraded MVR-O2 and the new elements on both cars, as well as preparing for tomorrow’s race.

Jérôme D’Ambrosio was first out on track to complete a timed lap and Timo Glock did the same some minutes later. The track conditions continued to improve, allowing Timo to complete 19 laps and steadily evolve the car.

The air and track temperatures continued rising and for the decisive Qualifying hour the track was at 37°C with an ambient of 18°C. Both the Marussia Virgin Racing drivers completed eight laps and set their best times with the Pirelli Option tyres. Jérôme had a good final run to 20th but will have to start tomorrow’s race from 24th position after being handed a five-place penalty for a yellow flag infringement in yesterday’s second Free Practice 2 session. Timo Glock had a more frustrating time with his crucial last run and will start tomorrow’s race 22nd on the grid.


Timo Glock

“Not a perfect qualifying for me for sure. I suffered some engine hesitations in turns 12-14, which we will address for tomorrow, but otherwise from my side it was okay. For some reason though, I wasn’t able to get the same from the car as Jérôme today, so we’ll have to look at the data and see if there is something we did wrong, maybe between Free Practice 3 and Qualifying, but there wasn’t so much to change so right now I can’t say. I have to focus on tomorrow now when we hope for better things and to bring both cars to the finish.”


John Booth, Team Principal

“Overnight we made a big change to Timo’s car to remove the exhaust and floor elements of the new upgrade. Although there were clear signs that the downforce levels at the rear of the car had improved with it, yesterday we experienced a number of teething problems, especially with heat management, and it was clear that continuing to run it wouldn’t be an option for Qualifying and the race. Unfortunately this is just a natural consequence of not being able to test developments prior to bring to bringing them into the field. It is also clear that there is a big difference between the way the car is balanced for the old package versus the new upgrades and I think this goes some way towards explaining why Timo struggled a little in Qualifying. FP3 is always a tough session to get the car balanced before Qualifying. Timo’s car is also using the tyres slightly more aggressively than Jérôme and his second laps didn’t yield an improvement when it looked like this lap had the best potential. He faces a tough race tomorrow as well but we have shown ourselves to be stronger in the race and I’m hopeful that we can use a better race pace and the kind of drive he demonstrated towards the end of the last race in particular to turn things to our advantage.”

Istanbul Park was the scene of Formula One’s return to the racetrack today after a three-week break in the calendar. The first Free Practice session began in wet conditions as Marussia Virgin Racing rolled out its new upgrade package, with Timo’s MVR-02 featuring the full specification and Jérôme’s car having around 50% of the new elements.

This morning the drivers were only able to complete a total of 26 laps between them due to the wet track conditions. After the first couple of laps Jérôme was already communicating to his engineer that the track was very slippery, while Timo reported massive aquaplaning in some areas of the track. Because of this, both cars were confined to the garage as they waited for the track to improve. They were out again at the end of the session, but a red flag and more rain hampered their progress still further.

The sun finally came out after lunch and with a track temperature of 17°C and an ambient high of 14°C, the conditions improved, allowing Timo to start to evaluate the upgraded MVR-02. He completed 22 laps. At the beginning of the second session Jérôme had a small issue, but he was soon out on track to complete 28 laps.


Timo Glock
“The weather has made for a difficult start to the weekend. This morning it was very tricky for everyone as there was a lot of standing water everywhere. In the second session we got a better chance to start evaluating the new package, which was really the priority for today because we knew there would be a lot of work to do. There have been some issues we have had to deal with, especially with the exhausts, and once we work through those we will be better off. Overall we need to look at the data we have gathered now to see what we can learn about the new package because, as we predicted, it’s not easy getting something so new to work straight out of the box.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“The elements of the upgrade package that we fitted to Jérôme’s car have performed well today, so we’re pleased with the progress there. Timo’s car, with the full package, was always going to be a bigger ‘ask’ because of the complexity of the car at the rear with the new blown exhaust system. It is always difficult coming straight into a race weekend with such a new and complicated package and with no testing to optimise it. As we predicted there have been a few issues to contend with, particularly with the management of the heat from the exhausts. Generally we’ve made a good start on Jérôme’s side but we have yet to realise the full performance potential of the wider package with Timo. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of data to look through to see how we can extract more from the package.”

“The extent of our upgrade package for the start of the European season is significant to say the least. It represents a new direction for us and we’re hopeful that it will help us start to turn the corner.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“It’s been a well-deserved three weeks of rest after the first wave of long haul races, but I think everyone at Marussia Virgin Racing is looking forward to getting back on the road this week. It’s great to be back on relative home turf - in Europe - because we have everything we need at our fingertips, with the race trucks and motorhome at our disposal. We also have some fantastic circuits coming our way - a real mix of old and new.

“By our own admission it’s been a difficult start to the year, but we actually started doing something about that when we realised back in testing that we had not met our targets. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes since the middle of February and this weekend sees the culmination of all those efforts when we will be able to see just how much we can progress now. The extent of our upgrade package for the start of the European season is significant to say the least. Aerodynamically it’s a new direction for us and we’re hopeful that it will help us start to turn the corner, although with such a major step it may take us some time to tune it to the racetrack. Jerome will not have the benefit of the full upgrade package until Spain but he will get a taste of some of the elements this weekend. We are of course mindful of the fact that everyone should have taken a step forward ready for Europe, so we will have to see how we’ve fared versus the rest of the field.

“The drivers love the Istanbul Park Circuit. It’s a spectacular 5.338km track that has a bit of everything, but Turn 8 is worthy of particular mention having become one of the infamous corners in F1. We’ve started to gain a real understanding of the Pirelli tyres which leaves us well placed in terms of planning race strategies. Having said that we have not yet experienced a corner quite like Turn 8 with these tyres and we will be interested to see if it throws up an anomaly.”

“Turn 8 has quickly become one of my favourite corners on the calendar. That and the fact that this is one of only a handful of anti-clockwise tracks we will race at this year makes this one of the best and most challenging circuits around I think.”
says Timo Glock.

“It’s good to be racing in Europe again and starting off in Turkey, which is a great track and a lot of fun. The fact that this race is slightly earlier this year should be interesting because it is usually quite hot when we come here. We expect it to be cooler so with the new tyres for this year it is difficult for anyone to predict too much.

“Turn 8 has become one of my favourite corners. That and the fact that this is one of only a handful of anti-clockwise tracks we will race at this year makes this one of the best and most challenging circuits around I think. Istanbul is a great city - very interesting, - so I look forward to getting out and about a little bit.

“Then there’s a lot of hard work to focus on with our new upgrade. It’s quite a major package but these things take time to adapt to the track and our focus has to be getting as much running as possible so we can get maximum data and use it to keep working with the car in the next few races.”

ADAC Masters Weekend mit tollem Motorsport bei Kaiserwetter
ADAC GT Masters & Co begeistern nicht nur Formel-1-Star Timo Glock

15.000 Fans in der Motorsport Arena Oschersleben genossen bei strahlendem Sonnenschein drei Tage lang hochklassigen Motorsport beim ersten ADAC Masters Weekend des Jahres. Sie sahen 13 Rennen und die Weltrekordfahrt eines innovativen Elektrokarts der Firma Linde, das sich – angetrieben von
einem modifizierten Gabelstableraggregat – mit dem Sprint von null auf 60 Meilen in 3,4 Sekunden ins Guinness Buch der Rekorde eintrug. Zu den begeisterten Motorsport-Enthusiasten in der Magdeburger Börde zählte auch
Timo Glock. „Beim ADAC Masters Weekend haben die Zuschauer die Möglichkeit, hautnah Kontakt zu Teams und Fahrern zu haben. Hier wird Motorsport gelebt", lobte der Formel-1-Star Deutschlands junge Motorsportplattform. Glock war begehrtes Objekt von Autogrammjägern, fand aber auch die Zeit, sich einige Rennen anzuschauen. Besonders begeistert war er vom Auftaktlauf des ADAC GT Masters: „Das ADAC GT Masters glänzt mit sensationellen Autos – auf Einladung von Mercedes-Benz-Motorsportchef Norbert Haug durfte ich auch schon mal den Mercedes SLS AMG testen. Die Serie ist attraktiv und es wäre toll, wenn sie bei den Fans ein noch größeres Interesse finden könnte."

ADAC GT Masters: Siege für Ex-DTM-Pilot Margaritis und Stuck-Söhne
Das ADAC GT Masters – das mit einem Rekordstarterfeld von fast 40 Autos angetreten war – musste nicht lange auf seine erste Überraschung des Jahres warten. Bei seinem ersten Einsatz im ADAC GT Masters fuhr der ehemalige DTM-Pilot Alexandros Margaritis (GR) zusammen mit seinem Partner Dino
Lunardi (F) am Steuer eines Alpina-BMW des Allgäuer Teams Engstler Motorsport auf Anhieb zum Sieg. Ebenfalls auf dem Podium jubelten die Corvette-Piloten Daniel Keilwitz (Villingen)/Diego Alessi (I) und das ABT-Audi-Duo Jens Klingmann (Leimen)/Christer Jöns (Ingelheim). In der letzten Runde tauschten die beiden Rivalen noch die Plätze. Im zweiten Rennen strauchelten zwei Lamborghini-Mannschaften an der Spitze um einer dritten den Sieg zu
überlassen. An Bord des italienischen Boliden von Reiter Engineering: Johannes und Ferdinand Stuck (beide Österreich), die Söhne von Motorsport-Legende Hans-Joachim Stuck. Jens Klingmann/Christer Jöns wurde Zweite, die
Vortagessieger Margaritis/Lunardi Dritte. Sie führen auch die Tabelle an. Der mit Spannung erwartete erste Einsatz der prominenten Fahrerpaarung Heinz-Harald Frentzen (MC)/Sven Hannawald (Hinterzarten) war nicht von Erfolg gekrönt. Auf Platz 19 im ersten Rennen folgte ein technisch bedingter Ausfall im zweiten Rennen. Titelverteidiger Albert von Thurn und Taxis (Regensburg) konnte wegen
einer Renn-Verletzung aus der vorangegangenen Woche nicht starten.

ATS Formel-3-Cup: Doppelsieg für Rookie Richie Stanaway
ADAC Formel Masters-Champion Richie Stanaway setzte seine Siegesserie auch nach seinem Aufstieg in den ATS Formel-3-Cup fort. Der Neuseeländer dominierte den Saisonauftakt von Deutschlands schnellster Formelserie mit
einem Doppelsieg. Im ersten Rennen ließ er Tom Blomqvist (GB), den Sohn des ehemaligen Rallye-Weltmeister Stig Blomqvist, und Marco Sörensen (DK) hinter sich. Im zweiten Kräftemessen hatten erneut Marco Sörensen sowie René Binder
(A) das Nachsehen. Wenig zu jubeln gab es für Blomqvist: Er rauschte ins Heck des Polesitters Hannes van Asseldonk (NL) und musste aufgeben.

ADAC Formel Masters: Neueinsteiger Bernstorff erobert Tabellenspitze Mit einem zweiten Platz und zwei Siegen hat Emil Bernstorff (GB) beim Saisonauftakt des ADAC Formel Masters die Tabellenführung übernommen. Der Serienneuling bescherte damit auch seinem Oscherslebener Team Motopark ein
Heimspiel nach Maß. Ebenfalls stark: ADAC Stiftung Sport-Förderpilot Pascal Wehrlein (Worndorf) triumphierte einmal und wurde zweimal Zweiter. Der Israeli Roy Nissany vom Berliner Team Mücke Motorsport jubelte als Dritter des ersten Laufs ebenso auf dem Podium wie Sven Müller, der zweimal Dritter wurde. Im besonders umkämpften dritten Lauf führte der Bingener in der Anfangsphase erstmals ein Formel-Rennen an, bevor er Bernstorff und Wehrlein ziehen lassen
musste. Wehrlein durfte sich nicht nur über seine Erfolge freuen, sondern ebenso wie Jason Kremer (Bonn) auch über eine extra Lehrstunde mit F1-Pilot Timo Glock. Wehrlein und Kremer werden von der ADAC Stiftung Sport unterstützt –
genau wie Glock im Jahr 2003 auf dem Weg Richtung Königsklasse.

ADAC PROCAR: Johannes Leidinger der Mann des Wochenendes
Auch wenn nicht ganz so viele Autos in der Motorsport Arena Oscherleben angetreten waren wie erwartet, waren die beiden Rennen der ADAC PROCAR überaus sehenswert. In der Division 1 führte kein Weg an Vorjahres-Vizemeister Johannes Leidinger (Nalbach) vorbei. Im ersten Rennen ließ der BMW-Pilot das Schweizer Honda-Duo Christian Fischer und Peter Rikli hinter sich, im zweiten Rennen schlug er die Toyota-Lenker Michail Stapanov (RUS) und Lorenz Frey
(CH). In der Division 2 feierte Niels Mierschke (Fränkisch-Crumbach) im Ford Fiesta einen Doppelsieg. Für Aufregung sorgte Saskia Müller. Die Wunstorferin legte ihren Fiesta im ersten Rennen spektakulär aufs Dach, blieb aber unverletzt.

TV-Zusammenfassungen auf kabel eins und SPORT1
TV-Zusammenfassungen der Ereignisse in Oschersleben zeigen „kabel eins“ (26. April, 02.25 Uhr) sowie „SPORT1“ (27. April, 23.15 Uhr und 30. April, 10.15 Uhr).

Weitere Informationen unter www.adac-masters.de

The sun was out in Shanghai today for the third race of the 2011 season – the Chinese Grand Prix - in which the team achieved another two car finish and secured its target of five out of six finishes in the opening three races.

The weather conditions today were a little warmer than yesterday’s Qualifying session, with an air temperature of 22°C and a track temperature of 31 °C.

As the race got underway it was a clean start and the Marussia Virgin Racing drivers raced each other through the first turns. At the end of the first lap Timo Glock was in 21st position and Jérôme just behind in 22nd having traded places through the lap.

They then ran at a similar pace until the tyre degradation of the Soft Pirelli P-Zero tyres became an issue. After 16 laps Timo was the first to stop, with Jérôme following him in four laps later. Although both cars had planned a two-stop strategy, Timo’s tyre wear seemed worse than Jérôme’s and the team switched to a three-stop race.

For the rest of the race the two cars behaved reliably and were running at a steady pace throughout. Both the Marussia Virgin Racing drivers brought their cars back home safely again, with Jérôme finishing in 20th position and Timo classified 21st.


Timo Glock
“Not a great race unfortunately from my point of view, but positive in the fact that we got both cars home, which was the objective. I had a good start and a good first lap. I managed to stay in front of the HRT and overtook Jérôme when he had a moment in turn 13. In general we suffered a bit more rear degradation for some reason. The team then took the decision to convert to a three stop race but this was not the right way to go because we suffered massively with the blue flags. Then in the last stop the wheel didn’t go on, which cost me a few seconds leaving the pits. Generally on the hard tyre the car was slightly better but in the beginning we just struggled. A difficult start to the season is now behind us and we look forward positively to the upgrade that everyone has been working so hard on behind the scenes to ensure we can take a good step forward in Turkey. Thanks to everyone in the team for a great start operationally and I hope we can share some better results as we move ahead.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“Obviously today was a very good result for Jérôme in only his third race. His two-stop strategy proved far superior to the three-stop strategy we decided upon for Timo and more suited to what our competitors were doing around us. All credit to Jérôme for getting a two-stopper to work. Following some feedback in the race from Timo regarding the degradation he was suffering with the rear tyres, we were perhaps a little too quick to convert him to three stops. Our predictions pre-race were that this would be worse and with the benefit of hindsight we can see it was not the way to go. We didn’t help Timo and when he had a problem during his final stop he lost quite a bit of time and had to fight hard to catch the HRT again and overtake. Overall we have had a better weekend in reliability terms and it has proved a useful development opportunity as we have faced several challenges that we will learn from. This is the last of the season-opening long hauls and, as is the case up and down the pit lane, the race team are ready for a bit of a break, particularly after the back to back between Malaysia and China. Meanwhile, as you would expect, everyone at our technical base is nose to the grindstone ensuring that the Turkey upgrade goes according to plan and delivers the performance gains we expect so we can get back to where we should be for the start of the European season.”

Much cooler conditions than yesterday greeted the Marussia Virgin Racing team for the third Practice Session of the Chinese Grand Prix, with the air temperature at 15°C and track temperature at 25°C. After completing an early installation lap, both Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio waited for the track conditions to improve before returning to the track. With yesterday’s issues resolved and with some set-up changes, Timo completed 17 laps and was more comfortable with the car before the Qualifying session, ending up 21st. Jérôme was classified 22nd having completed 16 laps.

With the same cool weather conditions for Qualifying as in the morning, both drivers were soon out on track and were able to improve their morning times. They improved further on their second run and Jérôme will start tomorrow’s race from 21st position while Timo will be 22nd on the grid.


Timo Glock
“Overall a better day than yesterday because we were at least able to complete our programme, but we were not able to get the best result in Qualifying which is disappointing. I had some warm-up issues on the first run and the tyres were not working really at all on the second, so I have to think the changes we made between Free Practice 3 and Qualifying were not for the better. I think overall we went a little too conservative, but who knows? That might help us in the race. We'll have a good look at the data now and see what that tells us, then look to a good strategy for tomorrow and aim for the chequered flag.”


John Booth, Team Principal
"We have recovered well from a difficult start to the weekend and are a lot closer to where we expected as a result. Timo struggled with the tyres and had a lot more to come. We're hoping the setup will translate better to the race conditions tomorrow. Jerome did an exceptional job and everything went right for him. After a more difficult Free Practice 3 he brought it all back when it counted and he is really stepping up to the plate with each race. So generally a good few positives to give us some momentum for the race tomorrow when we'll be looking to make the most of our encouraging reliability by bringing both cars home.”

Only five days after the last race in Malaysia, the Marussia Virgin Racing cars were out on track again, this time for the first two practice sessions of the Chinese Grand Prix. With a warmer than usual air temperature of 26°C and track temperature of 30°C, both Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio left the garage straight away to complete their installation laps and radio checks. They both reported the track was very dirty and green, as expected, and so the team kept to the plan to wait until there was more rubber down.

Forty minutes into the first session Jérôme posted his first timed lap of the weekend. Unfortunately, Timo had to wait a bit longer due to a mechanical problem with the rear of his car. He was only able to take to the track in anger with 10 minutes of the session remaining, albeit with the asphalt providing more grip than at the start. Timo was restricted to 11 laps this morning, ending up 22nd on the timing sheet. Jérôme was classified 20th with 20 laps under his belt.

In the afternoon both drivers were out again as the lights turned green. Jérôme was able to use the second ninety-minute session of the day to complete long runs and tyre degradation tests, before switching to the Option tyre for his final run. Unfortunately he was never going to set a representative time as the team were aware that he had picked up floor damage as he went into the run. Nonetheless he was able to achieve 34 laps to gather important data. While Jérôme was out on track, Timo was mostly confined to the garage due to an engine problem, and he was unable to complete his programme or improve on a time set early in the session.


Timo Glock
“Not a great day. We didn't run much today as we had a lot of technical problems. In the first practice I had a problem on the rear end and couldn't do much. In the second practice I had an engine problem so I only did about twelve laps and I haven’t been able to do any setup work at all, which is extremely frustrating.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“Our race weekend here in China did not get off to the most auspicious of starts today and to say our day has been less than straightforward would be something of an understatement. This morning, having waited for the track condition to improve, when we did finally get our timed runs underway Timo experienced a mechanical problem. This afternoon, after just 12 laps, Timo suffered an engine problem which confined him to the garage for the second half of the session, so he was unable to complete a soft tyre run and improve his lap time, which is reflected in his position today. Jérôme had a better afternoon session and was making good progress but immediately prior to his option tyre run we noted heavy floor damage. This wasn’t sufficient to prevent him from running, but it was by no means a representative run. Hopefully we have got all our bad luck out of the way today and tomorrow will provide a better reflection of where we stand here.”

“The best job we can do right now is to keep pushing ourselves operationally and strategically, as we have done over the first two races, to ensure that when the car is improved we are in the strongest possible position to take advantage of every opportunity.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“After Malaysia, we move on to another Herman Tilke designed track, which always provide a bit of everything for the drivers. It’s the third and final long-haul race before the start of the European season in Turkey, where we are planning to upgrade the car.

“The Shanghai International Circuit is a 5.451 km circuit that is all about high-speed straights and a real variety of turns, making it a demanding track for the drivers. Turns 1, 2 and 3 are very tight and seem never-ending. The back straight is so long that it even gives the driver time to adjust the settings on the car. It’s also usually quite windy at this part of the track, and this affects the downforce, as it can make the car unstable in the corners at the beginning and the end of the long straight if the wind direction is unpredictable.

“Whilst the hard work to move us forward takes place behind the scenes at our technical base in the UK, we’re in a bit of a holding pattern performance wise. The best job we can do right now is to keep pushing ourselves operationally and strategically, as we have done over the first two races, to ensure that when the car is improved we are in the strongest possible position to take advantage of every opportunity.

“This is the first back-to-back race of the season and there are only seven days between the two races, so a tough challenge for the team logistically, but one which I am sure we will easily rise to.”


“I was pleased with our weekend in Malaysia and while we’re waiting for these steps to move us forward, we must try to maintain the small signs of good progress we are showing at the races.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.

“The Chinese Grand Prix is always a great race and I’m looking forward to competing there again for the fifth time. It’s always interesting to come to Shanghai. It’s another demanding circuit where you can reach very high speeds on the long back straight between corners 13 and 14 before braking hard at the hairpin turn. The demands for racing at this Chinese track are to have a car that is stable under braking as well as a lot of traction to exit the corners well. I was pleased with our weekend in Malaysia and while we’re waiting for these steps to move us forward, we must try to maintain the small signs of good progress we are showing at the races.”

Formel-1-Star Timo Glock besucht ADAC Masters Weekend-Auftakt
Der ehemalige ADAC-Schüler auf Stippvisite in Oschersleben


Der Mainzer Bundesliga-Torhüter Heinz Müller, Bob-Weltmeister Manuel Machata, Skiflieger Jens Weissflog, Sachsens Ministerpräsident Stanislaw Tillich, Rennfahrerfrau Cora Schumacher, Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, FIA-Präsident Jean Todt – die Liste prominenter Besucher des ADAC Masters Weekends ist lang. Jetzt kommt ein weiterer bekannter Name hinzu: Formel-1-Rennfahrer Timo Glock wird sich am Osterwochenende (23. bis 25. April) den Saisonauftakt von Deutschlands junger Motorsport-Plattform live in der Motorsport Arena Oschersleben anschauen.


„Ich freue mich auf das ADAC GT Masters in Oschersleben. Ich bin ein großer Fan und bin sehr gespannt, was der ADAC sich dieses Jahr für den Saisonstart in der Motorsport Arena hat einfallen lassen. Fest steht, dass es mit einem Rekordstarterfeld von insgesamt 44 Fahrzeugen sehr spannend wird“, beschreibt Glock seine Vorfreude. Für den 29 Jahre alten Odenwälder, der in der aktuellen Formel-1-Saison für das Team Virgin-Marussia antritt, ist der Besuch in der Magdeburger Börde aber auch eine Reise zurück zu seinen motorsportliche Wurzeln. Timo Glock war früher selbst in den Vorläufern der beiden aktuellen Formelserien des ADAC Masters Weekends (ADAC Formel Masters und ATS Formel-3-Cup) aktiv. Seine ersten Renneinsätze im Formelauto absolvierte er als ADAC-Schüler in der BMW Formel ADAC, in der er 2001 Meister wurde. Nur ein Jahr später wurde er als „Rookie of the Year“ Gesamtdritter der Deutschen Formel-3-Meisterschaft. Bei seinem weiteren Aufstieg wurde Glock von der ADAC Stiftung Sport unterstützt.


Auch wenn Glock in Oschersleben nicht selbst am Lenkrad sitzen wird, für die Fans vor Ort ist sein Besuch am Sonntag, 24. April dennoch ein zusätzliches Highlight neben den insgesamt 13 Rennen des Wochenendes: Der Formel-1-Star hat sich gerne bereit erklärt, beim „Meet the Drivers“ am Ostersonntag (16 Uhr vor dem ADAC Motorhome im Fahrerlager) fleißig Autogramme zu schreiben.


Hoch spannend ist der Auftakt der ADAC Masters Weekend-Saison natürlich auch aus sportlicher Sicht. Das Renn-Spektakel am Osterwochenende ist der erste echte Gradmesser unter Wettkampfbedingungen für die involvierten Serien ADAC GT Masters, ATS Formel-3-Cup, ADAC Formel Masters und ADAC PROCAR. Ein Fokus des Medieninteresses richtet sich dabei sicherlich auf die prominente ADAC GT Masters-Paarung Sven Hannawald und Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Außerdem in Oschersleben am Start: die liebevoll in Schuss gehaltenen Ostblock-Formel- und -Tourenwagen des ADAC HAIGO Cup.


Dieses Motorsport-Komplettpaket können Fans für nur 15 Euro Eintritt pro Tag live erleben, der Zugang zum Fahrerlager ist dabei sogar schon inklusive.


TV-Sender kabel eins überträgt alle Rennen des ADAC GT Masters (So. und Mo., ab 11.45 Uhr) live. SPORT1 strahlt jeweils am Wochenende nach der Veranstaltung ein Magazin mit den Höhepunkten des ADAC Masters Weekends aus.

Hallo Leute,
das war wie immer eine schweißtreibende Geschichte in Malaysia. Ich habe die Sache aber gut überstanden und hatte eigentlich keine große Probleme mit der Hitze und der hohen Luftfeuchtigkeit. Da hat sich das harte körperliche Training in den letzten Wochen und die Schinderei in der Vorbereitung mal wieder bezahlt gemacht.
Wir sind noch am gleichen Abend nach dem Rennen mit den Flieger ins "kühlere" China. Aber auch hier wird der Schweiß bald rinnen. Ich treffe meinen Ingenieur ausnahmsweise mal nicht in der Box, sondern auf dem Squash-Court.
Der Spaß wird aber schnell vorbei sein. Sepang hat gezeigt, dass wir immer noch eine Menge Arbeit und einen langen Weg vor uns haben. Während die anderen Teams den einen oder anderen Schritt nach vorne gemacht haben, treten wir leider noch auf der Stelle.
Die große Hoffnung liegt nach wie vor auf dem großen Update-Paket vor dem GP in der Türkei. Vielleicht können wir ein, zwei Dinge am Auto verändern, um auch den Druck auf Lotus zu erhöhen. KERS wird uns da weiterhin nicht helfen. Das ist auch gut so. Irgendwie scheint die Sache noch nicht richtig rund zu laufen und wir haben gerade ganz andere Probleme zu lösen.
Ein Problem hatte auch mein Kollege Vitaly Petrov auf der Strecke. Die Sache mit dem Lenkrad auf dem Schoß erinnerte mich ein wenig an Hockenheim 2008. Da ist mir auch die Aufhängung komplett gebrochen. Ein wirklich spektakulärer Abflug meines Kollegen, der Gott sei Dank gut ausgegangen ist.
Jetzt steht also der Große Preis von Shanghai auf dem Programm. Vielleicht schaffen wir es ja, dort die Reifen bei ein paar Grad weniger besser auf Betriebstemperatur zu bringen. Das könnte eine kleine Chance sein. Warten wir es ab, drückt mir die Daumen!
Bis bald,
Euer Timo

The Marussia Virgin Racing team competed in its second race of the 2011 season today at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Before the start, everyone was looking up at the skies as the sun crept behind the clouds and grey skies were looming. The weather forecast showed that the rain was close by, threatening the possibility that the drivers might have to start the race on wet tyres.

The track stayed dry though, and at the start the temperature was running at 31 °C and the humidity level was 83%. Both Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio got off to a good start, managing to stay out of trouble and gain positions. The weather updates were constant over the radio, some predicting rain while others indicated that showers would only pass close by. Some small drops of rain started to fall timidly on the track, but never enough to require intermediate tyres, and when that became apparent both Timo and Jérôme made their first pit-stops on the same lap. Both drivers chose to stay on option tyres for their second stints in the race.

They carried on racing at a constant pace and carefully looked after their Pirelli P-Zero tyres so that a two-stop strategy was possible. Both drivers also had excellent stops when the time came to fit prime tyres. Jérôme was running in 18th position until he hit a kerb hard, which produced a large vertical G force that toggled the power switch and turned the car off, bringing him to a halt in turn 9 with 12 laps to go. Timo had a trouble-free run to the finish and was classified in 16th position.


Timo Glock
“I got a good start and got ahead of Trulli in the Lotus into turn one and everything was going well, but I was only able to defend the position for so long before he was able to get past. The car was working well and we were able to look after the tyres, so we were able to stick to a two-stop strategy. My engineer did a great job to get me through the traffic and it was a very straightforward race for me. Great job by the pit stop crew as a very smooth stop helped me to get back out ahead of Trulli. Apart from the steps we still need to make in performance terms, everything is working well, so we are looking forward to what our development package can bring after China in time for Europe.”

Track temperatures of up to 40°C and humidity levels of 77% greeted the teams for this morning’s final free practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The track conditions provided Marussia Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio with the opportunity to experience the Pirelli tyres on a high temperature track like the Sepang International Circuit. It was a trouble-free session where the team prepared for the crucial Qualifying session and Jérôme and Timo finished 21st and 22nd respectively after completing a total of 35 laps between them.

It was then time for the decisive Qualifying session. In similarly dry and humid conditions, Timo and Jérôme were straight out of the garage to establish a first timed lap before the track got too busy and before the circuit was red-flagged due to debris, during which all the cars were confined to the garage. With five minutes remaining, Timo and Jerome went out on track to improve their times, and they will start tomorrow’s race from 21st and 22nd position respectively.



Timo Glock
“After Free Practice 3 this morning I’d say we had some problems as we couldn’t get the car to work like yesterday and we didn’t have the same speed. My Race Engineer and Performance Engineer worked very well together to come up with a good solution which ensured we got back the performance level that we had until then. I was a little unlucky on my second set of tyres when I hit traffic with Karthikeyan. I would have found a couple of tenths but this wouldn’t have changed our position today. We’ve done the best we can with the package so as ever we’ll be focusing on getting both cars home and making the most of every opportunity that comes our way – one of which may of course be the weather, as there is a chance of rain during the race.”

Marussia Virgin Racing’s on-track preparations for the second Grand Prix of the season this weekend got underway today at the Sepang International Circuit. At 28°C and with a track temperature of 33°C, the morning started off cooler than is typical in Malaysia, even though it was still hot and humid.

In the first practice session of the day, both Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio were amongst the first out on track to complete installation laps. The team made some settings changes before returning Timo to the track to post a further 18 laps before the end of the session, which he ended in 19th position. Jérôme was having a trouble-free session until two minutes before the end, when he ended up in the gravel due to a suspected suspension failure. He had completed 20 laps and finished 20th.

As the day continued, the temperatures began to climb, with the track temperature peaking at 49°C and humidity at 51%. The team had made some changes to Timo’s car during the break and this work continued into the early part of the session, but he joined the action after 25 minutes and went on to complete a further 24 laps and end the day in 19th position. Jérôme was confined to the garage for the duration of the afternoon session. The team worked flat out to repair his damaged car but in the end the scale of the task was too great.

Timo Glock
“It’s difficult to gauge everything that was going on up and down the pitlane today, but I think we had a reasonable day. It's a shame we couldn't get Jérôme's car out in the second session, because it would have been good for tyre evaluation. In general I'm happy with how the car is working here, but it's all about the tyres; they are fine for one lap but then drop off and it's all about keeping them alive over a distance. The team did a good job. We were a little late going out in FP2 but overall everything went well. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

“Our focus for now is on gathering as much data as possible to plough back into the development cycle to ensure we can go on to make those bigger steps through the season.”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing.

“This round of long-haul races means there are few developments we can bring to the car until the next significant upgrade for Turkey. Our focus for now is on gathering as much data as possible to plough back into the development cycle to ensure we can go on to make those bigger steps through the season. This time last year we were struggling with reliability issues that were preventing us from finishing races. This year we’ve demonstrated that we are on top of that and that is a much better starting point to build upon. We know what we have to do, so whilst that work is taking place behind the scenes, the best job we can do is to keep bringing cars home and focusing on smaller incremental steps.

“After the cool temperatures in Australia, we now move on to Kuala Lumpur where the fierce heat and humidity are a major challenge for cars and drivers up and down the grid. The Monsoon-type downpours that we see - and which we have stopped races in the past - also represent a good opportunity as they displace the usual order and turn things into a bit more of a lottery – good for us and good for the fans.

“The Sepang International Circuit has two very long straights, an elevation change and fast corners which make the racing good fun for the drivers. Of course nobody has run the Pirelli tyres in the kind of temperatures we are likely to experience in Sepang. In Melbourne we did not have the degradation levels we had been expecting after the tests in Spain, and it may well be that there will be another surprise in store in Malaysia.

“Timo is an old hand here but it will be Jérôme’s first time at Sepang, and not only will he have the circuit to learn - which he has been doing on the simulator - he will also have his first experience of driving a full Grand Prix distance in the Malaysian heat and humidity.”

“I feel like I have got back on track very quickly with the fitness side of things and I am spending the time between Australia and Malaysia making sure I am fully acclimatised and ready for the challenge.”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24.

“Malaysia is one of the hardest races on the Formula One calendar and one for which fitness is very important. The heat and humidity are really punishing and so this is where the physical training really pays off. I feel like I have got back on track very quickly with the fitness side of things and I am spending the time between Australia and Malaysia making sure I am fully acclimatised and ready for the challenge. I have lots of good memories from Malaysia - I finished on the podium in 2009 after chasing the leader, Jenson Button, before the race got red-flagged due to the big rainstorm. The Sepang track has a lot of character and it’s very physical, with Turn 14 being one of the toughest corners of all. It’s a race I will enjoy so we will try to make the best of our current package and aim to get both cars to the finish.”

Hallo Leute,

nach den intensiven Tagen in Melbourne habe ich mir erstmal ein paar Tage Auszeit genommen. Wir waren alle froh, dass es endlich wieder losging. Die Vorfreude, das Kribbeln war auf jeden Fall da. Und im Gegensatz zum letzten Jahr hatten wir eine entspannte Stimmung im Team.

So zuverlässig wie mein Körper ohne Blinddarm hat auch erstaunlicherweise das Auto funktioniert. Das ist schon mal der erste Schritt in die richtige Richtung. Allerdings bereitet uns der große Zeitabstand zu den vorderen Teams noch Kopfzerbrechen. Vor allem wegen der 107-Prozent-Regel. Da müssen wir unbedingt was tun. Im Moment hängt es hauptsächlich am Abtrieb.

Das Auto lässt sich zwar recht gut fahren, aber der Speed ist einfach noch nicht da. Irgendwie müssen wir damit in den nächsten zwei Rennen durchkommen, um dann in der Türkei schneller unterwegs sein zu können.

Vielleicht können wir dann in Istanbul den Jungs von Lotus wieder ein wenig Feuer machen. Die werden auch in dieser Saison zwischen uns und dem hart umkämpften Einstieg ins Mittelfeld stehen. Eigentlich hatten wir uns Force India zum Ziel auserkoren. Aber die sind momentan etwas weit weg und werden wie viele andere Teams bestimmt noch einmal nachlegen können.

Und ob mir da der neue Push-Button für den Heckflügel helfen wird, bezweifle ich noch. Den habe ich im Albert-Park-Circuit zwei, drei Mal gedrückt, doch so richtig ging das nicht nach vorne. Mit den neuen technischen Neuerungen ist das sowieso ein wenig speziell. Ich habe jedenfalls nicht gemerkt, ob die Jungs neben oder vor mir KERS und den verstellbaren Heckflügel eingesetzt haben.

Richtig überrascht war ich dagegen über die gute Performance der neuen Reifen. Im Vergleich zu unseren Tests im Vorfeld war das im Rennen ein Unterschied wie Tag und Nacht. Die haben kaum abgebaut und waren sehr konstant. Das war schon erstaunlich. Aber warten wir es ab. Im nächsten Rennen in Malaysia herrschen ganz andere Temperaturen.

Es wartet also eine Menge Arbeit auf uns. Spannend wird es dabei auf jeden Fall.

Bis bald,
Euer Timo

The Marussia Virgin Racing team achieved its objective of bringing two cars to the chequered flag today in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The sun shone at last over Albert Park, with the track temperature registering 17°C for the start of the race and peaking at 23°C. As the action got underway, Timo recovered well after running wide to get a good opening stint under his belt, avoiding incident and preserving his Pirelli P-Zero tyres until he pitted for the first time on lap 18. Shortly after rejoining the track he radioed in to report a loose front left wheel and was forced to make his way slowly back to the pits. Refitting the wheel proved problematic and Timo was confined to the garage for five laps while the team repaired damage sustained to the drive pegs. He rejoined the race in 18th position and as a consequence of losing so much track time he fell further back. From there he could do no more than concentrate on finishing the race and eventually brought his car home but in an unclassified position.


Timo Glock
“I think we had quite a good speed in the race. I was behind Jarno Trulli, then caught him and got past him in the pitstop. Unfortunately at the pitstop the front left wheel was loose and I had to drive round for one lap very slowly then come into the pits. Unfortunately the drive pegs were damaged but we repaired it, and I at least was able to rejoin the race. For the first couple of laps it was okay but then the car had quite a lot of vibration, so I just tried to focus on finishing the race. In the end it was a little disappointing but at least we demonstrated good reliability and brought both cars to the finish.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“First and foremost we have to be happy that we achieved our objective of a two-car finish. To move forward we have to maximise our track time and gather as much data as possible to feed back into the development programme and I am comfortable that we have been able to demonstrate such promising reliability. The problem with Timo’s wheel is disappointing and even when he was back out on track his progress was hampered as a consequence of the damage sustained. Jérôme delivered a good debut race performance so he can feel very proud of what he has achieved this weekend. Finally, congratulations to the team for a big push for the start of the season.”


Nikolay Fomenko, Engineering Director
“I would like to congratulate Vitaly Petrov for a great drive today which saw him become the first Russian driver to stand on the Formula One podium. It’s a great day for Russia, Formula One fans and a good step on the road to the new Russian Grand Prix in Sochi in 2014.”

Another cold and cloudy day in Melbourne began with the final 60-minute Free Practice Session. After waiting for the track conditions to improve, Timo Glock was one of the first to break the silence in Albert Park and go out on track, with Jérôme following him out of the garage shortly after. Both drivers were able to keep improving their lap times during the session and close the gap to the other teams. Timo completed 15 laps with Jerome notching up 18 laps before the session ended just as it started to rain again.

This afternoon, the team faced the tough test of the opening qualifying session of the new season – the first real barometer of competitive performance - in similarly cool conditions. The air temperature was a cool 16˚C with the track temperature peaking at just 18˚C. Both drivers set a time inside the new for 2011 107% rule and are looking forward to the season-opening Grand Prix tomorrow.


Timo Glock
“The first weekend of the new season has been a tough test for us and today we got the chance to see where we stand and how we need to move forward. I had a new engineer and a new performance engineer over the winter and together with my car crew they have done a fantastic job in testing and this weekend. At the end of the day though, fighting for a time within 107% of the leaders is not what we’re here for and we can see now where we are and what we need to do to progress. We are a really strong team and now we have to bring the car up to where we need it to be. As for tomorrow, the opening race of the season, we will be focusing on staying reliable and bringing both cars to the finish as the reward for everyone’s hard work.”


John Booth, Team Principal
"It’s fair to say that there was some degree of nail biting within the team ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying session. That’s not the position we want to be in and fighting to stay within the 107% time is not our target – it should be a given. Just like last year we expected the first race to be a tough challenge, coming off the back of a winter of regulation changes. Qualifying was an affirmation of what we already know – that we have a lot of hard work ahead to bring the car up to where it needs to be. Having said that, Timo drove the wheels off the car to get the best possible result today and Jérôme is doing an admirable job in his debut weekend, so all credit to the drivers and the team for a very respectable opening weekend operationally as it’s a huge step forward from where we were 12 months ago.”

Marussia Virgin Racing’s second season in Formula One got underway today in seasonably changeable conditions. Autumnal Melbourne has been cold and cloudy for the past couple of days with bursts of sunshine making only the briefest of appearances.

The track was damp after overnight rain as Timo Glock and Jérôme D’Ambrosio took to Albert Park Circuit for the first two practice sessions of the weekend. In his first track session as a fully fledged Grand Prix race driver, Jérôme was first out of the garage to commence his installation lap. Timo’s came 45 minutes later after a calibration problem with second gear was identified during the fire-up.

The main difficulty for the drivers In the first 90-minute Free Practice session was the lack of grip. Jérôme completed the first 17 laps of his first season in Formula One and started to familiarise himself with a track that he has never raced at before. Timo, who counts Albert Park as one of his favourite circuits, completed 15 laps.

This afternoon it remained cloudy and it even rained slightly during the second session, but the track conditions improved due to the increasing amount of rubber going down on the circuit and both drivers were able to improve upon their morning lap times. Timo completed a further 30 laps and Jérôme added another 36 to the team’s tally, bringing the combined total to 98 laps during the day and demonstrating a reliable baseline from which to build during the remainder of the weekend. During the last minutes of the session it rained more intensely and the track was declared wet, making the conditions very tricky for the drivers.

Timo Glock
“Not an easy first day. I had a bit of trouble this morning in terms of the setup, and the behaviour of the car was not right, quite difficult. In the second session we made some improvements but the gap to the top guys is quite big and that's a bit disappointing. We have to make the best out of it, get on top of it and make the car quicker.”


John Booth, Team Principal
“This morning’s session wasn’t as smooth a start to the season as we would have liked, but we resolved a sensor calibration issue with Timo as soon as possible and got ourselves back on course. The conditions were very slippery and there was little grip due to last night’s rain, so most of the teams were waiting for the track to improve. In the afternoon we were able to complete plenty of laps and both drivers are doing a good job. Clearly we’re not where we need to be at the moment so we have to study the data and look at what we can do to improve. Congratulations to Jérôme on a great debut today.”

Timo Glock hat seine eigene Kolumne auf sportal.de. Und leider wird Timo Glock in seinem Marussia-Virgin nicht um den Titel mitfahren können. Diese Konstellation macht ihn zum idealen Experten vor dem Formel-1-Saisonstart in Australien. Wir haben Glock um seine Einschätzung bezüglich der Topfavoriten gebeten.

Nach dem ausgefallenen Grand Prix von Bahrain geht es nun in Melbourne los und vieles spricht für ein ähnlich spannendes Jahr wie 2010. Die neuen Reifen zwingen die Teams häufiger an die Box, mit KERS und verstellbarem Heckflügel gibt es weitere technische Neuerungen und mit Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren und Mercedes gibt es vier vermeintliche Siegerteams, die zudem von Renault geärgert werden könnten.

Für Timo Glock geht es dagegen darum, seinen Rennwagen zusammen mit seinem Team zuverlässiger und auch schneller zu machen, um vielleicht sogar mal in die Punkte fahren zu können. Bei den Testfahrten in Jerez und Barcelona konnte Glock die Topteams beobachten und kürt mit seiner eigenen Punktevergabe die aussichtsreichsten Fahrer auf den WM-Titel.



SEBASTIAN VETTEL

Er ist der jüngste Weltmeister aller Zeiten, muss sich in der neuen Saison aber gegen die Angriffe von vier Vorgängern wehren. Kritiker gab es trotz des WM-Titels viele, Sebastian Vettel hätte sich die Krone mit einem so deutlich überlegenen Auto viel früher aufsetzen müssen. Wie er in der Endphase der Saison dann aber auf den großen Rückstand reagierte und die nötigen Siege einfuhr, zeigte, welch großer Fahrer Vettel werden kann. Die Testfahrten haben gezeigt, dass Red Bull wieder ein ganz starkes Auto auf die Strecke gezaubert hat. Vettel gehört wieder zu den absoluten Topfavoriten. "Wir haben jetzt genug vom Testen, jetzt wollen wir wieder Rennen fahren", sagte Vettel vor dem um zwei Wochen verschobenen Saisonstart.

Rating: 10 von 10



MARK WEBBER

Der Australier hatte die große Chance Weltmeister zu werden, konnte sie wegen Sebastian Vettel und eigener, wenn auch kleiner, Unzulänglichkeiten nicht nutzen. Dementsprechend leer war Mark Webber am Ende der vergangenen Saison und beschäftigte sich fünf Wochen lang nicht mit der Formel 1. Doch in seiner vermutlich letzten Saison bei Red Bull will Webber nochmal angreifen. Für David Coulthard jedenfalls steht fest, dass Webber eine realistische Titelchance hat. "Er hat daraus gelernt und wird viel stärker zurückkommen", sagte der Coulthard laut motorsport-magazin.com.

Rating: 9 von 10



LEWIS HAMILTON

Der McLaren-Pilot gilt weiterhin als einer der talentiertesten Fahrer im Feld. Doch Tatsache ist auch, dass Lewis Hamilton in drein seiner vier Saisons um den WM-Titel fuhr und nur 2008 die Krönung schaffte. Doch sein manchmal etwas zu ruppiger Fahrstil ist derzeit das kleinste Problem, denn der McLaren konnte bei den Tests nur selten überzeugen und lässt für die ersten Rennen eine kleine Lücke zur Spitze vermuten. Hamilton vergleicht, gerade im Bereich Abtrieb, den neuen Boliden mit dem von 2009, als er am Ende nur den fünften Rang belegen konnte.

Rating: 8 von 10



JENSON BUTTON

Wie auch bei Red Bull scheint die Reihenfolge bei den Fahrern auch bei McLaren auf den ersten Blick klar geregelt. Doch wie Webber hat auch Jenson Button die Möglichkeit, der vermeintlichen Nummer eins Lewis Hamilton den Rang abzufahren. Dabei haben Button und Hamilton das wohl harmonischste Verhältnis unter den Teamkollegen der Spitzenteams. Fahrerisch bringen beide Piloten völlig unterschiedliche Anforderungen für das Setup mit. "Wenn Button das Lenkrad dreht, dann sieht es so aus, als würde er mit einem Löffel durch Sirup fahren", beschrieb es Ex-Rennfahrer Martin Brundle gegenüber der BBC. Aber die Erfahrungen der Tests haben gezeigt, dass McLaren froh sein sollte, erstmal eine gelungenes Abstimmung zu finden.

Rating: 7 von 10



FERNANDO ALONSO

Der vermeintlich beste Fahrer im Feld sinnt auf Rache. Den Last-Minute-Triumph von Sebastian Vettel hat der spanische Doppelweltmeister noch nicht ganz verdaut: "Soviel Glück hat Vettel kein zweites Mal. Der WM-Pokal gehört am Ende des Jahres mir." Ferrari gehört in jedem Fall zu den absoluten Topfavoriten, das haben die Testfahrten gezeigt. Die Scuderia spulte die meisten Kilometer ab und Fernando Alonso hat den Vorteil, als absolute Nummer eins im Team in die Saison zu gehen. Alonso selbst rechnet mit keiner Verschiebung an der Spitze und hält Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes und sein eigenes Team für die größten Titelkandidaten.

Rating: 10 von 10



FELIPE MASSA

Wenn Fernando Alonso der Leader bei Ferrari ist, bleibt Felipe Massa wohl nur die Rolle des Schattenmanns. Immerhin ist Stallorder in der kommenden Saison nicht mehr verboten und somit sind Szenarien denkbar, in denen Massa seinen Teamkollegen passieren lassen muss. Dabei sieht Massa als einer der wenigen Fahrer Vorteile im Reifenwechsel hin zu Pirelli und sieht sich im Vorteil gegenüber der vergangenen Saison. Er spüre bei neuen Reifen sofort den nötigen Grip, sagte Massa am Rande der letzten Testfahrten in Barcelona, und deshalb "werde ich zu meiner alten Stärke im Qualifying zurückfinden."

Rating: 8 von 10



MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

Hätte es den letzten Testtag in Barcelona nicht gegeben, Mercedes und auch Michael Schumacher wären in allen Saisonprognosen wohl im Mittelfeld gelandet. Doch dann zauberte Schumacher mit 1:21,268 einen neuen Streckenrekord auf den Asphalt. Die anderen Teams staunten und die immer noch zahlreich vorhandenen Schumi-Fans witterten die Rückkehr in die Weltspitze. "Ich kann es kaum erwarten, nach Melbourne zu gehen und dort das wahre Bild zu sehen", verriet Schumacher vor dem Auftakt in Australien. Doch der siebenmalige Weltmeister muss sich zunächst teamintern gegen Nico Rosberg durchsetzen, was ihm in der vergangenen Saison erst gegen Ende gelingen konnte.

Rating: 7 von 10



NICO ROSBERG

Im Interview mit Spiegel Online erklärte Nico Rosberg die Strategie von Teamchef Ross Brawn, in der zunächst die Zuverlässigkeit des Boliden im Vordergrund stand: "Schon im Dezember hat Ross Brawn uns allen gesagt, dass wir Geduld haben müssen. Er sagte, am Anfang wird das Auto nicht schnell sein. Ich gebe zu, es war schwieriger als gedacht. Aber mittlerweile sind wir voll im Plan." Egal ob Schumacher oder Rosberg, die deutschen Fans lechzen nach einem deutsch-deutschen Titelduell, Zweifel an der Nachhaltigkeit der Barcelona-Zeit sind aber weiter angebracht.

Rating: 7 von 10



NICK HEIDFELD

Lange Zeit sah es danach aus, als wäre Nick Heidfeld erneut zum Zuschauen gezwungen. Der langjährige BMW-Pilot freundete sich schon mit einer Rolle als Testfahrer bei Mercedes an, als sein ehemaliger Teamkollege Robert Kubica in einem Rallye-Auto schwer verunglückte und so das Cockpit bei Renault frei wurde. Heidfeld bekam den Posten und fährt plötzlich für ein Team, dem durchaus Außenseiterchancen eingeräumt werden. Mit seiner Erfahrung als Pirelli-Testfahrer ging er sogar mit Vorteilen in die Testfahrten, doch der Renault kämpfte mit vielen Problemen und so hängt Heidfeld vor dem Saisonstart noch ein wenig in der Luft.

Rating: 5 von 10

“We’re like night and day compared with 12 months ago”
says John Booth, Marussia Virgin Racing’s Team Principal and Director of Racing

“It’s very exciting to be heading to Australia this week to begin our preparations for the first race of the season. It is disappointing for all that Bahrain was postponed but all the signs are that this was the right decision. The fact is that had we raced in Bahrain last weekend, we would have been a man down in the cockpit as Timo would still have been recovering from his appendectomy. Thankfully he’ll be fighting fit for next weekend, so the last minute change to the calendar has worked in our favour.

“Whilst it’s impossible to predict how any of the teams will fare once we all take to the track next Friday in the first real barometer of competitive performance, what I do know is this - as a racing operation we’re like night and
day compared with 12 months ago. Last year we pushed too soon on car performance and it cost us in reliability terms as a result. This year we head to Melbourne with 4642kms of pre-season testing mileage under our belts and a much more reliable baseline to develop from.

“We fully expect the first few races to be challenging in terms of outright pace, but I’m comfortable that prioritising reliability and strategy will help our big picture and we’ll be in a much better place for the rest of the season. I’m looking forward to a more straightforward week of preparation leading up to the first race and to planning our opening race strategy in rather more calm circumstances than last year. Albert Park is a fantastic
circuit that has produced some truly memorable racing and I hope we can do ourselves justice there.”


“An incredible place to start the season”
says Timo Glock, Race Driver #24

“The Australian Grand Prix is one of the best races on the calendar and Melbourne is an incredible place to start the season. I can’t wait to get out on track and be racing again. This will be the first chance we get to truly weigh up the competition and I think it is going to be quite interesting for all of the teams.

“Albert Park is a challenging track to get on top of. Because it’s a street circuit it takes a while to rubber in and there is very little grip on Friday. It’s quite a stop-start circuit so brake wear can be a factor. It is also quite bumpy and because the weather can change so quickly at this time of year the track conditions can vary with each session. I think the combination of this circuit together with the surprises we expect to see anyhow should make for an incredible season opener.

“The last three weeks have been less than ideal as I lost a lot of crucial track time. I spent a lot of time over the winter getting ahead of the curve with my fitness though and now I am thankful for that as I haven’t suffered as
much as I could have. I’ve been doing a lot of cycling in particular and I’m pretty pleased with where I’m at, all things considered.”

Day three of Marussia Virgin Racing’s four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya took place in much-welcomed warm and sunny conditions, creating the perfect environment for the team to continue with its intensive race preparation programme for the start of the 2011 season.

As per the plan, Jérôme D’Ambrosio spent the day pounding round the 4.655 km circuit, putting plenty of mileage on the MVR-02 whilst evaluating the Pirelli PZero tyres, optimising set-up and proving out new parts for the first race in Australia in two weeks’ time. Of the 11 teams that were taking part today Marussia Virgin Racing ended the day with the fifth highest number of laps under their belts.

Aside from a late morning fuel pressure problem, which was quickly rectified, the team had a trouble-free day which yielded plenty of very useful data to be fed straight back into the car development programme.

The team were delighted to see Timo Glock back in the fold today. Although he is unable to drive the car whilst still recovering from his appendectomy, he spent the day trackside poring over the data and observing the track activity of Marussia Virgin Racing and the other teams to ensure he is as up to speed as possible.


Jérôme D’Ambrosio
“Today we have had a much more positive day and it was great to get so many laps in and complete our programme. This is the second full race simulation I have completed now and having this opportunity to do four full days before the start of the season is very important. Tomorrow will be another exciting day for me and then we will have a good picture of where we are. It was also great to see Timo back today.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“We have had a very productive day of running today, culminating in another positive race simulation programme using the tyre compounds we will run in Australia. As a result we have some excellent data to work with over the next couple of weeks to ensure we are in the best possible shape for the first race. Timo was with us for the day today and is on the mend and in great shape. It was good that he had the opportunity to be as close to the cockpit as possible – both in the garage with the team and observing the action from the pitwall.”

Timo Glock:
„Über den Verlauf der OP und meine schnelle Genesung bin ich sehr glücklich. Schade, dass ich die Tests in Barcelona wohl verpassen werde. Dafür müssen sich die Kollegen in Australien warm anziehen: ohne Blinddarm bin ich bestimmt schneller, der war sicher ein paar Gramm schwer…“

„I’m very happy about how the operation went, and about my quick recovery. It’s a shame that I’ll probably miss the tests in Barcelona. But the guys in Australia are going to have to watch out: without an appendix I’m certain to be faster – I mean, it must have weighed a few grams at least! …“

Teamchef John Booth:
"Timo ist gestern operiert worden, man hat ihm den Blinddarm entfernt. Die Genesung im Schweizer Krankenhaus verläuft gut. Er wird voraussichtlich noch einen Tag dort bleiben. Um eine vernünftige Heilung zu gewährleisten, ist es sehr unwahrscheinlich, dass Timo in der kommenden Woche in Barcelona an den Tests teilnehmen wird. Wahrscheinlich wird Jerome an allen vier Tagen für uns fahren. Die endgültige Entscheidung fällt Anfang kommender Woche. Wir wünschen uns, dass Timo schnell wieder bei uns ist."


Team Principal John Booth:
‘I can confirm that Timo had an operation yesterday to remove his appendix after a sudden case of appendicitis. The procedure was routine and Timo is recovering well in a Swiss hospital where he is likely to remain for a further 24 hours. To ensure a swift recovery, it is unlikely that he will take part in next week’s test in Barcelona and that Jerome will run on all four days instead, however, we will make a final decision early next week. We look forward to having Timo back with us very soon.’

Following today’s announcement by the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) that the Kingdom of Bahrain has withdrawn from hosting this year’s season opening Bahrain Grand Prix on 13 March, John Booth, Team Principal of Marussia Virgin Racing commented:

“The Bahrain Grand Prix is an important event on the F1 calendar and as the scene of our team’s racing debut a little under 12 months ago, we have extremely fond memories of Bahrain and were looking forward to returning there for this year’s season opening race. However, it is with great sadness that we have watched events unfolding there over the past week and it is quite clear that there are far bigger matters at stake than whether a major sporting event can take place. Withdrawing from hosting the race at this time was the appropriate course of action and we fully support the decision. We hope that the current unrest in Bahrain can be brought to a peaceful conclusion.

“We will now take part in the final pre-season test, which has been relocated to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, on 8-11 March and we look forward to getting the 2011 season underway in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix on 25-27 March.”

Timo Glock was out on track again today in Barcelona for the second day of his programme with Marussia Virgin Racing. The morning started off wet and rainy, giving the team a good opportunity to run on a wet circuit again. With the exception of one day in Jerez last week, most of the running so far has been in the dry. It was therefore a good opportunity for Timo to evaluate the new wet and intermediate Pirelli PZero tyres and for the team to gauge the optimum window for switching to slicks when running on a damp track.

In the afternoon the track dried and Timo switched to the slick tyre, adding more mileage to the car and completing a total of 97 laps.

Tomorrow, Jerome D’Ambrosio will be back in the car for the fourth and final day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.


Timo Glock
“It has been a very interesting day today for me and the team. It was useful to drive on a wet track and understand the new intermediate and wet Pirelli tyres. We were also able to continue adding good mileage to the car as I was able to complete many laps. More good progress and now my focus will switch to plenty of work in the simulator to continue preparing for the start of the season.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“Another positive and constructive day for the team. We were able to sample a wet track again and keep on testing all the different types of tyres. Timo has done an excellent job over the past two days in Barcelona, and the team is heading in the right direction. We look forward to more of the same tomorrow when Jerome picks up the reins.”

Cool conditions greeted the teams today for the second day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Timo Glock joined the programme for the first of his two days at the wheel of the MVR-02 car and in the morning the team concentrated on system checks, with the cold and low grip track making it difficult to get heat into the tyres and for them to reach optimal temperature. During a series of short runs Timo was able to try different gearbox settings and conduct pit-stop practice.

After a short break for lunch, Timo was back out on track for the afternoon session where the team achieved more productive running with some set-up runs, in which the team worked to further understand the behaviour of the MVR-02 with new and used Pirelli PZero tyres.

Timo will be back in the car again tomorrow and Jérôme D’Ambrosio will drive again on the fourth and final day of testing in Barcelona.


Timo Glock
“It’s great to be back in the car again. It has been another very useful day for the team today which is important for us to keep understanding and refining the new car. We are also making good progress understanding the new Pirelli tyres and the team is really doing a good job getting ready for the start of the season.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“Another constructive day for us in Barcelona with yet more good mileage under our belts. With the Bahrain test and race being something of an unknown quantity at this time, we are pushing extremely hard to ensure we maximise the opportunity that this test provides to refine the car and achieve as much data as possible.”

After yesterday’s successful and reliable running for a promotional filming day at the Jerez circuit in Spain, the new MVR-02 was run for the first time in an official Formula One test session at the Circuito de Velocidad today.

The track was very cold this morning and during an initial installation lap the team experienced a fuel pressure problem which confined the MVR-02 to the garage. A solution was in place by lunchtime and in warm and sunny conditions, Timo was able to run the car in anger for the first time, initially focusing on shorter stints before building up to some longer runs towards the end of the session.

By the end of the day Timo had lapped the circuit 42 times, gaining valuable information about the car's behaviour on track. The team will now analyse the data and use this information during the remainder of the test programme.


Timo Glock
“I was really looking forward to driving the new car for the first time and it’s been an interesting first day. We had a problem in the morning and lost a bit of track time, but when we were up and running we were able to complete a lot of laps in the time we had and collect valuable data. It was a little frustrating to have the car in the garage this morning but putting that aside I am feeling positive about what we achieved this afternoon and from that point of view it has been a very good start.”

John Booth
“It’s great to see the new MVR-02 car out on track for the first time after all the work and effort the team has put into it during the winter. We recovered well from a small setback and went on to complete 42 very valuable laps. We look forward to continuing in the same vein during the rest of the week.”

Hot on the heels of today’s launch of the MVR-02 – Marussia Virgin Racing’s challenger for the forthcoming Formula One season – the team’s 2011 driver line-up of Timo Glock and Jerome D’Ambrosio revealed their excitement about the new season and the progress made by the team over the winter months.

After taking part in the team’s innovative television production-style launch event at the BBC’s Television Centre, the drivers follow the car straight to Jerez in Spain for its debut test providing the first real barometer of its performance potential.

Timo will be the first to get behind the wheel of the new car during the first two days of the four day programme, while Jerome will get his first run in the new MVR-02 for the final two days of testing in the south of Spain.

Timo Glock
“Today is a very special day for everybody in the team. It’s a moment we’ve all been working very hard for, and to be able to be here at the second car launch for the team is something very special. Everyone is really looking forward to our second season in Formula One. Having waited so long to see the MVR-02 come to life, I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the new car at the test in Jerez. Getting to grips with the new Pirelli tyres will continue to be an interesting challenge, following on from our first two tests with the PZeros in Abu Dhabi last year and in Valencia last week. I’m really looking forward to putting the first kilometres on the car and getting down to business preparing for what should be a very positive season for us.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio
“I couldn’t be more excited. I have finally seen the first Formula One car I will race in and it’s fantastic. This is a really special day and I can’t wait to drive the new car for the first time later this week. The team has really done a great job, and now we have to keep pushing hard and begin to understand how the new car works. Personally, I have done a great deal of work to get myself into the best physical and mental shape and I’m ready to start racing. I really can’t wait to drive the MVR-02.”

The first three days of pre-season testing for 2011 in Valencia have been very constructive for the Marussia Virgin Racing Team. Although still only running with the 2010 VR-01 car, the team was able to gain valuable information that will be useful for the development of the new car ahead of the first race in Bahrain.

Timo Glock was at the wheel of the VR-01 for the last time before driving the new MVR-02 car in Jerez next week, and was able to complete a total of 114 laps, in excess of the combined total of laps achieved over the past two days. The German driver completed a total of 461.8 km and established a new record for the team.

After 3 positive days of testing in Valencia, the team is now focused on presenting the new MVR-02 car next Monday at Television Centre in London.

Timo Glock
“Today was a very productive day. The team worked very hard to gain more running after yesterday and as a result I was able to complete many laps and we were quite competitive. However, this is still last year’s car so we hope for good things with the new car. I think these first three days in Valencia have been very useful for the team though. I really can’t wait to drive the MVR-02 next week.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“We have started the 2011 season well. There is still a lot of work to do, but these first few days of testing will be very helpful to ensure we are heading in the right direction. The next week is going to be very important for the team, as we are launching the new 2011 MVR-02 car and testing it in Jerez for the first time. For now though it was great to end this week’s test, and our last running of the VR-01, on such a positive note by completing such an impressive number of laps.”

Day two of the first Formula One tests of the 2011 season saw Timo Glock back in the 2010 VR-01 car in Valencia today. The German driver and the team were able to carry on testing the new Pirelli tyres and continue working through the programme of 2011 systems evaluation.

Timo Glock completed his first 34 laps of the season. Tomorrow he will be back at the wheel of the car during the third and final day of tests in a warm and sunny Valencia. It will also be the last day with the VR-01 car, as the new MVR-02 car will be presented next Monday in London and will be ready for the second test of the season in Jerez.

Timo Glock
“It was good to be in the car again after a winter preparing myself for a new season which I am really looking forward to. These first tests are going to be useful as we continue getting to grips with the new Pirelli tyres. Despite not being able to complete as many laps as we would have liked, it has been a very interesting day for me and the team and I can’t wait to jump in the car again tomorrow and carry on working hard in preparation for the new season ahead.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“It has been another interesting day for the team in Valencia and we are getting very useful information. It’s good to see Timo back in the car again. We had some minor hydraulic problems, but the team is working very hard and is ready for tomorrow’s last day of tests in Valencia.”

MORE POWER TO MARUSSIA VIRGIN RACING
Enhanced relationship with CSC doubles the Team’s computing power for 2011

Dinnington, UK
Thursday 13 January 2011, 11.30 GMT

The Marussia Virgin Racing Formula One team is delighted to announce that it has strengthened its existing relationship with Technology Partner CSC for 2011 and beyond. The newly enhanced partnership will see CSC, the world’s leading independent IT Services company, helping the team to double the computing power of its all-digital racing car development facility.

The impressive new computer suite, which will be housed at the Banbury base of Marussia Virgin Racing’s Technical Partner, Wirth Research, means that the team can make more changes, more quickly, at less cost than any other team, to improve and optimise on-track performance.

The size and power of the new computer means the smallest design improvements can be validated in a few hours, adjusted as needed, and re-tested. This is significantly faster, more cost effective and less wasteful than prototype production and wind tunnel testing.

The investment means that Marussia Virgin Racing can use the maximum amount of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) capacity allowed under the Formula One Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA) - which is likely to be more than any other F1 team in 2011.

As was the case in 2010, CSC will also provide IT services and support for the racing operation at all Grand Prix events and at the team’s operational headquarters in Dinnington, South Yorkshire. CSC will be upgrading and creating key trackside systems, factory IT services, sponsor and social media projects. For example, the team will be incorporating mobile data services and cloud based solutions to enhance sponsor and fan experiences in the areas of live data and track information at races.

As part of the enhanced relationship, the CSC logo will now be proudly displayed on the 2011 race car - which will be launched to the media next month - as well as on the clothing of trackside personnel, the race trucks and garages, and the new 2011 range of team merchandise.

Graeme Lowdon, CEO of Marussia Virgin Racing, commented: “We are delighted that the partnership we enjoyed with CSC in our debut season has developed into an even stronger relationship and one which will have a more direct influence on the performance of our race car design and development. 12 months ago we launched the first Formula One car to be designed entirely using CFD to demonstrate that, over time, a new team operating with a smaller and more sustainable budget can enter the sport and be competitive. These are exciting times at Marussia Virgin Racing and with CSC’s support and an enhanced technical capability, we can embark on our second season with renewed ambition and pursue our longer-term performance objectives with confidence.”

Andy Williams, President at CSC in the UK, commented: “The all-digital approach Marussia Virgin Racing takes allows us to be part of a story that shows how technology can transform business models and processes - an idea that reflects our position as an innovative company that uses IT to help our customers change the way they do business. We’re delighted to be supporting a young team with great ambitions for the future.”


Notes to Editors

About Marussia Virgin Racing
Virgin Racing entered the FIA Formula One World Championship in 2010, beating off stiff competition from a number of contenders for one of the new team entries. The team was originally conceived by John Booth and Graeme Lowdon, whose Manor Motorsport operation in the North of England achieved unrivalled Formula 3 success and played a major role in the development of several of today’s greatest motor racing talents. They joined forces with designer Nick Wirth, who returned to F1 after a decade enjoying remarkable results in Indy Racing and Le Mans sports car development in the USA with his innovative and low-cost design approach. Together with the commercial firepower of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin, one of the most recognised, respected and exciting brands in the world, they created a new racing team concept, capitalising upon F1’s new economic dawn and the Resource Restriction Agreement that has begun to redefine the sport. Virgin Racing’s debut season was always going to be a tough test. The team had designed a brand new car entirely in the digital domain using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and without the very expensive wind tunnel testing capabilities deployed by the current Formula One teams - all in the space of just six months. In November 2010, Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia, who had sponsored Virgin Racing throughout its debut season and witnessed at close quarters its true grit and enormous potential, acquired a significant shareholding in the team, securing its long-term future and ensuring that it can continue to go from strength to strength in pursuit of its racing ambitions. From the 2011 season the team will be known as Marussia Virgin Racing. www.marussiavirginracing.com

About CSC
CSC is a global leader in providing technology-enabled solutions and services through its lines of business which include Business Solutions & Services and Managed Services and across all major industry sectors. CSC’s advanced capabilities include systems design and integration, information technology and business process outsourcing, applications software development, Web and application hosting, mission support and management consulting. The company has been recognised as a leader in the industry, including being named by FORTUNE magazine as one of the World’s Most Admired Companies for Information T

The Marussia Virgin Racing Formula One team is delighted to announce that it has signed rising talent Jerome D’Ambrosio to partner Timo Glock in 2011.

Last month, the 25 year old Belgian successfully concluded an evaluation role with the team, which saw him take part in the Free Practice 1 sessions of the Singapore, Japanese, Korean and Brazilian Grands Prix. In addition, he conducted a further half day programme at the wheel of the VR-01 race car during the Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test following the concluding round of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The aim of the programme was to evaluate Jerome’s potential for a race seat with the team and his speed and excellent technical feedback saw him pass the test with flying colours.

Jerome has spent the last four seasons competing in the GP2 Series, prior to which he raced in the GP2 Asia Series, International Formula Master, the F3000 Euroseries and Formula Renault. Alongside his 2010 GP2 commitments he has also held the role of Reserve and Test Driver for the Renault F1 Team.

Jerome’s first official duties will commence early next year with the launch of the VR-02, Marussia Virgin Racing’s contender for the 2011 season. He will then commence pre-season testing alongside his 28 year old German team-mate Timo Glock in Valencia in February.

Marussia Virgin Racing Team Principal, John Booth, commented: “Jerome had been on our radar for quite some time as a driver we should seriously consider for a 2011 race seat. We had followed his progress in GP2 closely and it was clear he was ‘one to watch’, but when we put him in the car for the four race weekends and the Abu Dhabi test he surpassed even our own expectations. He slotted into the team perfectly and everyone took a shine to him, including our partners and the media. Apart from his obvious skill at the wheel of a Formula One car, he is an immensely personable young guy who is a pleasure to have around. He has secured this seat absolutely on merit and I think coupled with Timo we have the perfect blend of youth, experience, speed and potential and we can’t wait to see what they can achieve together next season.

“Timo has done an excellent job for us in our debut season, in often challenging circumstances. There is no doubt that he has helped us to establish a strong foundation from which to develop the team and the package. We look forward to being in a much stronger position to deliver the car he deserves in 2011.

“Finally, I must thank Lucas di Grassi for the important role that he also played in establishing the team. He contributed a great deal to our development and we wish him every success in his future career, which we have no doubt will be an exciting one.”

Marussia Virgin Racing’s new driver, Jerome D’Ambrosio, commented: “I’m thrilled to have achieved my goal of a Formula One race seat with Marussia Virgin Racing. When I came to the team in September this year it was everything I could hope for. I had a tough test to complete because there was a lot of competition for this seat, but at the same time I got on well with the team and felt that I had found my home. I feel very comfortable with them - they are extremely professional and ambitious people and it is exciting to think that I can be a part of shaping the team’s future. I would like to thank everyone at Marussia Virgin Racing for the faith they have shown in me and everyone at Gravity Sport Management for the support they have given to my career so far.”

Timo Glock said: “My congratulations to Jerome on joining the team and I look forward to working with him next year. After a tough but rewarding debut season for our team we now have a lot of hard work to do to take Marussia Virgin Racing to the level we should be performing at in 2011. I for one cannot wait to get started in the new car when testing begins in February.”

Auch in der kommenden Saison wird Timo Glock für Virgin fahren. Wer sein Teamkollege ist, steht derzeit noch nicht fest.
Nach einem schwierigen Debütjahr soll nun der nächste Schritt folgen. Das Designteam um Nick Wirth hat den ersten Boliden komplett am Computer konstruiert und ist damit unter dem Strich Letzter geworden. Mit Marussia ist ein neuer Sponsor an Board gekommen, der das Team weiter nach vorne bringen will. Trotzdem ist sicher, dass auf Glock weiterhin viel Arbeit wartet.

"Ich werde definitiv für Virgin fahren. Es gab viele Spekulationen darüber, ob ich das Team verlassen werde, aber es ging nicht darum den Rennstall zu verlassen, sondern dass wir besser sein und weiter nach vorne kommen wollen", so der Deutsche. "Es ist nicht nur zu 99,9 Prozent sicher das ich bleibe, denn es ist zu 100 Prozent sicher. Ich hatte von Beginn an einen langfristigen Vertrag und ich habe bereits damals gesagt, dass ich das Team für die Zukunft aufbauen will.
Es ist unmöglich das in einem Jahr zu schaffen. Außerdem können wir alle Erfahrungen der vergangenen Saison für einen guten Schritt im kommenden Jahr verwenden. Es ist ein tolles Team und die Leute haben ihr Blut, ihren Schweiß und ihre Tränen für die erste Saison gegeben. Einige haben das nicht mit ihren eigenen Augen gesehen, so wie ich es getan habe, also kann man leicht etwas kritisieren."

Wer im zweiten Virgin-Cockpit sitzen wird, steht noch nicht fest. Ein heißer Kandidat ist Jérôme D'Ambrosio. "Ich bin bereits bestätigt, also gibt es nichts Neues über mich", sagt Glock. "Das Team möchte aber beide Piloten gleichzeitig verkünden, wenn der zweite Platz entschieden ist. Es ist richtig, sich die Zeit zu nehmen und die beste Kombination aus Jugend und Erfahrung zu wählen.
Außerdem müssen wir beim Testen und am Rennwochenende die besten Informationen sammeln, damit wir schnell genug entwickeln können und vorwärts kommen. Ich glaube nicht, dass wir noch lange auf die Neuigkeiten warten müssen, hoffentlich ist es schon vor Weihnachten soweit."

Der VR-01 ist komplett am Computer entstanden und wurde nie im Windkanal getestet. Wie sieht Glock diesen Ansatz im Rückblick?

"Wir haben gezeigt, dass es möglich ist, ein gutes digitales Formel-1-Auto zu designen und zu entwickeln. Wir haben das vor allem bei der Entwicklung von den ersten Testfahrten bis Saisonende gezeigt. Es war ein sehr großer Schritt. Aber das Problem ist, dass die Konkurrenz ebenfalls entwickelt.
Unter dem Strich haben wir nicht genug getan, um der beste Neueinsteiger zu sein. Wir haben gezeigt, dass wir in eine gute Richtung gehen. Ich habe Vertrauen in unseren Ansatz." Mit Marussia ist auch die Zukunft des Teams gesichert. "Es ist nicht leicht, aber die Partnerschaft mit Marussia ist eine tolle Nachricht. Mit ihrer Unterstützung haben wir eine sichere Basis, von der wir angreifen werden und versuchen unsere Ziele in den nächsten Jahren zu erreichen."

Quelle: www.motorsport-total.com

Timo Glock insists there are absolutely no doubts that he will be racing with the Virgin team in the 2011 season.

Glock has a contract with the team for next year, but there has been speculation that he would move elsewhere following a difficult maiden season for Virgin. The German was not included on the official entry list published by the FIA earlier this week, but he made it clear it is 100 per cent certain he will remain with Virgin. Glock said he is looking forward to 2011, when he expects the team to perform more strongly.

"I'm excited. And yes I am definitely driving for Virgin Racing," Glock said on Virgin's website. "There has been a lot of speculation about me wanting to leave the team, but it is not about leaving a team, it is about wanting to do better and keep moving forward.
It is not just 99.9% certain that I will stay, as has been reported - it is 100% certain that I am staying! Since the beginning I have had a long-term contract with the team and I said then that I was doing this to help build a team for the future. It would not be possible to do that in one year from nothing. Plus I think with everything we have learned this year we can take a very good step up next season.
This is a great team of people who have given blood, sweat and tears to our first season. Some people haven't seen that with their own eyes, like I have, so it's easy to criticise or be cynical."

Glock supported the team's decision to delay announcing who his team-mate will be next year, although he is hoping it will happen this month.

"Well, I am already confirmed so there is nothing new to announce about me. But I understand that the team wants to announce the line-up together when the second seat is confirmed.
I think it is right to take our time and make sure we have the best combination of youth and experience, plus make sure we have the best information going back into the team at testing and races to ensure we can develop as quickly as we want to and keep moving forward.
I don't think we will have to wait too much longer for that news - hopefully before Christmas!"

The German admitted the season had been very difficult and frustrating, but was also very proud of what the team had achieved.

"Extremely challenging and very hard work - for the whole team," he added. "2010 was a tough test for us all, but we survived and it was ultimately very rewarding for me.
There were frustrations along the way and when things don't go well, as a driver who is ambitious, I admit it was sometimes difficult, but I joined Virgin Racing knowing there would be difficult times ahead so it wasn't really a surprise to me. We were building something from zero - no team, no factory, no previous year's car to develop from and no data.
Everything we have we have built ourselves in the space of less than a year. We should also remember that we were also taking a pretty revolutionary design approach to the VR-01. If you look at our season from that perspective, we have achieved something pretty incredible."

Quelle: www.autosport.com

Virgin Racing concluded its final day of running of 2010 today and ended the year on a high by achieving more mileage on a single car than on any other day of its debut season. The team were on track at Yas Marina for the second of two days of testing with the sport’s new tyre supplier Pirelli, with Timo Glock at the wheel of the VR-01:04 for one final outing before the winter break.

The programme for day two was a continuation of the tyre evaluation work started yesterday, with four more sets of the medium and soft compound rubber providing a further opportunity to understand their characteristics and behaviour. The team have also been running some mechanical developments for next year’s car which, thanks to the excellent mileage achieved, has allowed the team to gather even more meaningful results to feed into the design for next year.

The race team now pack up and head home for a well-earned break, whilst the technical team, armed with the information gathered at Yas Marina this week, go headlong into two months of intensive preparation for the 2011 season.

Timo Glock
“First of all my thanks to the team for one final push this week. It’s been another busy week for us all at the end of the season but the information that we have collected will be invaluable for next year’s programme. We had a very good day of running and we have been able to gather a huge amount of data from the tyres and the development parts for 2011. With regard to the Pirelli tyres I think we have seen some positive things and also some things that need to be addressed, but that is to be expected. The Option looks very good and is very consistent but there seems to be a lot of rear degradation with the Prime, so that’s something to be worked on. Generally though a very good test and now it’s over to the technical guys to feed all that back into the programme and make sure we have a strong package next season.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“We said we wanted to end the season on a high and that is exactly what we’ve done here in Abu Dhabi this week with four very positive days of running. We’ve done some good work with the tyres over the last two days and this has been an important step towards our 2011 programme. We have also been able to demonstrate just how far we have come this season by achieving over 400kms of running today. I would like to thank Pirelli for a very positive start to our working relationship. They have been a pleasure to work with. Once again, my thanks to everyone in the team for another week of hard work and I wish everyone a well-deserved break before the big push gets underway for next year.”

No sooner has the 2010 season reached it conclusion than the teams were back on track today with the first preparations for 2011. After a one day break following this week’s Young Driver Test, running resumed at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi today with the first of two days of testing with new tyre supplier Pirelli.

Timo Glock was in the Virgin Racing VR-01:04 to conduct a programme of tyre evaluations and setup work in order to gauge the performance and behaviour of the Pirelli rubber. In common with the other teams testing in Abu Dhabi, Virgin Racing will work with the eight sets of tyres available to them during the two days, comprising the medium and soft compounds.

Timo Glock:
“It was good to be back in the car today to begin work on the 2011 programme. As our new tyre supplier it was good to start the relationship with Pirelli’s engineers and take a good look at the tyres to understand their characteristics. We did a lot of laps and worked though quite a detailed programme, so we have ended the day with a good feel for how the car was behaving with the tyres. We have some more work to do tomorrow and this will leave us in a good position over the winter until testing starts again early next year.”

John Booth, Team Principal:
“We very much enjoyed the first day of our new working relationship with Pirelli and thanks to a very straightforward day with the car we were able to complete our full programme, running various stint lengths and fuel loads with both the medium and soft compound tyres. It is obviously very early days but we were able to get a good feel for the behaviour of the tyres and the results were positive both in terms of laptime and car balance. We were also able to continue running a number of test items for next year’s car with very satisfactory results.”

The start of the race was very dramatic, with a safety car intervention required almost immediately after the start when Vitantonio Liuzzi's Force India car mounted the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher, who thankfully was not hurt.

The team had opted to run the two VR-01s with different strategies, Timo starting on the medium Prime tyre, and Lucas on the super-soft Option. Lucas elected to pit while the safety car was out, and the team performed brilliantly to get Lucas out ahead of the two HRT cars that he had followed into the pitlane.
Timo stayed out and was battling to pass Jarno Trulli, until the Lotus suffered a broken front wing and Timo was set free. Unfortunately a few laps later his gearbox showed signs of failure and on lap 43 he was forced to retire.

Timo Glock:
“The last race of our debut season was quite interesting. I had good pace and was able to keep speed with Lotus. In the end, unfortunately the gearbox got too hot and failed in the closing stages of the race, so it was disappointing but I still had a good pace and that is a reflection of how much we have developed the car over the year.
I would like to thank the whole team and in particular my car crew. They did a very good job and I’m looking forward to working hard to get us in good shape for next year.”

The Virgin Racing team have made the trip from Interlagos to Yas Marina in an incredibly short time to be ready for this weekend’s Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. The pack-up in Brazil was completed by 11pm and the team had already arrived in Abu Dhabi by 05:00 on Tuesday morning.
This is the second year that the 5.541 km Yas Marina circuit has been used, with the most interesting feature of the race being the transition from daylight to darkness, as the sun sets and the multi-coloured lights take over.

Timo Glock:
“This is a new experience for me as I missed last year’s race as a result of my leg injury. It’s always great to learn a new circuit, but we already have a good idea from the simulator so it won’t be too much of a challenge.
The circuit itself is a typical modern circuit, quite different to the track at Interlagos with its changes of elevation, and in general there aren’t many high-speed corners.
It’s obviously the last race of the season so our final chance to show what the VR-01 can do, and I’m looking forward to that, but also to next season which isn’t that far away!"

The Virgin Racing team travel to South America for the first time this week, as the Formula One circus makes its annual trip to Brazil. The 4.309 km long Interlagos track is the shortest permanent circuit on the calendar, only Monaco is shorter, and the combination of the twisty infield section and the long start/finish straight that leads into the Senna "S" always guarantees an exciting race.
The circuit is also the highest at 800m above sea-level, but the passion of the locals more than makes up for any lack of atmospheric pressure.

Timo Glock:
“Interlagos is a great circuit, fun to drive but also technically challenging. At the beginning of the lap you have one of the best overtaking points in Formula One, as we brake for the Senna "S", a great combination of corners where the track drops away from you. It's always a challenge to balance the car between getting maximum grip through the twisty infield, and minimizing drag for the straights.
Some of the corners are quite bumpy too. It's important for us to show the progress we've made over the season and we'll be pushing very hard to demonstrate the speed of the car in the last two races of the season and hopefully we can get a good result here."

Virgin Racing’s Korean Grand Prix ended in frustration when the race came to a premature conclusion for both Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi as a consequence of separate racing incidents.

As Formula One counted down to the start of a race which several weeks ago had seemed like it might never happen, it had been raining intermittently for 15 hours and the conditions were getting worse, not better. After the start was delayed for 10 minutes in the hope that the heavens would close, the race got underway behind the safety car, but three laps was all it took to confirm that the circuit was undriveable. The race was subsequently red-flagged, which gave rise to a second grid formation.

At 16:05 the race was restarted, again behind the safety car, and after a further 13 laps the conditions had improved sufficiently to allow the racing to finally get underway. The early part was strong for both drivers.

All hopes rested on Timo, who was running in a very encouraging 12th position when he was hit by Sebastian Buemi. The Toro Rosso driver lost control under braking at the end of the straight and speared the right-hand side of Timo’s car. Timo came into the pits to allow the team to assess the damage, but it was too extensive for him to be able to continue and he was forced to retire.

Timo Glock:
“This was a very disappointing race, especially after having been in a strong position to achieve a good result. The restart was okay and the track was starting to improve. We had quite good pace in the first part of the race and were clearly the quickest of the new teams.
It’s just a huge shame that we couldn’t finish the race and all because of the mistake made by Buemi. It just seemed that he was all over the place. We now head to Brazil for the penultimate race of the season where I hope we can expect more luck than we found here in Korea.”

The Virgin Racing team is back in the Far East again this week as Formula One prepares to race in South Korea for the very first time.

The Korean Grand Prix, Round 17 of the FIA Formula One World Championship, is being held at a brand new Hermann Tilke designed track in Yeongam in the South Jeolla region. Aside from the simulation work that has been undertaken in recent months, the 5.621km Korean International Circuit is ‘virgin’ territory for all of the teams and the track walk on Thursday will be the first time that the drivers and their engineers will be able to see exactly what they are up against.

Timo Glock:
“I always look forward to the challenge of a new circuit and after everything that has been said about Korea I can’t wait to arrive there and see the new track for myself. It is a high downforce circuit with what look to be some challenging corners, particularly the section between turns 7-9, 11-12 and turn 17, which is almost flat, blind and important as it leads onto the second longest straight. I think there will also be some good overtaking spots in the early part of the lap.
I’m looking forward to Free Practice as in addition to getting my first real taste of the track it is always interesting to see how well our simulation work translates to reality. We have a lot of hard work to do in the remaining three races and it is important that we find everything we can from the current package to try to end the season well.”

„Mein Digitales Hessen – heute und in 20 Jahren“ lautet der Titel des Jugendmedienwettbewerbs des Landes Hessen. Der hessische Formel 1-Pilot Timo Glock gibt dafür den Startschuss: „Ohne IT läuft heute gar nichts – nicht nur im Rennsport. Zeig’ uns, wo IT für dich wichtig ist.“ Die Schirmherrschaft für den Jugendmedienwettbewerb hat Dieter Posch, Hessischer Minister für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Landesentwicklung, übernommen. Auch das Hessische Kultusministerium unterstützt im Rahmen der Medieninitiative Schule@Zukunft den Wettbewerb.

Gesucht werden kreative Fotos und Videos, die zeigen, wie man sich Hessen im digitalen Zeitalter vorstellen kann. Wie sieht das digitale Hessen aus, oder wie sollte es aussehen? Wie nutzen wir Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien schon jetzt, und wie werden wir in Zukunft IT-unterstützt leben, arbeiten, uns bewegen? Welche Chancen bietet IT für ein besseres Leben und einen zukunftsfähigen Umgang mit der Natur? In dem Wettbewerb gibt es vier Kategorien: Prämiert werden jeweils die besten Fotos und Videos zu „Meine Digitales Hessen heute“ und „Mein Digitales Hessen in 20 Jahren“.

Aufgerufen sind alle hessischen Schüler und Studenten im Alter von 16 bis 25 Jahren. Jeder Teilnehmer kann bis zu fünf Beiträge einreichen – per Post oder auf der Internetseite www.meindigitaleshessen.de. Alle Datenformate sind zugelassen, Einsendeschluss ist der 07. November 2010.

In jeder Kategorie sind tolle Preise zu gewinnen: 1. Platz: iPad, 2. Platz: iPhone, 3. Platz: iPod. Die Preise werden auf der iTEC10, dem internationalen IT-Kongress des Landes Hessen, am 24. November ab 19 Uhr während der Kongress-Gala verliehen. Spektakulär ist eine zusätzliche Attraktion für die vier Top-Platzierten: „Race against the Glock“ – Sie können auf der Zukunftswerkstatt-IT in einem Computerspiel gegen den Formel 1-Piloten Timo Glock antreten. Die Zukunftswerkstatt-IT ist ein kostenfreies IT-Forum für Schüler und Studenten am 23. November 2010 im Congress Park Hanau.

Zu den Juroren des Medienwettbewerbs gehört neben Timo Glock unter anderem August-Wilhelm Scheer, Präsident des Branchenverbandes BITKOM. Der Jugendmedienwettbewerb ist eine Aktivität des Hessischen Ministeriums für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Landesentwicklung. Er wird organisiert von der Aktionslinie Hessen-IT und unterstützt von der Medieninitiative Schule@Zukunft.

Hessen-IT ist die Aktionslinie des Hessischen Ministeriums für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Landesentwicklung für den gesamten Informations- und Kommunikationsmarkt in Hessen. Hessen-IT wird durch die Wirtschaftsfördergesellschaft Hessen Agentur gemanagt. www.hessen-it.de

Schule@Zukunft ist eine Medieninitiative des Landes Hessen, in der Kommunen und das Land gemeinsam den Weg von Schulen in die Wissensgesellschaft unterstützen möchten. www.schuleundzukunft.de

iTEC10 ist der internationale Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie-Kongress des Landes Hessen am 24. November 2010 im Congress Park Hanau.www.itec10.de, www.itec10.eu

Weitere Informationen über:
HA Hessen Agentur GmbH
Aktionslinie Hessen-IT
Dr. Matthias Donath
Tel.: 0611 774-8963
Fax: 0611 774-8620
E-Mail: matthias.donath@hessen-agentur.de
Internet: www.hessen-agentur.de, www.hessen-it.de

Anmeldungen: www.meindigitaleshessen.de

After Saturday's torrential downpour, better weather greeted Suzuka for the postponed qualifying and race at the Japanese Grand Prix. 

The track was mainly dry at the start of qualifying but still slightly slippery. The softer Option tyre was clearly the way to go, although as the team hadn't managed to optimise the set-up for these tyres during the only dry day of running, it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Lucas opted for three runs while Timo chose to go out only twice. At the end of the session Lucas was classified 21st on 1:36.265, Timo 22nd with 1:36.332.

Timo got a reasonable start and when the Safety Car came out as a result of the first lap carnage, he pitted twice in order to be able to complete the race on the Prime tyre. Unfortunately this left him behind Sakon Yamamoto, who used his experience of the Suzuka circuit to block Timo's attempts to pass. Once Yamamoto pitted, Timo was able to show his true pace, but by then the race was long over.

Timo Glock: “The start of the race was reasonable for me but the safety car came out straight away, so we decided to do two pitstops in a row to get the Option tyre out of the way, which we hadn’t been able to get to work on the car in Free Practice. We ended up behind Yamamoto and just couldn’t get past him. He blocked me for most of the race and in the end all I could do was focus on just getting to the end of the race. It has been a strange weekend here in Suzuka and I think we’ll be happy to head to Korea and hope for better things.”

The Virgin Racing team heads back to the Far East again this week for Round 16 of the FIA Formula One World Championship, the Japanese Grand Prix, which takes place at Suzuka on 8-10 October.

Suzuka International Racing Circuit is one of the great tracks of Formula One. It was designed by John Hugenholtz and built in 1962 as a test track for Honda, who still own it. The track is unique in F1 as it is the only “figure of eight” circuit layout used during the season. The 130R corner, so named because it has a 130 metre radius, is one of the celebrated corners in motor racing because of the speed at which it is taken. It was remodelled a few years ago, but still requires full commitment. Rain can often be a feature at Suzuka, and drivers who have raced here often have an advantage in knowing the lines to be used in the wet, which can be especially useful for overtaking.

Timo Glock:
“We head to Japan with another strong weekend under our belts in Singapore. The first part of our two-phase upgrade was working well and I had a good time in the wet to drying conditions. I think we can expect similarly wet weather in Japan - the early forecasts are for a strong chance of rain during all the running sessions and possibly during the race. And of course we have the second part of our upgrade with some new aero developments which I think will help us. It is of course exactly one year since I had my accident at this track, but I don’t have any reservations about coming back. The big cut to my leg healed completely and I have no residual effects. I always find Japan such an interesting experience and this is such a great technical circuit which I enjoy, so I am sure that getting the most from the car here in another crucial race for us will be my sole focus.”

"I got a reasonably good start to the race but both Lotus cars were able to overtake me. I was then able to retake Trulli at turn 7 and it was quite good putting pressure on Kovalainen.

At the first safety car we tried to stay out, which worked out okay and I was running as high as P10. I stayed in front of all the other guys for a few laps but when Sutil overtook me there was no chance to keep the others in the pack behind me. When he passed I couldn’t recover quick enough because the tyres were dirty as a result of having to go offline.

We were just unlucky with the second safety car. I had to come in for tyres and we just ended up behind. Then a few laps from the end we had a problem with the hydraulics and our race was over.

So now we look forward to the next one in Japan where we have more of our upgrade package and that should help us a lot."

Obwohl erst 2008 in den Rennkalender der Formel 1 aufgenommen, ist der Singapur GP schon jetzt ein Mythos. Stadtkurs und zugleich das einzige Nachtrennen der Serie – auf dem Marina Bay Street Circuit sind spektakuläre Bilder stets vorprogrammiert.

Timo Glock erinnert sich gerne an das letzte Mal in der asiatischen Millionenmetropole. Damals wurde er Zweiter hinter Lewis Hamilton. Und diesmal? Glock: „Wir gehen die ganze Sache sehr optimistisch an und hoffen nach einem erfolgreichen Update wieder angreifen zu können. Vielleicht gibt es mal wieder ein verrücktes Rennen in dem Stadtstaat und der große Regen spült uns in die Punkteränge. Schön wär's.“

Doch der Deutsche weiß sehr wohl, dass die Chancen, den Erfolg der Vorsaison zu wiederholen, äußerst gering sind. Deshalb lautet das Ziel: Endlich die ersten WM-Punkte holen. Das dürfte Herausforderung genug sein. „Zum Ende der Saison wird es erfahrungsgemäß immer schwieriger, nach vorne zu fahren. Also, drückt mir die Daumen...“

Monza is one of the greatest race tracks in the world and today it lived up to its heritage. A Ferrari victory pleased the Tifosi and Virgin Racing finished first out of the new teams.

At the start, Timo got away very well from the back of the grid passing five cars to slot in behind the Lotus of Jarno Trulli. Lucas was able to pass Heikki Kovalainen to tuck in behind Timo, although the Finn was able to retake the position a few laps into the race.

The pace was hectic as Monza has the fastest average speed of any Grand Prix, but with passing so difficult, the timing and the execution of the pit stops was likely to be vital. When Heikki stopped, Timo came in on the following lap and the team performed the stop perfectly, getting Timo out in time to retain his position.

At about three-quarter distance, Jarno Trulli began to slow and was passed by Timo and Lucas, which left the team looking at first and third positions in the new teams category, but a suspension issue on the last lap cost Lucas a position. The team are delighted to finish best of the new teams, and were the only one to have both cars classified - a feat they have now achieved more than either of the other two newcomers.

Timo Glock:
“I got a very good start and was going well into turn 1. I nearly got in front of both Lotus cars but Jarno was in a better position in the chicane for turn 2 and was able to stay in front of me. The opening laps were strong and I was able to put a lot of pressure on Jarno but I suffered with the rear brakes. In general I had to over-drive the car and just try to stay on line. The boys did a great job in the pit stop and I was able to stay ahead of Heikki Kovalainen. Together with my engineer I was able to manage the blue flags very well to get through the traffic and generally this has been a very good race for us.”

The Grands Prix are coming thick and fast now as Formula 1 counts down towards a thrilling climax to the 2010 season. After the teams enjoyed an action-packed race at the legendary Spa circuit last weekend, this week they’re heading to magical Monza - another old-y but good-y, just like Spa, and another firm favourite amongst the drivers.

Monza is steeped in history. The circuit was built in 1922 and since the inception of the World Championship in 1950 it has staged the Italian Grand Prix every year, with the exception of 1980, which makes it one of the oldest - and fastest - tracks on the 2010 calendar. The heritage is palpable at every turn - and so is the presence of the legendary Tifosi, who have motorsport passion oozing from every pore. The 53-lap race is staged at the 5.793km (3.600-mile) Autodromo Nazionale di Monza and marks the end of F1’s European season. The original 45-degree banking at either end of the pit straight has not been used by F1 cars since 1961, but the circuit remains a temple of speed thanks to its four long straights where the cars will reach top speeds of 342kph (213mph) compared with average lap speeds of around 242kph (150mph).

Timo Glock
“It was great to be back racing in Spa after the break and already the pace of the last part of the season has really picked up. I’m looking forward to the next six races as there is going to be a real energy as everyone fights hard to achieve their objectives. We’re no different and we’re pushing very hard to end the season as the best of the new teams. I love racing at Monza. It’s such a great track and I love the history attached to it. The old part of the circuit with the banking is spectacular. But as for the part we run on today, it’s very different to most of the circuits we race at. It is very quick and we run in a very low downforce configuration to get the straight-line speed required for the straights. My favourite part of the track is Ascari, which is good fun. The straight at Parabolica is also good in qualifying when you’re trying to get the maximum out of the car and leave your braking as late as possible.”

"Als nächstes steht jetzt erstmal Monza auf dem Programm. Die Strecke ist berüchtigt und bietet mit der höchsten Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit und den längsten oder schnellsten Geraden eine Menge für den Zuschauer. Leider sind die Curbs ein bisschen zurück gebaut worden, deshalb ist es nicht mehr ganz so spektakulär. Ich freue mich aber auf den Klassiker und hoffe auf ein gutes Ergebnis."

BELGIAN GRAND PRIX - RACE

Spa Francorchamps delivered an exciting race as usual, and the new teams were racing closely throughout the entire race.

Timo Glock:
“Quite an eventful race, I have to say. I got a good start but again someone pushed me off the track and I lost two places. Then when Barrichello and Alonso had their incident I had to go wide and I went through the 50 metre board and damaged my front wing. I had to pit straight away and I lost quite a lot of time to the others. I then had to catch up to Trulli and Lucas again and at the end I took the gamble of having wet tyres which didn’t pay off and the rain came just too late - I’ve been too unlucky in the races this year. They were difficult conditions over the weekend, which made for quite an interesting race. It paid off for us in qualifying but not in the race.”

Premiere beim Großen Preis von Belgien: Timo Glock präsentiert seine erste eigene Website. 
Ab sofort können Glock-Fans und Interessierte unter der Adresse www.timoglock.de und www.timoglock.com aktuelle Nachrichten und Informationen sowie Videos und Fotos rund um das sportliche und private Leben des 28-Jährigen abrufen.

"Es freut mich riesig endlich meine eigene Homepage zu haben. Mit vielen Features will ich genügend Information und Aktuelles über mich an die Fans bringen."

Klicken Sie rein und lernen Sie den Rennfahrer Glock mal ganz privat als Timo kennen!

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At the Grand Prix of Belgium, Timo presents his new website for the first time. From now on, fans and anyone else who is interested can easily keep up to date with him. Videos and pictures about his private life as well as his professional one can also be viewed on www.timoglock.de and www.timoglock.com

"I am very happy to finally have my own website! With lots of new features I am looking forward to sharing more up to date information with my fans."

Click here and get to know the racing driver Glock as Timo!

Der Formel-1-Klassiker steht kurz vor der Tür! Zum 42. Mal geht der Große Preis von Belgien in Spa-Francorchamps über den Asphalt.

Mit einer Länge von 7,004 Kilometern ist Spa der längste Kurs im Rennkalender. Neben Monte Carlo gehört der belgische Ardennenkurs zu den ausgesprochenen Fahrerstrecken. Gerade die herausfordernden Kurvenkombinationen trennen in Belgien die Spreu vom Weizen. Dazu zählt zum einen die Eau Rouge, eine Senke, die mit rund 300 km/h angefahren wird.

"Belgien ist natürlich immer ein Hightlight, weil die Strecke einfach so viel Historie hat und schon so lange dort Formel 1 Rennen gefahren werden. Gleich zu Beginn mit der bekannten Kurve "La Source", das hat schon was. Es wird hoffentlich ein gutes Wochenende, an dem wir wieder gegen Lotus kämpfen können"

For many years star-photographer Mayk Azzato has been shooting celebrities in his signature „crime-look“.

In his showroom "Nobody is perfect" 15 new star portraits were exhibited, among which photographs of Timo Glock, Seal, Snoop Dogg, Ralf Möller, Esther Schweins, Kim Wilde, Vitali Klitschko, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Marc Terenzi, Sarah Conner and many many more could be admired.

Timo is the first formula one driver who has become a subject of Mayk Azzato's work, making this showroom special.

In der Formel 1 wird derzeit kaum über den Rennsport gesprochen, sondern vielmehr über das Verhalten von Ferrari beim Grand Prix in Hockenheim. Die Italiener hatten Fernando Alonso kurz vor Ende des Rennens am führenden Felipe Massa vorbeigelotst und anschließend eine Strafe wegen unerlaubter Teamorder erhalten.

Nun hat sich auch Timo Glock zu dem Vorfall geäußert: "Für mich ist es das Normalste der Welt.“ sagt der Deutsche. „Klar, ich selbst war noch nie in einer solchen Lage und es ist bestimmt immer schlimm für jenen Piloten, der zurückgepfiffen wird. Aber es ist und bleibt immer eine Teamentscheidung." Viele seiner Kollegen denken ähnlich.

Ferrari wurde mit einer Strafe von 100.000 US-Dollar belegt, möglicherweise wird der Motorsport-Weltrat in einigen Wochen noch weitere Konsequenzen ziehen. Glock kann für dieses Vorgehen kein Verständnis aufbringen. „Ich finde das Verbot unsinnig. Man sollte über diese Regelung wirklich mal nachdenken. So werden sich die Teams kreative Möglichkeiten ausdenken, um nicht aufzufallen. Aber Stallorder wird es trotzdem immer geben."

Pause in der Formel 1 – Timo hat das rennfreie Wochenende in der Königsklasse des Automobilsports dazu genutzt, um seine Motorradkollegen in der MotoGP zu besuchen. Beim Großen Preis von Deutschland am Sachsenring war er einer der zahlreichen Fans, die den Sieg von Valentino Rossi bestaunten.

Schon im Vorfeld der Veranstaltung tauschte er mit den Fahrern Erfahrungen aus. „Die Jungs sind verrückt! Was die mit so viel Leistung auf zwei Rädern zeigen, ist Wahnsinn. Hut ab!“, sagte Timo im Interview mit „Sport1“. „Ich habe ja selbst mit Motocross angefangen und mir damals das Schien- und Wadenbein gebrochen. Meine Mutter ist seither mit zwei Rädern nicht so glücklich, meine Freundin wahrscheinlich auch nicht. Aber reizen würde mich das natürlich schon. Ich habe auch zu Loris Capirossi im Scherz gemeint, dass ich sein Motorrad ja auf einer Aufwärmrunde fahren könnte."

Das hat er dann allerdings doch nicht gemacht und stattdessen lieber zugeschaut. Schließlich war es ja auch sein rennfreies Wochenende.