Di Grassi to partner Glock at Virgin

Virgin Racing has confirmed that Lucas di Grassi is to race alongside Timo Glock at the team next year.

After what the team itself called 'the worst kept secret in F1', Virgin Racing unveiled its new logo and showed off its drivers in public at a launch in Notting Hill, London, on Tuesday.

Although Glock signed for the team several weeks ago, di Grassi only recently committed to the outfit - having tested for the Renault team in the recent run out for young drivers in Jerez.

Di Grassi arrives at the team after four seasons in GP2, and having gained experience of F1 through his role as a Renault test driver.

"It feels great to be here, it's a dream come true for me after two years of being a test driver, and from that and from GP2 I feel I'm ready and am very confident in this team," said di Grassi.

"We're here to race, not to do politics or mess around, we're here to race."

The team's sporting director John Booth said he was delighted with the line-up.

"I have 20 years' experience working with drivers," he said. "I have been privileged to work with some fantastic drivers in that time and I hope that's helped in giving me an eye for a good driver.

"The four drivers we have here are the four we wanted in our line-up, they're the perfect drivers."

Di Grassi says F1 deal is done

Lucas di Grassi is set to be announced as Virgin Racing's second driver early next week, with the Brazilian having revealed that he has completed a Formula 1 deal with one of the new entrants.

Virgin is set to launch its F1 project in association with the Manor team on Tuesday, and yesterday di Grassi announced via Twitter and Brazilian television that he had secured a 2010 seat.

"For all who are wondering, I'll be in F1 in 2010," di Grassi wrote. "The details will be announced next week. Stay tuned. Thank you very much."

Di Grassi told AUTOSPORT in October that he was very interested in the Virgin/Manor team, and won the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix while driving for John Booth's squad in 2005.

"From what I understand, it has the best package available of the new teams - in terms of technical people who have joined the team, in terms of marketing, and in terms of financial backing," said di Grassi. "I think is very, very serious, so from my side I rate it very high on the list."

The 25-year-old has been a Renault F1 reserve driver for the past two seasons, having long been part of the French company's driver development scheme, and has finished in the top three in GP2 for the last three years, although he did not win the title in the feeder championship.

Virgin has already signed ex-Toyota driver Timo Glock for its first 2010 seat.