Sir Richard Branson on Saturday insisted Virgin Racing is not in danger of dropping out of formula one.

After Bernie Ecclestone hinted that one of the new teams is in trouble, HRT’s Jose Ramon Carabante as well as boss Colin Kolles insisted the F1 chief executive was not talking about the Spanish outfit.

“I’m surprised Bernie said what he did,” billionaire Branson said in Monaco.  “He might know something about the other teams I don’t.”

The Briton told the Daily Mail that Virgin has sponsors on board and will definitely “go all the way to the end of the season, and hopefully for many seasons yet”.

Branson, however, is only the naming sponsor of the rebranded Manor team, and Virgin has struggled both for pace and reliability so far in 2010.

But he insisted: “If they (the team) continue the kind of progress we’ve made to date, we will be delighted and will continue to support it, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.

“We went into this with our eyes open and we plan to stick with it as long as they get other sponsors on board, which they are managing to do,” added Branson.

(GMM)

The plans of the new team, Virgin Racing for a pilot development program have given a great step forward with the news given by John Booth, the team’s principal, pointing out that they’re launching the GP3 team in 2010.

Racing Manor GP3 team will share the installations with Virgin’s Formula One’s racing shop, and it’s pilot will win a Formula One test.  GP3 is a new category of only one racing single-seated that made its debut this season as a link series for the GP2 Series.  It will be executed in parallel together with the GP2 Championship.
Before entering the Formula One under the name of Virgin, Booth and his organization Manor Motorsport has achieved great success in minor series, such as Formula Three and Formula Renault, playing an important role in the development of great pilots, including Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.
“Manor GP3 is a wonderful opportunity for the future stars’ potential can raise to Virgin Racing,” Booth said.  “Our target has been to get a budget for the series that is not only extremely competitive, but offers the drivers the added benefit of the Manor pilot preparation and integration to the Formula One team.”
“Besides receiving support from our fantastic team of highly experienced professionals, Manor GP3 will occupy the Virgin Racing F1 installations, will have access to the programs operated by Wirth Research simulator and will be executed in support of the Formula One’s 2010 European rounds.  The icing in the cake is the incredible award of an F1 test with Virgin Racing for Manor GP3’s most successful pilot.”

The cars are normalized GP3s, with Dallara chassis and a Renault 280CV engine with Hewland sequential gearbox. Pirelli will supply the tires to the series and the GP2 supplier will provide the Brembo brakes.