Virgin Racing completed a two-day shakedown test of its maiden F1 challenger on Friday, as the team concluded its preparations for next week's pre-season test in Jerez, the first for the new outfit. Having launched their car on Wednesday, Virgin became the first of the four new 2010 teams to run its car on-track, taking to the Stowe circuit at Silverstone, nestled within the main Grand Prix course.

Ex-Toyota pilot Timo Glock was given the honour of driving the car for the first time as he took its for its first run on Thursday, albeit completing only a handful of exploratory laps. The shakedown programme proper began on Thursday, with Glock putting 42 laps of the 1.2km circuit on the car. He then handed the car over to rookie team-mate Lucas Di Grassi for the afternoon, with the Brazilian adding another 36 laps to the odometer. In all, the pair managed to clock up the maximum 100km without any major problems.

“It feels good. It feels like home! I'm really happy and our first impressions of the car are very positive. It's amazing what the team has achieved in such a short space of time,” enthused Lucas Di Grassi after Friday's run. “I think we have a strong car and a great team to get things started in Jerez. It was important for me to learn as much as possible here so I can start to put some real mileage on the car next week.”

Technical director Nick Wirth, who has spearheaded the design of the VR-01 since mid-2009, was pleased to have completed the shakedown. “I am delighted that we have successfully shaken down the VR-01. To achieve 100km of running out of the box is a great achievement with only a few minor issues along the way,” he said.

“We have acquired some good information to feed straight back into design for the development of new parts, which we may even be testing next week. All in all this is a very pleasing conclusion to a memorable week for Virgin Racing.”

Team Principal John Booth paid due credit to his brand new race team: “Our shakedown provided our very first opportunity to work together as a trackside operation and it couldn't have gone any better. The way the team has come together to achieve such a successful shakedown has been commendable. I'm very proud of what we have achieved and we're looking forward to taking our place alongside the other F1 teams in the pitlane next week.”

Virgin's focus now switches to Jerez, where they will get their 2010 preparations into full swing at their first pre-season test. The four-day test gets underway on Wednesday, February 10, with Red Bull and Force India due to attend along with the seven teams that were present in Valenica, boosting the field to 10 teams.

Picture galleries of the Silverstone shakedown test can be found here and here.