Timo Glock has re-signed with Virgin on a new three-year deal

The 29-year-old joined Virgin at the beginning of last season, following Toyota's withdrawal from Formula 1 at the end of 2009.

"I am very happy to confirm that Marussia Virgin Racing will be my home for the next few years of my F1 career," said Glock. "I'm especially pleased to be able to announce this news ahead of my home grand prix in Germany today, where my career began.

"The past 18 months of racing have been quite tough, although this was always to be expected. As a driver I knew I would have to go back a few steps in order to move forward."

Glock expressed his frustration early in 2011 having felt the team had not made enough progress over the winter break.

But a series of big changes, including Virgin Racing's technical tie-up with McLaren and its purchase of the Wirth Racing Technologies business earlier this month, have shown the team has ambition to move forward.

"Now we have tasted the difficult times together I can't wait to be with the team when we start to enjoy the good times," he said. "And I know they are coming.

"I've seen tremendous belief from Marussia and hard work and commitment across the whole team.

"With the additional steps we have taken - the technical partnership with McLaren and bringing the whole team together - I believe we can achieve our goals together. This year we've demonstrated that we know how to build a reliable car, and with the resources we now have we should be able to add to that a high-performing car. After that it's all about gradual but significant steps forward."

Virgin Racing's CEO Andy Webb added that securing Glock's services for the longterm was important to the continued development of the team.

"We are delighted to have agreed a new long-term contract with Timo, which represents another significant step in our plans for Marussia Virgin Racing," he said. "Timo's contribution to the team over the past 18 months has been immeasurable and he has certainly lived up to his commitment to help build a team from within.

"It has been a tough climb at times, and for a driver of his unquestionable record it must have proved frustrating at times.

"Both he and the team are fortunate to be faced with the opportunities we have now created for ourselves when we are still very much in our infancy. Timo is vastly experienced whilst still bringing youth and great spirit to the team. We are looking forward to seeing what we can do together to extract the maximum from our resources, particularly the promising technical partnership with McLaren."

Glock first raced in Formula 1 for Jordan in 2004, where he completed four grands prix, but became a regular in 2008 with Toyota having won the 2007 GP2 Series following a spell in the Champ Car World Series.