Virgin set to join second winter test

Although the new car will not be in action at the first winter test at Valencia at the start of next month, Wirth is anticipating a shakedown run in the UK around that time, in preparation for hitting the track in earnest at the second pre-season test.

"Basically, the plan is to shake the car down in the UK," Wirth told AUTOSPORT. "The fire-up is planned to be for Friday the 29th [of January], although I think it will probably be earlier, and we'll shake the car down in the week of the 1st of February. That was always the plan.

"To be honest, we were also planning to miss the first Jerez test. But as we got into August and September we thought we had a chance to bring it forward and do as much testing as possible. So we plan to shake it down in the UK, possibly on the 3rd but more likely on the 4th and 5th [of February], and then ship the thing out and start running on the 10th of February at Jerez."

Wirth added that the car build was fully on schedule at present.

"We are getting the first fully-assembled monocoque back from the painters this afternoon with all the crash structures, sidepods - all the bits that are bolted onto it," he said on Tuesday.

"It has been in to paint, and then that gets all the fuel tank put in, looms and everything like that, and gets built up, building up towards our firing up."