Charles Pic to replace D’Ambrosio at Virgin next year

Pic will join the Marussia team for 2012

Virgin – soon to be renamed Marussia – have confirmed that Charles Pic has replaced Jerome D’Ambrosio at the team.

Timo Glock has already been confirmed for 2012, and will partner the 21-year-old driver, who finished 4th in this year’s GP2 championship.

This of course leaves Jerome D’Ambrosio without a race seat for next year.

Pic tested for Virgin at the recent young driver’s test, amid speculation that he was to join the team. Today he has said:

"As a driver you always feel you are ready for the next opportunity but in Abu 
Dhabi last week it was a tough test.

The team gave me some fantastic opportunities to learn new things but I also knew 
that I had to impress them and show them I was ready to do a good job. I was 
pleased with my performance, and obviously the team were too, so a very good start 
but this is just the beginning and I know that a lot of hard work is ahead of me to 
reward this chance.

I like the team a lot; we worked well together in the test and I feel very 
comfortable. They want to do things the right way and I can see that there is a lot 
of determination to succeed, so it is very special for me to be part of that. I’m 
looking forward to working hard in every area over the winter to ensure I am ready 
for the start of testing and my first Grand Prix."