Marussia Purchases Virgin Racing Stake

Marussia is about to have its own Formula One team starting 2011. In fact, according to recent reports, it seems that a deal between the Russian sportscar maker and current F1 team Virgin Racing has already been inked, with the former now gaining a significant (if not majority) stake in the British outfit.

Of course, there is no information on the size of the deal but, according to an official announcement from Virgin Racing, the official plans of the team for the 2011 campaign will be unveiled on Thursday, at 11.30 local time (in Abu Dhabi, that is, where the team is preparing to tackle the season finale). It will all go down at the Yas Marina Hotel, within the Abu Dhabi F1 complex.

As said in a previous report on this topic, Marussia is headed by racing driver and Russian Top Gear presenter Nikolai Fomenko (he's also an actor and a musician). The man admitted in an interview with state owned news agency Ria Novosti that Marussia Motors has acquired a part of Virgin Racing, but that he can't disclose any further information on the deal.

“Now we can state with full certainty that we have our team in Formula One. Of course, it was not an easy decision for us. I'm not entitled to disclose the contract value, but it's big money, believe me,” said Fomenko.

According to reports, the team will be called Marussia Virgin Racing and will unveil the 2011 challenger in the beginning of next year, in Moscow. In fact, if we are to trust a report from the Financial Times, Marussia will actually purchase the part of Virgin Racing formerly owned by Lloyds Banking Group.

Marussia co-investor Andrey Cheglakov confirmed that the Russians want the name Virgin Racing to stay in Formula One, just so the team “gains better recognition” in the series.