Soucek to Sign Reserve Deal with Virgin Racing

Although Virgin Racing already secured a test/reserve driver deal with Brazilian racer Luiz Razia, the British team is still looking for a second driver to fulfill the aforementioned duties throughout the 2010 season of Formula One. And it seems that Madrid-born driver Andy Soucek has the best chances of inking that contract in the days to come.

A few days ago, we have reported to you that former test/reserve driver Alvaro Parente was ousted by Virgin Racing because of his lack of sponsorship for the 2010 deal. Tourism Institute of Portugal, his main backer for the upcoming season, decided to pull out of their sponsorship deal with Parente, leaving him not only without a testing seat with Virgin, but also without a valid programme in the 2010 GP2 Series.

Accordingly, Virgin Racing started looking for another driver, and Soucek seems to have already agreed terms with the British outfit. Although he had some more test driver offers from teams like McLaren Mercedes or BMW Sauber F1, the Spaniard reportedly chose Virgin for the higher prospects of making an F1 debut as soon as possible.

“In a few days (the deal) will be official; surely by the end of the week at (the) Montmelo (Barcelona test),” reported Spanish radio Cadena SER, according to the GMM news agency.

The reigning F2 champion made no secret from wanting to make the step towards Formula One racing this year, but failed to secure a deal due to the high financial demands of some teams involved in the series. Although he initially ruled out a test/reserve driver role in 2010, Soucek admitted this could be the only way he'd keep contact with the series, and reportedly turned down two more reserve driver offers in order to come to Virgin.