UST, Virgin Racing partner for 2010 Formula One

BANGALORE, INDIA: Virgin Racing today announced that it had selected IT services company UST Global as its IT Services partner for 2010 Formula One season. Virgin Racing is a new team for a new era of Formula One.

UST Global will collaborate with Virgin Racing on advanced technical projects as part of this operational partnership. On the cards for 2010 is a bespoke race management tool that will provide race engineers a 360 degree trackside perspective of each Grand Prix, said a press release.

This is made possible by integrating information streams from the FIA and FOM with the GPS positioning of the Virgin Racing cars plus FOM visual feeds to enable an optimal race strategy. UST Global will also integrate the Wirth Research simulator for the VR-01 to ensure a constant two-way correlation between both sets of inputs, it said.

The release also said that designer Nick Wirth returned to F1 after a decade, having enjoyed remarkable success in Indy Racing and Le Mans sports car development in the USA with his innovative and low-cost design approach.

The UST Global brand will have a prominent presence on the new Virgin Racing VR-01 race car, as well as the attire and equipment of F1 drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi.

Virgin Racing’s CEO Graeme Lowdon said, “We are delighted to welcome UST Global to Virgin Racing and to be entering into a partnership that will directly benefit our trackside operational performance. We look forward to working with UST Global over the next few weeks to prepare for our debut race in Bahrain and the exciting 2010 season beyond.”

“Formula One represents the pinnacle of racing, and like UST Global, Virgin Racing is a brand that epitomizes customer experience and relationships,” said Joe Nalkara, president of UST Global.
“We both are next generation companies throwing aside convention to take on the establishment. These shared principles made it a natural choice for UST Global to partner with Virgin Racing over any other teams,” he added.