Cosworth-powered AT&T Williams and Marussia Virgin Racing entries unveiled
Cosworth has today attended the launch of the all-new Marussia Virgin Racing MVR-02 race car which took place at BBC Television Centre in London. The reveal of the Cosworth-powered MVR-02 today comes one week after the launch of the AT&T Williams FW33 which has seen Cosworth work closely with Williams to fully integrate the CA engine with Williams’ own KERS system, creating a new version of the 2.4 litre V8 engine to be designated CA2011k.
A three-day test session at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia last week marked the first track testing of the CA2011k engine that the AT&T Williams team will be running throughout 2011. Marussia Virgin Racing and Hispania Racing were also present at the test, running their 2010 cars, as they each prepare for their second season in Formula One running this season with Cosworth CA2011 engines.
Cosworth CEO Tim Routsis and General Manager F1 Business Unit Mark Gallagher attended today’s Marussia Virgin Racing event, which had additional meaning with the presence on stage of the Cosworth-powered Marussia B1 sports car, the result of a long technical partnership between Marussia Motors and Cosworth. Nikolay Fomenko, President of Marussia Motors and Marussia Virgin Racing’s new Engineering Director, took to the stage at today’s event to profess the strength of the Marussia-Cosworth relationship in front of an assembled crowd of team partners, international media and Formula One fans.
The MVR-02 will take to the track at this week’s test at the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain as Cosworth continues its pre-season preparations in earnest. Cosworth’s team of on-site engineers will also carry out further evaluation of the CA2011k alongside the Williams KERS system.
Mark Gallagher – Cosworth General Manager F1 Business Unit
“Today’s unveiling of the MVR-02 was the second debut of a new Cosworth-powered car this month and it marks another important step for Cosworth en route to the 2011 F1 World Championship season.
“We had a productive test in Valencia last week with the AT&T Williams team which was the first opportunity that we have had to run Cosworth’s KERS-enabled engine, which is designated CA2011k. Developing the KERS unit has been another example of the excellent technical integration that we enjoy with our teams, in this case adapting the CA to make the best use of the KERS system developed in-house by Williams. We were pleased with initial running in Valencia and will continue to work in this positive direction during this week’s test in Jerez.
“Both Marussia Virgin Racing and HRT had last year’s cars in Valencia last week and Cosworth supported them in acquiring initial data ahead of the coming season. The partnership with Marussia Virgin Racing is broad-based and important both in terms of our Formula One collaboration, but also with the relationship we share with Marussia on the road car side of the operation. It was good to see the MVR-02 on stage at today’s event alongside the Marussia B1, both cars with Cosworth power and engineering.
“Finally, on behalf of the whole Cosworth Group, we would like to extend our best wishes to Robert Kubica following his accident. He is a highly regarded member of the F1 community and a formidable racer, so we wish him the very best for a speedy recovery.”
source: Cosworth F1