MOTOR RACING - Sir Richard Branson has followed hot on the footsteps of the new Lotus team by announcing his two drivers for the 2010 Formula One World Championship. Branson announced that the new drivers for Virgin Racing in 2010 will be Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock. Virgin Racing are the renamed Manor GP Formula One racing team, and Branson confirmed that Virgin Racing will operate on the smallest budget of any of the new Formula One teams in 2010, the budget being under £40 million. Branson said: "Our first year in F1 [with Brawn GP] was tremendous for the Virgin brand, so why not go in again with a new team from scratch? If you look at the history of Virgin we've loved supporting technical breakthroughs, great engineers, and there's something like 120 engineers working away on this project."Branson must have caught the motor racing bug after his successful attachment to the Brawn Racing team who won the drivers' championship and constructors championship in 2009 in their first year of existence. Branson's Virgin Racing really will be going in fully exposed, with Virgin Racing being lowest-budget team in Formula One. It will run under the £40 million per year that was being set as a cap by Formula One's ruling authorities. "Money's not everything," said Branson. "Virgin Racing are determined to prove that via engineering prowess, great drivers and a great affinity with the public they can do well."
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