Virgin Racing technical director Nick Wirth thanked the team’s backers and supporters for “keeping the faith” in the new squad after it finally qualified ahead of chief rival Lotus again in Hungary.
Since initially proving to be the fastest of the grid’s three new teams in the initial flyaway rounds of the season, Virgin has encountered a number of setbacks and until recently appeared to be falling further adrift of Lotus.
However, recent upgrades to the VR-01 have proved successful, and after reliability problems intervened in Germany, the team finally got back to the head of the new teams’ class on Saturday at the Hungaroring with team leader Timo Glock.
Wirth, whose decision to take an all-digital approach to the design of Virgin’s maiden challenger has faced criticism from some quarters this season, was delighted that the team’s undoubted recent improvements had finally been reflected on the timesheet.
"Geeks of the world - rejoice!” he exclaimed.
“After the disappointment of not demonstrating Virgin Racing's performance progress in Silverstone and Hockenheim, we have finally managed to have a relatively smooth weekend with the revised VR-01 and have regained our place at the top of the new teams.
“Timo and his crew made a big step forward with the car overnight and we knew after his first run we were in good shape.
“His second run was another good step and he did a great job to give the team our best qualifying result since Shanghai.
“From the outset, Virgin Racing has dared to be different and I want to thank all the team, our partners, sponsors and fans for keeping the faith this year in our unique digital development process. In the meantime, we'll focus on a strong race performance from both cars tomorrow."
Glock claimed the all-important 19th spot on the grid with his final lap of Q1, the German driver pipping Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen to the new teams’ honours by a mere seven hundredths of a second.
He reveals he was slightly surprised to outqualify the Lotus’s, but now naturally hopes he can hold position ahead of its rival on race day.
"We had a very good two days so far and the whole weekend went in the right direction. The team have done a great job,” Glock said.
“In general I was quite happy with the car and in qualifying I expected Lotus to be ahead of us because we were still struggling over the bumps.
“My two qualifying laps were very good and I am really happy with my performance and that of the team. A happy day and I hope we can continue this into the race tomorrow."
Team-mate Lucas di Grassi will start in more familiar territory ahead of the Hispanias on the penultimate row after he had to struggle through Q1 with a lack of downforce after he ran wide and damaged the car’s floor on his first timed lap.
"We had a very strong free practice three this morning,” said the Brazilian rookie, who had headed up the new teams in final practice.
“The car was feeling very good and we had managed to improve it from yesterday.
“In qualifying I ran wide in my first flying lap and damaged the floor of my car, making me lose a lot of downforce and a lot of pace through qualifying.
“I'm very confident that tomorrow the car will be back as strong as it was in free practice three."