Di Grassi shunt halts Virgin [updated]

The new Virgin Racing team has endured another difficult day at the test track with rookie Lucas di Grassi crashing the Cosworth-powered VR-01 challenger at turn nine.

"I am fine, thanks," di Grassi said on his Twitter page. "Next time I will go even faster, always pushing more and more. The cause is still being investigated."

With substantial damage to both the front and the rear of the red and white car, the team are unable to continue the tests today.

The team has yet to precisely detail the reason for the crash.

“We are continuing to debug the car hydraulics and making good progress in our understanding of the issue," stated technical director Nick Wirth. "Unfortunately when we were running some experimental control settings on the car, which were adversely affecting its handling, this caught Lucas out on the entry to turn nine resulting in a spin and contact with the barrier.

"We’re going to need to spend the time before tomorrow replacing some broken suspension and wings. We should be back on track tomorrow morning when we hope to really start building up our mileage.”

Di Grassi completed 31 laps with a best time of 1:27.057s, tenth fastest of the 11 runners.