Virgin Racing Selects UST Global as its IT Service

UST Global® today announced that it has been selected as Virgin Racing’s IT Services partner for the 2010 Formula One season. Virgin Racing is a new team for a new era of Formula One. It combines the firepower of one of the most recognized, respected and exciting brands in the world with a racing team concept that looks to exploit and capitalize upon F1’s new economic dawn and the challenges of the resource restriction agreement that is redefining the sport.

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

Designer Nick Wirth returns 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. Nick has joined forces with one of the very best names in national and international motor racing, John Booth, whose Manor Motorsport operation in the North of England achieved unrivalled Formula 3 success and played a major role in the development of several of today’s greatest motor racing talents.

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.

Graeme Lowdon, Virgin Racing’s Chief Executive Officer, 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. Virgin Racing is a very young team but we have a clearly defined path for development which has inspired the confidence of a growing list of discerning companies and brands. 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."

Joe Nalkara, President of UST Global said, “We are excited to be partnering with Virgin Racing. Formula One represents the pinnacle of racing, and like UST Global, Virgin Racing is a brand that epitomizes customer experience and relationships. We are both 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."