Sakon Yamamoto has been appointed as Virgin Racing's reserve driver for the first three races of the Formula One season.
Japanese driver to be reserve for first three races of season
Sakon Yamamoto has been appointed as Virgin Racing's reserve driver for the first three races of the Formula One season.
The Japanese driver will be a back-up for Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, as well as in Malaysia and China in April.
Yamamoto drove for Hispania Racing over the second half of last season and also has previous grand prix experience with Super Aguri and Spyker.
"I really appreciate the team giving me a chance to be here," the 28-year-old said.
"They have made a big step forward this year and I believe that I can contribute to their car development through my experience."
Virgin team principal John Booth says he plans to use a number of young drivers in the reserve role throughout the 2011 campaign.
He said: "In keeping with our commitment to nurturing young talent, our reserve driver strategy is to help a number of drivers gain hard to come by track time.
"So we will be operating a roster featuring a number of racers that we are interested in evaluating during the forthcoming season."
