2009 FIA Formula Two Champion Andy Soucek has graduated into Formula One after being confirmed today as the official reserve driver for the Virgin F1 team.

Soucek had been linked to a number of Formula One teams following his imperious form in the 2009 F2 season, where he recorded seven victories and 13 consecutive top four finishes. He also impressed in an end of season test with the Williams F1 team - his prize for winning the championship - beating an exceptional field of young drivers to end the day more than two tenths clear of his nearest rival.

The 24-year-old Spaniard admitted he was thrilled to be joining the Virgin team, where he replaces Alvaro Parente as the official reserve driver. He will now travel to Barcelona for the upcoming F1 test, where he will be on standby to deputise for Timo Glock or Lucas di Grassi if required.

"I am thrilled to be joining Virgin Racing," Soucek enthused. "This role offers me a great opportunity to prepare myself for the Formula One environment, which is naturally where my longer-term ambitions lie. 

"It is exciting and very motivating to be part of a new structure in such a challenging sport and I hope that my experience can contribute a great deal to the development of the car and team in order to help us progress as quickly as possible.

"I would like to thank John Booth and Nick Wirth in particular for the faith they have shown in me at this stage in my career. I look forward to learning from Timo and Lucas as well as soaking up as much information as possible from engineering meetings and time on the simulator."

To read an exclusive Q&A with 2009 FIA Formula Two Champion Andy Soucek, click here.

Virgin's Team Principal John Booth expressed his delight at signing Soucek to be the team's official reserve driver, saying: "We are delighted to welcome Andy Soucek to Virgin Racing. He had a very good season in Formula Two last year and a positive F1 test with Williams. He is certainly someone we have been keeping a close eye on as we believe he has a great deal of potential.

"We expect him to be a real asset to our development programme with the VR-01 and at the same time he provides the experience we need should he be required to deputise for one of the race drivers at short notice.

"We are pleased to have finalised our driver line-up and we look forward to having Andy alongside us in Barcelona later this week so he can spend some valuable familiarisation time with the team."

Everyone at F2 and MSV would like to congratulate Andy on achieving his lifelong ambition of reaching Formula One.