Manor GP, one of four new outfits who will help make up an expanded 13-team Formula One grid for next season, have been rebranded Virgin Racing thanks to a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with Branson.

Tycoon Branson confirmed one of F1's worst-kept secrets at a press conference in London, on Tuesday

Explaining his latest venture, Branson told reporters: "Our first year in F1 (with Brawn GP) was tremendous for the Virgin brand, so why not go in again with a new team from scratch?, If you look at the history of Virgin we've loved supporting technical breakthroughs and great engineers, and there's something like 120 engineers working away on this project."

Team chief John Booth confirmed he hopes the car will be ready for its first test at the end of January."The budget restrictions have allowed us to get involved in F1 and at the moment I'm on cloud nine. But we're the new kids on the block and we need to earn our place on the grid."

Tuesday's announcement also revealed that Italian Lucas di Grassi will partner Timo Glock after two seasons in GP2 and as test and reserve driver with Renault.