Virgin refugee d'Ambrosio aiming for 2012 race seat

Despite losing his Virgin race seat, Jerome d'Ambrosio sounds confident about his future.

Jerome d'Ambrosio, Virgin Racing

Photo by: xpb.cc

The Belgian will be replaced at the newly-renamed Marussia team for 2012 by the French GP2 driver Charles Pic.

It means Interlagos was 25-year-old d'Ambrosio's last race for now.

"I finished on a high note with a great weekend; probably my best of the season," he is quoted by French website toilef1.com.

He said he was told the bad news by his bosses when he arrived at the track on Thursday.

"I will not be with the team next year but the team was happy with my season," said d'Ambrosio. "The new goal of course is to be here (in F1) next year."

He is managed by the Gravity group, which is headed by Renault/Lotus boss Eric Boullier.

"Without saying any names, we have discussed various options," said d'Ambrosio.

"My situation is the same as last year, except that I have done a very good season and I have not gone unnoticed in the paddock. So I have more credibility than before.

"I think a lot of things can still happen on the driver transfer market, so we'll see what happens."