Super Nova Racing

Super Nova Racing

Company type	Motorsport team
Industry	Motorsport
Predecessor	David Sears Motorsport
Founded	1991
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Area served	International
Products	Formula 3000, GP2, A1 Grand Prix, Auto GP, Formula E racing teams

Super Nova Racing was a motorsport team from the United Kingdom that competed in Formula 3000, GP2, and A1 Grand Prix championships.

Background

The team emerged in 1991, evolving from David Sears Motorsport and adopting the Super Nova name, backed by the Japanese English language school franchise Nova. Additionally, Super Nova managed the Danish squad known as Den Blå Avis.

Despite facing significant legal and financial difficulties in 2007—including bankruptcy linked to a business scandal—Super Nova retained Nova as a sponsor. In June 2008, Nozomu Saruhashi, president of Nova, was detained on embezzlement accusations and subsequently received a 42-month prison sentence in August 2009.

Formula 3000

Super Nova Racing made its European Formula 3000 debut in 1994. The team clinched the championship title in 1995 with drivers Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset finishing first and second respectively. Between 1997 and 1998, prominent racers such as Ricardo Zonta and Juan Pablo Montoya drove for Super Nova. In 2001, Australian Mark Webber joined the team and secured second place in the championship standings.

A1 Grand Prix

Since the inaugural A1 Grand Prix season of 2005-06, Super Nova Racing took part continuously by managing teams including A1 Team Germany, A1 Team Pakistan, and later A1 Team New Zealand. During the 2006-07 season, their managed squads from Germany and New Zealand achieved first and second positions overall.

GP2 Series

In GP2’s first season in 2005, drivers Giorgio Pantano and Adam Carroll earned two victories, helping Super Nova secure third place in the teams' classification. The following year, José María López and Fairuz Fauzy represented the team, which finished ninth. The 2007 lineup featured Mike Conway alongside Luca Filippi, culminating in fourth place for Super Nova.

The 2008 campaign began with Álvaro Parente and Christian Bakkerud; after Bakkerud sustained an injury, Andy Soucek replaced him, contributing to a seventh-place finish overall. In 2009, Luca Filippi paired with Javier Villa to bring the team to third with 67 points. For 2010, Josef Král and Marcus Ericsson were the drivers. The team concluded the 2011 season ninth with a total of 20 points.

Financial difficulties led to Super Nova's withdrawal from GP2 in February 2012, with Team Lazarus taking their place.

Auto GP

Super Nova entered Auto GP competition in 2010. Despite only participating part of the 2011 season with a single car, they secured fourth place overall. The following year, they captured both the teams' championship and drivers' title through Adrian Quaife-Hobbs’ leadership.

Formula E

On July 1, 2014, Super Nova announced its involvement in the FIA Formula E Championship under the banner of Trulli GP.

Auto GP

Auto GP Performance Record
Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F.L.	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2010	Lola B05/52–Zytek	Template:Country data NZLTemplate:Namespace detect showall Jonny Reid	12	0	1	0	16	10th	3rd
		Template:Country data ITATemplate:Namespace detect showall Giorgio Pantano	6	0	0	0	7	13th
		Jake Rosenzweig	2	0	0	0	5	17th
		Template:Country data ITATemplate:Namespace detect showall Luca Filippi	4	1	0	1	10	5th
2011	Lola B05/52–Zytek	Template:Country data ZAFTemplate:Namespace detect showall Adrian Zaugg	2	0	0	1	3	19th	4th
		Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall Jon Lancaster	4	1	0	1	51	11th
		Template:Country data ITATemplate:Namespace detect showall Luca Filippi	12	1	1	4	127	2nd
2012	Lola B05/52–Zytek	Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall Adrian Quaife-Hobbs	14	5	6	4	221	1st	1st
		Template:Country data BRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Victor Guerin	10	0	0	0	46	8th

GP2 Series

Year	Vehicle	Competitors	Events	Victories	Pole Positions		Points
2005	Dallara GP2/05–Mecachrome	Giorgio Pantano	23	0	1	0	49	6th	3rd
		Adam Carroll (racing driver)	23	3	0	2	53	5th
2006	Dallara GP2/05–Mecachrome	José María López	21	0	1	1	30	10th	-  |-  |-  |-  |-
		-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	- Detailed Results (key) (Bold text indicates pole position) (Italicized text denotes fastest lap) Year Chassis Engine Tyres Competitors 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 T.C. Points 2005 GP2/05 Renault Template:Bridgestone SMR FEA SMR SPR CAT FEA CAT SPR MON FEA NÜR FEA NÜR SPR MAG FEA MAG SPR SIL FEA SIL SPR HOC FEA HOC SPR HUN FEA HUN SPR IST FEA IST SPR MNZ FEA MNZ SPR SPA FEA SPA SPR BHR FEA BHR SPR 3rd 102 Template:Country data ITATemplate:Namespace detect showall Giorgio Pantano 13† Retired 13th 14th Retired 2nd 7th 10th 7th 12th 7th 6th 2nd 3rd 3rd 2nd 8th 6th 3rd Not classified 11th 5th 5th - Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall Adam Carroll 5th Winner 7th 6th Winner (Sprint) Retired Runner-up (Feature) 4th (Sprint) (21)† (8) (Ret) (11) (9) (9) (7) (2) (5) (6) (8) (1) (9) (8) 2006 GP2/05 Renault Template:Bridgestone VAL FEA VAL SPR SMR FEA SMR SPR NÜR FEA NÜR SPR CAT FEA CAT SPR MON FEA SIL FEA SIL SPR MAG FEA MAG SPR HOC FEA HOC SPR HUN FEA HUN SPR IST FEA IST SPR MNZ FEA MNZ SPR 8th 30 Template:Country data "ARG"Template:Namespace detect showall José María López 5th Retired bgcolor="#EFCFFF"  Retired     | bgcolor="#CFCFFF" 19† bgcolor="#DFFFDF" 4th   bgcolor="#FFDF9F" 3rd   bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Retired bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Retired bgcolor="#CFCFFF" Not classified bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Retired bgcolor="#CFCFFF" \14 ... (table continues similarly with other drivers and seasons) ... GP2 Final (key) (Entries in bold denote pole position) (Entries in italics denote fastest lap) Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 T.C. Points 2011 GP2/11 Mecachrome Template:Pirelli YMC FEA YMC SPR 9th 0 Template:Country data ITATemplate:Namespace detect showall Giacomo Ricci 11 23 Template:Country data ITATemplate:Namespace detect showall Fabio Onidi 18 11 GP2 Asia Series Year Car Drivers Races Victories Pole Positions F.L. Points D.C. T.C. 2008 Dallara GP2/08–Mecachrome Template:Country data DNKTemplate:Namespace detect showall Christian Bakkerud 10 0 0 0 0 27th 6th Template:Country data MYSTemplate:Namespace detect showall Fairuz Fauzy 10 1 0 1 24 4th 2008-09 Dallara GP2/08–Mecachrome Template:Country data ESPTemplate:Namespace detect showall Javier Villa 11 0 0 1 12 10th 7th Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall James Jakes 11 0 0 1 7 16th 2009-10 Dallara GP2/08–Mecachrome Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall James Jakes 2 0 0 0 6 14th 6th Template:Country data SWETemplate:Namespace detect showall Marcus Ericsson 2 0 0 0 0 24th Jake Rosenzweig 4 0 0 0 0 30th Template:Country data CZETemplate:Namespace detect showall Josef Král 8 0 0 0 8 11th 2011 Dallara GP2/11–Mecachrome Template:Country data MYSTemplate:Namespace detect showall Fairuz Fauzy 4 0 0 0 1 14th 11th Template:Country data VENTemplate:Namespace detect showall Johnny Cecotto Jr. 4 0 0 0 0 15th In detail (key) (Entries in bold mark pole position) (Entries in italics mark fastest lap) align=left Christian Bakkerud bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#CFCFFF"11 bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#CFCFFF"14 bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#FFFFFF" DNS bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#CFCFFF"9 align=left Fairuz Fauzy bgcolor="#DFFFDF"8 bgcolor="#DFDFDF"2 bgcolor="#DFFFDF"8 bgcolor="#FBFFBF" 1 bgcolor="#DFDFDF"2 bgcolor="#DFFFDF"6 bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#EFCFFF" Ret bgcolor="#CFCFFF"11 bgcolor="#DFFFDF"6 ... [Further detailed race data omitted for brevity and relevance to business focus] ... } Formula 3000 Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points 2008 GP2 Asia Series Dallara GP2/05 Renault 2008 UAE 1st GP2 Asia Series round FEA] 2008 UAE 1st GP2 Asia Series round SPR] 2008 Indonesian GP2 Asia Series round FEA] 2008 Indonesian GP2 Asia Series round SPR] 2008 Malaysian GP2 Asia Series round FEA] 2008 Malaysian GP2 Asia Series round SPR] 2008 Bahrain GP2 Asia Series round FEA] 2008 Bahrain GP2 Asia Series round SPR] 2008 UAE 2nd GP2 Asia Series round FEA] 2008 UAE 2nd GP2 Asia Series round SPR] 6th !rowspan=3 style="vertical-align: middle;" align="center" rowspan="3"|24 International Formula 3000 Championship Performance Year Car Drivers Races Victories Pole Positions Points 1994 Reynard 94D–Cosworth Vincenzo Sospiri 8 0 0 1 24 4th 4th Taki Inoue 8 0 0 0 0 NC 1995 Reynard–Cosworth Vincenzo Sospiri 8 3 0 0 42 1st 1st Ricardo Rosset 8 2 1 2 29 2nd 1996 Lola T96/50–Zytek Judd Kenny Bräck 10 3 3 3 49 2nd 1st Marcos Gueiros 10 0 0 0 20 5th 1997 Lola T96/50–Zytek Judd Ricardo Zonta 10 3 4 4 39 1st 1st Laurent Rédon 10 0 0 0 10 9th 1998 Lola T96/50–Zytek Judd Juan Pablo Montoya 12 4 7 5 65 1st 1st Boris Derichebourg 12 0 0 0 5 12th 1999 Lola B99/50–Zytek Ricardo Maurício 3 0 0 0 0 21st 2nd David Saelens 6 0 0 0 8 9th Jason Watt 10 2 1 0 30 style="background:#DFDFDF;" 2nd rowspan=2 2000 International Formula 3000 season rowspan=2 Lola B99/50–Zytek A1 Grand Prix Results in the A1 Grand Prix Season Car Model Team Name Events Entered Victories Achieved Pole Positions Earned F.L. Total Points Scored T.C. 2005–06 Lola B05/52–Zytek A1 Team Germany 22 0 0 0 38 15th Template:Country data PAKTemplate:Namespace detect showall A1 Team Pakistan 16 0 0 0 10 20th 2006–07 Lola B05/52–Zytek A1 Team Germany 22 9 3 3 128 '\'1st\'\' Template:Country data NZLTemplate:Namespace detect showall A1 Team New Zealand 22 3 2 2 93 '\'2nd\'\' rowspan=2> [[2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season]|2007–08]] > !rowspan=2> Lola B05/52–Zytek > ! DEU A1 Team Germany> > !20> > !2> > !1> > !1> > !83> > !8th> >-> > ! NZL A1 Team New Zealand> > !20> > !4> > !2> > !1> > !127> > !style="background:#DFDFDF;"|'\'2nd\'\' >-> > !rowspan=2> [[2008–09 A1 Grand Prix season]|2008–09]] > !rowspan=2> [[A1GP Powered by Ferrari car#Ferrari A1-08]|Ferrari A1-08]] > ! BRA A1 Team Brazil> > !11> > !0> > !0> > !0> > !18> > !15th> >-> > ! NZL A1 Team New Zealand> > !14> > !0> > !0> > !0> > !36> > !7th> Timeline Previous series and years of involvement All-Japan Formula Three Championship |1992–1993 International Formula 3000 |1994–2004 GP2 Series |2005–2011 A1 Grand Prix |2005–2009 GP2 Asia Series |2008–2011 Auto GP |2010–2014 Formula E |2014–2015