SG Formula is a French auto racing team which participated in the junior categories of open wheel racing: Formula Renault and Formula Three. The team was founded in 2004 by Frenchman Stephane Guerin.

France SG Formula
Founded2004
Team principal(s)Stephane Guerin
Current seriesFormula Renault WEC
Former seriesWorld Series by Renault
Formula Renault Eurocup
Formula Renault France
Formula 3 Euro Series
Teams'
Championships
FRenault France 2005, 2006, 2007
FRenault Eurocup 2005, 2007, 2008
Formula Renault WEC 2008
Drivers'
Championships
FRenault France 2005 (Grosjean)
FRenault France 2007 (Bianchi)
Formula Renault WEC 2008 (Ricciardo)

History

edit

After its foundation in 2004, SG Formula began racing in a number of Formula Renault championships with their drivers Yann Clairay, Guillaume Moreau and Romain Grosjean, with the team's concentrating mostly on the French championship with a handful of participations in the European and Swiss championships. The team enjoyed some success in its inaugural year of motorsport with Clairay and Moreau finishing second and third respectively in the French Drivers' Championship and Grosjean finished as runner-up rookie. The team finished second in that year's Team's Championship with 649 points; 27 points off champions Graff Racing. Wins were also present in SG Formula's other championships, including a win for Clairay at Magny-Cours in the European series and a win in the single entry they had in the Swiss championship.

2005 spread their wings into a number of other championships: While still remaining in the French and European series, with intentions to run a full championship campaign in both, they entered a selected number of events in the Dutch championship while dropping their involvement in the Swiss series. The team retained its drivers, bar Moreau who had moved to fellow French team Signature-Plus; Carlo van Dam, Johan Charpilienne and Julien Jousse were added at the team's roster. The team enjoyed far more success than the previous year, with Grosjean winning the Drivers' Championship in France and the team picked up the Team's Championship in the Eurocup as well as in the French series. The Dutchman van Dam also managed to score three podiums in the Dutch championship as well. At the end of the year, after partnering with Dyna Ten Motorsport, the team entered a Support Race for the Macau Grand Prix where the team finished twelfth and thirteenth.

Like Moreau before him, Grosjean jumped ship to Signature-Plus for a campaign in Formula Three, which is what SG Formula could not offer the French driver at the time. Clairay also entered a limited number of races for the team as he was concentrating on his Le Mans Series campaign with Paul Belmondo Racing; Charpilienne also left the team at the end of 2005. Van Dam and Jousse stayed with SG Formula for 2006 with Red Bull-backed Tom Dillmann joining the Dutch driver for the Eurocup team and rookie Jean Karl Vernay joining Jousse for the French championship. The two entries did well in their respective championships, with the Eurocup team finishing second in the Team's Championship, with Van Dam finishing third in the Drivers' Championship, and Vernay finished the year as both runner-up in the Drivers' and Rookie championship in the French Championship with a Team Championship for a second year in a row as well.

The team ran two Eurocup teams in 2007 named SG Formula and SG Driver's Project and hired a number of new drivers to their roster. Brit Jon Lancaster finished the season as runner-up to New Zealander Brendon Hartley with Charles Pic finishing behind him in third. The team also claimed that year's Team title in the Eurocup. In the French championship, incidentally the last championship before the series became the West European Cup, the team enjoyed their best season with Jules Bianchi taking home the Drivers' Title and the team won the Team's championship for the third year in succession.

SG Formula stepped up to Formula Three in 2008 by entering a team for the Formula Three Euroseries with a three-man team of former driver Clairay, Dutch driver Henkie Waldschmidt and Tom Dillmann, and ended up 6th in the teams' championship – mainly thanks to Clairay's solid finishing – which led him to 9th overall.

The team will return in 2009, with Lancaster returning to the team along with Waldschmidt, with Andrea Caldarelli moving up from the Eurocup.[1]

At the beginning of 2010, the team withdrew from the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Formula Three Euroseries and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.

Complete motor racing results

edit

Formula Renault

edit
Formula Renault
Year Championship Drivers Wins Poles Fast laps Points D.C. T.C.
(Points)
2004 Formula Renault France   Yann Clairay 2 1 1 264 2nd 2nd
  Guillaume Moreau 3 4 4 227 3rd
  Romain Grosjean 1 2 1 130 7th
Formula Renault Eurocup   Yann Clairay 1 1 0 82 10th 4th
  Guillaume Moreau 0 1 1 148 7th
2005 Formula Renault France   Romain Grosjean 10 20 11 211 1st 1st
  Johan Charpilienne 1 0 1 100 4th
  Franck Mailleux 1 0 0 81 5th
  Julien Jousse 1 1 0 70 6th
Formula Renault Eurocup   Yann Clairay 3 5 1 125 3rd 1st
  Carlo van Dam 0 0 0 100 4th
Formula Renault Netherlands   Yann Clairay 0 0 0 37 15th ?
  Carlo van Dam 0 0 0 74 7th
2006 Formula Renault France   Jean-Karl Vernay 2 3 3 108 2nd 1st
  Julien Jousse 1 1 2 89 3rd
Formula Renault Eurocup   Carlo van Dam 1 2 1 90 3rd 2nd
  Tom Dillmann 0 0 2 61 8th
2007 Formula Renault France   Nelson Panciatici 0 0 0 19 14th 1st
  Charles Pic 0 1 0 69 4th
  Jon Lancaster 2 1 1 64 6th
  Alexandre Marsoin 2 0 1 84 3rd
  Edouard Texte 0 0 0 8 16th
  Jules Bianchi 5 5 10 172 1st
Formula Renault Eurocup   Nelson Panciatici 0 0 0 44 10th 1st
  Edouard Texte 0 0 0 0  —
  Fabio Onidi 0 0 0 6 20th
  Charles Pic 1 2 1 88 3rd
  Jules Bianchi 0 1 1 4 21st
  Jon Lancaster 5 4 3 102 2nd
  Alexandre Marsoin 0 0 0 25 14th
  Anton Nebylitskiy 0 0 0 0  —
2008 Formula Renault Eurocup   Ramez Azzam 0 0 0 0 37th 1st
  Anton Nebylitskiy 0 0 0 7 20th
  Jean-Éric Vergne 0 0 0 53 6th
  Daniel Ricciardo 6 5 6 136 2nd
  Andrea Caldarelli 0 0 0 123 3rd
  Nelson Lukes 0 0 0 0 54th
  Alexander Sims 0 0 0 7 19th
  Miquel Monrás 0 0 0 6 21st
Formula Renault WEC   Ramez Azzam 0 0 0 5 22nd 1st
  Anton Nebylitskiy 0 0 0 41 7th
  Jean-Éric Vergne 0 0 0 95 4th
  Daniel Ricciardo 8 9 7 192 1st
  Andrea Caldarelli 3 0 1 129 3rd
  Tristan Vautier 0 0 0 79 6th
  • D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

Formula Three

edit
Formula Three
Year Championship Drivers Wins Poles Fast laps Points D.C. T.C.
(Points)
2008 Formula Three Euroseries   Tom Dillmann 0 0 0 8 18th 6th
  Henkie Waldschmidt 0 0 0 0 26th
  Yann Clairay 0 0 1 33 9th
  Daniel Ricciardo 0 0 0 0  —†
2009 Formula Three Euroseries   Jon Lancaster 0 0 0 0  — 6th
  Henkie Waldschmidt 0 0 0 13 12th
  Andrea Caldarelli 0 0 1 11 14th

† - Ricciardo was ineligible to score points.
* - Season still in progress

D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Lancaster to lead SG line-up". autosport.com. 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
edit
Achievements
Preceded by Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Teams' Champion
2005
Succeeded by
Preceded by Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Teams' Champion
2008
Succeeded by