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.
History 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.
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
Formula Renault 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 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
External links Official website