Super Nova Racing Valencia Race 1

There are celebrations in the Super Nova camp this evening, following a superb drive from Marcus Ericsson who started from 24th to finish 7th, collecting some long awaited, well-deserved championship points at the chequered flag.

Marcus Ericsson (SWE, Super Nova Racing). Credit: Drew Gibson/GP2 Media

The team certainly took the bull by the horns in Valencia today, after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday, both cars got a strong start today. Unfortunately Josef Krals' luck was short lived, getting pushed out amongst the jostle through turn three on the first lap. The 19 year old Czech broke late and with nowhere to escape, collided into the two cars in front, launching himself up onto top of them, and sadly retiring on the spot.

With just one car left in the running, the team then executed a near perfect stop, Ericsson squeezing out of the pit lane two places up, to slot into ninth place ahead of DPR. From there on the Swedish driver managed to close in on the Arden's Charles Pic, but not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, comfortably finished the race in 7th, happy to scoop two points, and a front row grid position for tomorrows morning race.

"I thought it was going to be a difficult day starting from last, but I was really fired up to do a good start for the team. I passed a couple on the straight and took the outside line. A few cars were crashing, so I took the escape route, and had to make a U-turn, but I caught up and I managed to pass two guys on the track before the stop. We did a late stop, and the team did an excellent job. The team is very good in the these. It was very close, but we gained a couple of places there too. In the middle of the race Herck was close but I kept him off whilst I put pressure on Pic, in front of me. But I didn't want to risk it making any mistakes, and I'm very happy to finish where we did. It's a very good result, it's about time! We deserve it and I look forward to tomorrow."

"My start was not so bad. There was a bit of mess in first and second corner. And then in the third I was side by side with a Trident car, and he was pushing me. I got pushed once, and I was very close to the wall. I tried to avoid it and we touched again, and by this point we were close to the braking point, and I missed it, braked too late, and unfortunately caused the crash that ended things for me today."

"Marcus Ericsson drove a storming race from the back of the grid, following his practice problems from yesterday, to end the race in seventh place and score his first points of the year. With the reverse grid for the start of the race on Sunday, he will start on the front row and hopefully Marcus has now gained the confidence to run at the front on a regular basis. The team also helped him with probably the fastest pit stop in the pit lane, jumping him two places.

Josef Kral was sadly involved in a multiply accident on the first lap of the race. So the team have a long night a head preparing his car for the race on Sunday morning. Hopefully Josef's season will turn around soon, so that he can demonstrate his real pace and ability."

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