The team first entered racing in 1991, emerging from David Sears Motorsport with sponsorship from Nova, a Japanese chain of English language schools. The Nova branding gave the team its distinctive identity, and the Super Nova name became well established in Formula 3000 through the 1990s.
The team's most successful Formula 3000 season came in 1995, when its drivers Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset finished first and second in the championship, delivering a one-two result that underlined the squad's competitive strength at that time. The achievement represented the peak of the team's involvement in what was then the primary feeder series to Formula 1.
In 1997 and 1998 the team ran Ricardo Zonta and Juan Pablo Montoya, two drivers who would both go on to race in Formula 1. In 2001 the team signed Australian Mark Webber, who finished runner-up in the Formula 3000 championship that year before making his Formula 1 debut with Minardi in 2002. Webber's strong performances with Super Nova were among the results that brought him to wider attention.
When the A1 Grand Prix series launched for the 2005-06 season — a national team-based series designed to run during the Formula 1 off-season — Super Nova entered as the operator for multiple national entries. The team managed A1 Team Germany and A1 Team Pakistan, later also running A1 Team New Zealand. In the 2006-07 season the operations managed by Super Nova produced a historic result, with Germany and New Zealand finishing first and second in the championship overall.
Following the transformation of Formula 3000 into the GP2 Series in 2005, Super Nova continued in the rebranded championship. Their debut GP2 season in 2005 was strong: drivers Giorgio Pantano and Adam Carroll combined for two victories, leaving the team third in the constructors standings. It was one of the team's best results in the GP2 era.
Subsequent seasons proved more difficult. The 2006 campaign with Jose Maria Lopez and Fairuz Fauzy yielded a ninth-place finish, and while later driver pairings included Mike Conway and Luca Filippi in 2007, Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek in 2008, and Luca Filippi alongside Javier Villa in 2009, the team rarely recaptured the 2005 high-water mark. Third place in the constructors standings in 2009 with 67 points was a notable recovery. The team ran Josef Kral and Marcus Ericsson in 2010 and competed through 2011, finishing ninth that year with 20 points.
In February 2012 Super Nova announced its withdrawal from the GP2 Series, citing an inability to sustain the financial demands of the championship. The team was replaced on the grid by Team Lazarus.
While still competing in GP2, Super Nova also entered the Auto GP — a lower-cost open-wheel series that attracted teams seeking affordable racing. Their most successful Auto GP campaign came in 2012, when Adrian Quaiffe-Hobbs drove for the team. Quaiffe-Hobbs won both the drivers and teams championships that year, giving Super Nova a title in its final period of active competition.
The Nova branding that had identified the team since 1991 became the subject of unwanted attention in 2007. In July of that year, the Nova chain of English language schools in Japan became embroiled in intense media coverage following serious business improprieties. By September 2007 Nova was reported to be unable to pay staff salaries or rent, and the company was declared bankrupt in November 2007 amid a widening scandal. In June 2008 Nova's president Saruhashi was taken into police custody on embezzlement charges, and in August 2009 was convicted and sentenced to 42 months in prison. Despite these events Super Nova Racing continued to list Nova as a sponsor for a period, and the team retained its established name through the end of its active racing career.
Super Nova International operated across a span of more than twenty years in some of European motorsport's most competitive junior categories. The team's most enduring contributions were its development of drivers who reached Formula 1: Montoya, Zonta, and Webber all raced for Super Nova at pivotal moments in their careers. The championship one-two with Sospiri and Rosset in 1995 remains its most complete competitive result, while the 2012 Auto GP title provided a final high note before the team faded from active competition.