Webber and Haberfeld sign for Super Nova

Webber, who won the Silverstone F3000 race last year with the European Arrows Junior Team, will dovetail his racing with his role as Benetton's Formula 1 test driver. Haberfeld, meanwhile, has suffered two frustrating seasons in the category and his 2000 season was interrupted by leg injuries sustained in qualifying at Barcelona.

"It has taken us a long time to make our decision," said team owner David Sears. "In Mark Webber we have a proven race winner and one of the title favourites. With Mario Haberfeld we have a very underrated F3000 driver, although we know his pedigree up to F3 level when he won the championship in 1998. We know we have the ability as a team to extract the best performance from both drivers."

Webber finished third in last year's title standings, behind Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian - both of whom drove for Sears last year and have since graduated to top Champ Car outfit Team Ganassi.

"I'm looking forward to working with Super Nova," said Webber. "I hope I can give them the results that they are used to. Together we will obviously be challenging very, very hard for the championship, which is my goal for the start of the season."

Haberfeld won the 1998 British F3 title with Stewart Racing, and went on to sporadically test its Formula 1 car. He drove for the McLaren F3000 Junior Team in 1999, before racing for Fortec Motorsport last season.

"It is a great opportunity for me this year as Super Nova is one of the best teams in F3000," he said. "I think now, after two years in F3000, I have a good knowledge of the circuits. I have recently been testing at Interlagos [the venue for the opening round of the series on May 30] and I feel it will be of advantage to me. I am just very happy after long negotiations with Super Nova it is now finalised."