Morris Nunn (27 September 1938 – 18 July 2018)[1][2] was an English motor racing team owner and engineer. He founded and ran the Ensign Formula One team in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later worked for Chip Ganassi's highly successful Champ Car team, before founding Mo Nunn Racing for the 2000 season. At the urging of Mercedes-Benz Nunn again started a team for the 2002 Indy Racing League season. The team was sponsored by WorldCom and Hollywood (tobacco) and initially hired Tony Kanaan and Felipe Giaffone. Giaffone finished 3rd in the 2002 Indianapolis 500 and Kanaan was leading but crashed in the last laps. A third car driven by Jeff Simmons finished ninth. In 2002, Nunn entered one car each in Champ Car and the rival Indy Racing League. The IRL entry for Giaffone proved more competitive than Kanaan's Champ Car entry, encouraging the team to concentrate purely on IRL a year later. With Toyota and Pioneer backing, the former F1 driver Tora Takagi joined the team. He finished 10th in 2003, while Giaffone missed races because of injuries. He was replaced by Alex Barron, who won the Michigan race. For 2004, only one car was entered, for Takagi, whose performance was not impressive after a heavy crash at Twin Ring Motegi. Other than a joint effort with Fernández Racing at the 2005 Indianapolis 500, Nunn closed the team in 2005 and retired.

Mo Nunn
Born
Morris Nunn

(1938-09-27)27 September 1938
Walsall, England[1]
Died18 July 2018(2018-07-18) (aged 79)
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Motor racing, engineer and team owner
Years active1963–2005
Known forFormula One, team owner (Ensign)
Champ Car and Indy Racing League, team owner (Mo Nunn Racing)

Race results

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Complete CART FedEx Championship Series results

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(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap; results with * indicate most laps led)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pts Pos Pos
2000 MIA LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH CHI MDO ROA VAN LAG GAT HOU SRF FON
Reynard 2Ki Mercedes IC 108E
  Tony Kanaan 55 10 16 18 16 8 10 DNS 24 16 13 8 14 22 13 10 8 18 19th 24
  Bryan Herta 16 9 18 18th 26
2001 MTY LBH TEX NAZ MOT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH CHI MDO ROA VAN LAU ROC HOU LAG SRF FON
Reynard 01i Honda HR-1   Tony Kanaan 55 7 7 C1 16 3 6 DNS 24 16 10 21 8 5 12 4 7 8 12 8 17 5 9th 93
  Alex Zanardi 66 24 26 C1 20 7 11 24 26 13 4 20 9 19 13 24 20 23rd 24
  Casey Mears (R) 17 11 26 8 28th 7
2002 MTY LBH MOT MIL LAG POR CHI TOR CLE VAN MDO ROA MTL DEN ROC MIA SFR FON MXC
Reynard 02i Honda HR-2   Tony Kanaan 10 16 20 15* 12th 99
Lola B2/00 16 12 8 8 17 8 3 14 4 3 6 15 9 5 4 8*
  1. ^ The Firestone Firehawk 600 was canceled after qualifying due to excessive g-forces on the drivers.

IndyCar Series results

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(key)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pts Pos Pos
2002 HMS PHX FON NAZ INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MCH KTY GAT CHI TXS
G-Force GF05C Chevrolet Indy V8   Tony Kanaan 17 28 50th 2
  Felipe Giaffone 21 7 19 6 2 3 5 4 3 4 7 3 1* 21 6 17 4th 432
2003 HMS PHX MOT INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MCH GAT KTY NAZ CHI FON TXS
G-Force GF09
Dallara IR-03
Toyota Indy V8   Toranosuke Takagi 12 12 22 8 5 31 6 13 18 7 6 7 18 14 9 18 7 10th 317
  Arie Luyendyk 20 DNQ NC
  Alex Barron 6 17th 216
21 5 1 16 20 15
  Felipe Giaffone 9 3 3 33 17 13 6 22 15 16 19 20th 199
2004 HMS PHX MOT INDY TXS RIR KAN NSH MIL MCH KTY PPIR NAZ CHI FON TXS
Dallara IR-04 Toyota Indy V8   Toranosuke Takagi 12 4 8 10 19 10 19 21 11 20 20 20 19 17 13 14 12 15th 263
  Jeff Simmons (R) 21 16 29th 26
  1. ^ Toranosuke Takagi had a 23 points deduction at Texas Motor Speedway due to unacceptable driving.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Profile". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  2. ^ Cooper, Adam (18 July 2018). "Obituary: Ex-Ensign F1 boss and Indycar engineer Mo Nunn 1938-2018". Retrieved 19 July 2018.