Justin Wilson

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Justin Wilson
Wilson pictured in 2007.
Nationality	British
Date of birth	July 31, 1978 (1978-07-31) (age 31)
Place of birth	Sheffield (England)
Related to	Stefan Wilson (brother)
2009 IndyCar Series
Debut season	2008
Current team	Dale Coyne Racing
Car no.	18, 19
Former teams	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
Starts	35
Wins	2
Poles	1
Fastest laps	3
Best finish	9th in 2009

Justin Wilson (born 31 July 1978 in Sheffield) is a British racing driver from England who currently competes in the IndyCar Series. He competed in the Champ Car series from 2004–07, scoring 4 wins. He competed in Formula One in the 2003 season with Minardi and Jaguar and was the winner of the 2001 International Formula 3000 championship.

[edit] Early career (to 2002)

Brought up in the tiny hamlet of Woodall, near Harthill, South Yorkshire,^[1] Wilson began racing karts in 1987. During the early 1990s, he spent several years in Formula Vauxhall with Paul Stewart Racing before earning international attention when he won the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi championship with nine race wins. In 1998, he was a finalist in the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. A year later, he graduated to the FIA International Formula 3000 championship and won the championship in 2001, setting a record winning margin in the process.

Despite his success, his height proved a liability, and prevented him from securing a Formula 1 ride for 2002. He found a ride in the Telefonica World Series by Nissan, where he continued his winning ways with race victories at Interlagos and Valencia.

Wilson also tested for the Minardi Formula 1 team, but although regular driver Alex Yoong was replaced for two rounds, Wilson was unable to race the car due to his height.^[2]

[edit] Formula One career (2003)

For 2003, Minardi designed the car around Wilson's 6'4" (1.93m) frame and signed him up to race. The car was off the pace but Wilson performed favorably against his more experienced teammate, Jos Verstappen. He switched to Jaguar Racing to replace Antônio Pizzonia for the last five races of the season, and scored his first championship point at the United States Grand Prix. However, Wilson did not retain his position with Jaguar Racing, because Ford were not prepared to pour unlimited funds into F1 and advised the team that they would have to take on a paying driver. Christian Klien, who was funded by Austrian drink company Red Bull, and who had tested for Jaguar in November 2003, was able to bring sponsorship and thus secure a driver's seat for 2004.

[edit] Champ Car career (2004 to 2007)

At the beginning of 2004, Wilson joined the Champ Car World Series with Mi-Jack Conquest Racing. He qualified as high as 2nd in his rookie season and finished the year 11th place in points. In addition to Champ Cars, Wilson also raced at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, sharing the Racing for Holland Dome-Judd S101 with Tom Coronel and Ralph Firman, personally setting the 5th fastest lap.

In 2005, Wilson moved to the RuSPORT team to partner A. J. Allmendinger. He won his first Champ Car race at Toronto. Continuing with his success in Canada, Wilson finished third at Montreal, then rounded off the year with a victory from pole in the final race of the season in Mexico City circuit. Wilson finished the season in third place in the drivers standings behind series champion Sébastien Bourdais and second-placed Oriol Servia.

In 2006, Wilson took part in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona event for the first time in his career, racing for the Michael Shank Racing team in a Lexus powered Riley & Scott Daytona Prototype chassis. Teaming up with Champ Car teammate A. J. Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri, Jr. and Mark Patterson the car made it to the chequered flag in 2nd place.

Wilson stayed with RuSPORT for the 2006 season, and finished second in the series. On October 19, 2006 in the Friday qualifying for the Surfers Paradise race, Wilson hit a small barrier of tires in a chicane. When the front tires lurched sideways after the hit, the steering wheel spun sharply in Wilson's hands and broke a small bone in his right wrist.^[3]

For 2007, Wilson was signed on a multi-year contract with RSPORTS, a merger of his former team and Rocketsports.^[4] He finished second in the championship. Preceding the European rounds of the championship (Zolder, Belgium and Assen, Holland) RSPORTS announced their separation back into RuSport and Rocketsports.^[5]

[edit] IndyCar career (2008 to Present)

Wilson practicing for the 2008 Indianapolis 500

Wilson signed for reigning ChampCar champions Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for 2008,^[6] replacing Sebastien Bourdais. The ChampCar series merged with the Indy Racing League for 2008, meaning that Wilson and team-mate Graham Rahal competed in the IndyCar Series.^[7] Wilson qualified on pole for the Long Beach Grand Prix and second at Edmonton. Wilson won his first race for NHLR and took his maiden IndyCar Series win at the Detroit Indy Grand Prix in late August, moving up from 4th at the start to 2nd through pitstops before gaining the lead when Hélio Castroneves was penalised for blocking. However, like many drivers switching from the road and street course based Champ Car series, he was not yet competitive in the series' oval races.

At the end of the points scoring races of the season Justin placed 11th in the overall standings and finished 2nd in the Bombardier Rookie of the Year standings. He missed out by just 4 points from Hideki Mutoh of the long established IndyCar Series Andretti Green Racing team, he was the best placed of the so-called transition drivers without any significant oval racing history. Oriol Servia finished higher but had enough oval racing experience in both the IRL and Champ Car to not be deemed a rookie.

Wilson racing at the Milwaukee Mile for Dale Coyne Racing in 2009

Wilson agreed to drive for Dale Coyne Racing in 2009,^[8] after losing his ride at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. Wilson qualified 2nd for the 2009 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to start the season, which is Coyne's best qualifying result in the team's 23-year history. He finished the race in 3rd position, set the fastest lap of the race and led the most laps. Wilson was leading before a late-race caution came out; eventual race winner Ryan Briscoe passed him on the restart.

On July 5, 2009 Justin Wilson scored his second IndyCar Series win, and Dale Coyne's first victory as an owner in his team's 23-year history. At the 2009 Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen, Wilson again qualified second, only behind Briscoe, who set a new track record twice over the course of qualifying. Because Dario Franchitti crashed early in the final round of qualifying, Wilson was able to save a set of Firestone's alternate-compound tires, which are designed to make the car faster, but also wear out more quickly. Wilson was the fastest driver in final practice. In the race itself, Wilson attempted to pass Briscoe on the second lap, but was unsuccessful; two laps later, he made the pass stick, leading the first of 49 laps he spent in front. With six laps remaining in the 60-lap event, a full-course caution came out, resulting in the same setup as St. Petersburg: Wilson leading late, with Briscoe right behind him. This time, however, Wilson retained the lead, stretching it to 4.9 seconds by the end of the race.^[9]

[edit] Investment scheme

Wilson struggled to raise the money needed to get a Formula One seat with the Minardi team in 2003, so his management team came up with the idea of selling shares in him to the public to raise the £1.2 million needed.^[10] The scheme was supported by television commentator Murray Walker amongst others and ended up being oversubscribed. There are nearly 900 shareholders, each of whom invested a minimum of £500. Justin is presently managed by former Grand Prix driver Jonathan Palmer.

[edit] Personal life

Wilson married girlfriend Julia in Sheffield, England on 29 December 2006.^[11] The couple reside in Northampton, England and near Denver, Colorado.^[12]

They welcomed their first child, a daughter named Jane Louise Wilson into the world on Saturday, 12 April 2008 at 11:27 p.m. MT, she was born at the Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette, Colorado.^[13]

Wilson's younger brother, Stefan, is also a successful racing driver. This year, Stefan has joined the Indy Lights Series for its street and road course events, the support series to Indy Cars. Stefan and Justin will thus be seeing a lot more of each other in 2009.

[edit] Motorsports career results

[edit] Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

[edit] Formula One

(key)

[edit] American Open Wheel

(key)

[edit] Champ Car

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2004	Conquest	LBH 6	MTY 6	MIL 11	POR 5	CLE Ret	TOR 12	VAN 14	ROA 7	DEN 7	MTL Ret	LAG Ret	LAS 8	SUR 8	MEX 4	11th	188
2005	RuSPORT	LBH 4	MTY 4	MIL 4	POR 17	CLE 7	TOR 1	EDM 4	SJO 4	DEN Ret	MTL 3	LSV 11	SRF 7	MEX 1		3rd	265
2006	RuSPORT	LBH 2	HST 5	MTY 2	MIL 2	POR 2	CLE Ret	TOR 4	EDM 1	SJO 3	DEN 8	MTL Ret	ROA 5	SRF Inj	MEX 2	2nd	298
2007	RSPORTS	LVG Ret	LGB 4	HST 10	POR 2	CLE 4	MTT 5	TOR 3	EDM 2	SJO 13	ROA 8	ZOL 5	ASN 1	SRF 2	MEX 10	2nd	281

[edit] IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2008	N/H/L	HMS 15	STP 9	MOT1 DNP	LBH1 Ret	KAN 9	IND Ret	MIL 7	TXS Ret	IOW 12	RIR 7	WGL Ret	NSH 18	MDO 11	EDM 3	KTY Ret	SNM 9	DET 1	CHI 11	SRF2 11	11th	340
2009	Coyne	STP 3	LBH Ret	KAN 14	INDY Ret	MIL 15	TXS 15	IOW Ret	RIR 14	WGL 1	TOR 5	EDM 8	KTY Ret	MDO 13	SNM 7	CHI 10	MOT 12	HMS 10			9th	354

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

[edit] Indianapolis 500 results

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Justin Wilson

• Official site
• Justin Wilson Investors Club
• Justin Wilson career statistics at Driver Database