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Justin Wilson
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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 2004-2007, scoring 4 wins. He competed in Formula One in the 2003 season with Minardi and Jaguar and was the winner of the 2001 Formula 3000 championship.
ght up in the tiny hamlet of Woodall, near Harthill, South Yorkshire, 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.
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Encyclopedia
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 2004-2007, scoring 4 wins. He competed in Formula One in the 2003 season with Minardi and Jaguar and was the winner of the 2001 Formula 3000 championship.
Early career (to 2002)
Brought up in the tiny hamlet of Woodall, near Harthill, South Yorkshire, 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 an opportunity arose to replace regular driver Alex Yoong for two rounds, Wilson was unable to drive the car due to his height.
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.
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 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 30, 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.
For 2007, Wilson was signed on a multi-year contract with RSPORTS, a merger of his former team and Rocketsports. 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.
IndyCar career (2008)
Wilson signed for reigning ChampCar champions Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for 2008. The ChampCar series merged with the Indy Racing League for 2008, meaning that Wilson and team-mate Graham Rahal compete in the IndyCar Series. In the season to date Wilson has 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 Helio Castroneves was penalised for blocking. However, like many drivers switching from the road and street course based Champ Car series, he has not yet been 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 is expected to sign a full-season deal with Dale Coyne Racing for 2009, after losing his ride at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing due to the economic crisis. He will test for the team at the IndyCar Series Homestead Open test on Feb. 24-25.
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. 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 GBP500. Justin is presently managed by former Grand Prix driver Jonathan Palmer.
Personal life
Wilson married girlfriend Julia in Sheffield, England on 29 December, 2006. The couple reside in Northampton, England and near Denver, Colorado.
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.
Wilson's younger brother, Stefan, is also a successful racing driver.
Motorsports career results
Formula One
(key)
American Open Wheel
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)
Champ Car
IndyCar
- 1 Run on same day.
- 2 Non-points-paying, exhibition race.
| Years | Teams | Races | Poles | Wins | Podiums
(Non-win) | Top 10s
(Non-podium) | Indianapolis 500
Wins | Championships |
|---|
| 1 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
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