Justin Wilson

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This article is about the English motor-racing driver Justin Wilson. For the American chef and humorist, see Justin Wilson (chef).

Justin Wilson
Nationality	United Kingdom
2008 IRL IndyCar Series
Debut season	2008
Current team	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
Car No.	02
Starts	7
Wins	0
Poles	1

Champ Car World Series
Years active	2004-2007
Teams	Conquest Racing RuSPORT RSPORTS
Starts	55
Wins	4
Poles	5
Best finish	2nd in 2006, 2007

Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2003
Teams	Minardi, Jaguar
Races	16
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Career points	1
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	2003 Japanese Grand Prix

Justin Wilson (born 31 July 1978, Sheffield, England) 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.

Contents 1 Early career (to 2002) 2 Formula One career (2003) 3 Champ Car career (2004 to 2007) 4 IndyCar career (2008) 5 Investment scheme 6 Personal life 7 Motorsports career results 7.1 Formula One 7.2 American Open Wheel 7.2.1 Champ Car 7.2.2 IndyCar 8 References 9 External links

[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 an opportunity arose to replace regular driver Alex Yoong for two rounds, Wilson was unable to drive the car due to his height.^[2]

[edit] Formula One career (2003)

For 2003, Minardi designed the car around Wilson's 6'3" 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.

[edit] Champ Car career (2004 to 2007)

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.

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.^[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.[1]

[edit] IndyCar career (2008)

For the 2008 season, Wilson will drive for the championship winning Newman/Haas/Lanigan racing team alongside Graham Rahal.^[5]

[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.^[6] 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.

[edit] Personal life

Wilson married girlfriend Julia in Sheffield, England on 29 December 2006.^[7] The couple reside in Northampton, England and near Denver, Colorado^[8] and are expecting their first child in June of 2008.^[9] Wilson's younger brother, Stefan, is also a successful racing driver.

[edit] Motorsports career results

[edit] Formula One

(key)

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
2003	European Minardi Cosworth	Minardi PS03	Cosworth V10	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 11	AUT 13	MON Ret	CAN Ret	EUR 13	FRA 14	GBR 16						20th	1
	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R4													GER Ret	HUN Ret	ITA Ret	USA 8	JPN 13

[edit] American Open Wheel

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

[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	SAN 4	DEN Ret	MTL 3	LAS 11	SUR 7	MEX 1		3rd	265
2006	RuSPORT	LBH 2	HST 5	MTY 2	MIL 2	POR 2	CLE Ret	TOR 4	EDM 1	SAN 3	DEN 8	MTL Ret	ROA 5	SUR INJ	MEX 2	2nd	298
2007	RSPORTS	LVG Ret	LGB 4	HST 10	POR 2	CLE 4	MTT 5	TOR 3	EDM 2	SAN 13	ROA 8	ZOL 5	ASS 1	SUR 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	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF2	20th*	117*

* 2008 season in progess

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	7	1	0	0	3	0	0

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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

Sporting positions
Preceded by None	Formula Palmer Audi Champion 1998	Succeeded by Richard Tarling
Preceded by Bruno Junqueira	International Formula 3000 Champion 2001	Succeeded by Sébastien Bourdais

v • d • e 2008 IndyCar Series season Teams Andretti Green Ganassi Penske RLR D & R Vision Panther 7 Patrick 11 Kanaan 26 M. Andretti 27 Mutoh 9 Dixon 10 Wheldon 3 Castroneves 6 Briscoe 17 Hunter-Reay 15 Rice 23 Duno/Bell 2 Foyt 20 Carpenter 4 Meira Foyt Roth Conquest N/H/L KV Racing Coyne HVM PCM 14 Manning 24 Howard/J. Andretti 25 Roth 34 Camara 36 Bernoldi 02 Wilson 06 Rahal 5 Servia 8 Power 18 Junqueira 19 Moraes 33 Viso 96 Dominguez Races Homestead • St. Pete • Motegi • Long Beach • Kansas • Indy 500 • Milwaukee • Texas • Iowa • Richmond •  Watkins Glen • Nashville • Mid-Ohio • Edmonton • Kentucky • Infineon • Belle Isle • Chicagoland • Surfers Paradise