INDYcar JUSTIN WILSON

[The General]

Expect the Newman/Haas McDonalds driver to have a big year.

Birthday: July 31, 1978 ● Hometown: Sheffield, England

Residence: Longmont, Colo. ● Height/weight: 6-3/176

How dedicated was Justin Wilson to his fledgling racing career? He sold shares of himself to investors through Justin Wilson PLC to fund his 2003 Formula One season. About 900 investors contributed $2 million, and a part of his earnings go toward repaying the debt.
Wilson enters the IndyCar Series with a strong resume of open-wheel experience. Wilson's father Keith was an amateur Formula Ford racer in England, and he followed in his dad's footsteps. He also has varied interests off the track, including cycling, minature golf, video games, karting and flying RC helicopters.

[The General]

INDYCAR SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
First start: March 29, 2008 (Homestead-Miami Speedway)
First victory: Aug. 31, 2008 (The Raceway at Belle Isle Park)

2008
● Finished 11th in IndyCar Series standings for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.
● Won at The Raceway at Belle Isle, leading final 15 laps.
● Recorded seven top-10 finishes overall.

ROAD TO INDYCAR SERIES

2007
● Finished second in Champ Car World Series standings for RuSPORT/ with a win at Assen.
● Won poles at Portland and San Jose.
● Recorded nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes.
● Competed in Grand Am Rolex SportsCar Series finale at Utah for Michael Shank Racing.

2006
● Finished second in Champ Car World Series standings for RuSPORT/RSports despite missing Surfers Paradise race because of injury.
● Recorded win at Edmonton, 10 top-five finishes and 11 top-10 finishes.
● Won poles at Mexico City and Toronto.
● Finished second overall in Rolex 24 at Daytona for Michael Shank Racing.

2005
● Finished third in Champ Car World Series standings for RuSPORT, earning his first Champ Car victories (Toronto and Mexico City as well as his first pole (Mexico City).
● Had eight top-five finishes and four front-row starts.

2004
● Finished 11th in Champ Car World Series standings for Mi-Jack/Conquest Racing with best finish of fourth at Mexico City.
● Recorded two top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes.

2003
● Entered Formula 1 with Minardi before signing with Jaguar Racing for the final five races of the season, starting with the German Grand Prix.
● Scored first point at U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

2002
● Finished fourth in the Telefonica World Series by Nissan standings for Racing Engineering.
● Won at Valencia (Spain) and Interlagos (Brazil), earned podium finishes in six other events.
● Earned Champ Car test with Newman/Haas Racing.

2001
● Became first British driver to win FIA International F3000 championship.
● Broke the record for most points in a season (71) and podium finishes (10) as well as setting a new winning margin from the runner-up (36 points).
● Won at Interlagos (Brazil), A1 Ring (Austria) and Hungaroring (Hungary).

2000
● Finished fifth in FIA International F3000 championship for Nordic Racing.
● Earned points in five races including podium finishes at Silverstone (England) and A1 Ring (Austria).

1999
● One of seven drivers to qualify for every round of the FIA International F3000 championship in what was his rookie season in the series.
● Scored points in two events.

1998
● Won inaugural Formula Palmer Audi championship, taking nine races wins including six of the final seven.
● Set six lap records and won four poles.
● Finalist for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.

1997
● Finished fourth in the Formula Vauxhall for Paul Stewart Racing.
● Earned three wins, two poles and seven podium finishes.

1996
● Placed second in Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship for Paul Stewart Racing.
● Finished in the top five in every race with victory at Brands Hatch.

1995
● Won the Formula Vauxhall Junior Challenge Cup and finished third in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship.
● Won the BRDC Chris Bristow Trophy given to the most promising driver to race at Silverstone.
Early Career
● Won Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship debut with JLR Racing at age 16, the first 16-year-old to win a British auto race.
● Competed in karting, winning numerous races and club championships.

[The General]

Justin can drive and with just one year of experience in the Indy cars, he will be one of the fastest former Champ drivers to climb the ranks in Indy Car.

[The General]

Looks like Justin is w/out a ride currently with sponsorship problems. That sucks and I hope he gets back in. He is not even listed as a driver on the INDY car site now, but was when I created this post.

[The General]

It looked like Justin Wilson, formerly of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, was going to wind up on the sidelines for the 2009 IndyCar Series season. But now it appears that the British driver may wind up as a major coup for Dale Coyne Racing.

According to SPEED Channel's Robin Miller, Wilson will be testing next week at Homestead for DCR and that a full-time deal for him is getting closer to fruition. Miller also reports that DCR is trying to lock down Bruno Junqueira in their second car as well. Junqueira and new KV Racing Technology driver Mario Moraes raced for DCR in 2008.

DCR's getting pretty serious about moving up in the pecking order this year. If they can land Wilson and Junqueira, they'll have two very solid drivers to go with their new engineer Bill Pappas, who helped Juan Montoya win the Indy 500 in 2000.

This team could be worth watching closely in 2009 at the rate they're going.

[The General]

Wilson made the front row for today's Honda Grand Prix. Graham Rahal, the youngest winner, starts from the pole. This shapes up to be a good event to kick of 2009.

[The General]

Damn. Nice pass by Briscoe and Wilson probably will not pull of the big underdog upset.

[The General]

Chalk another one up for Wilson. Awesome run today beating Gannasi and Penske handily on the road course at Watkins Glen.

[The General]

February 8, 2010



Wilson, who presented Dale Coyne with his first open-wheel racing victory last July at Watkins Glen International and finished ninth in the championship standings, has moved to the No. 22 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing entry with primary backing from Z-Line Designs.

"I looked around and met the people. I was really impressed," Wilson said. "Speaking with (general manager and competition director) Larry Curry and (co-owners) Dennis (Reinbold) and Robbie (Buhl), I liked what I saw and the progress they'd made over the off‑season. That's when it really started to come together.

"We just worked it out from there. It came together over the last two weeks."

Wilson recorded seven top-10 finishes and led three races - including 49 laps in the Watkins Glen victory -- in '09 with Dale Coyne Racing. Other highlights included third place in the opener at St. Petersburg and carrying momentum from The Glen with a fifth place a week later at Toronto. In 2008, Wilson entered the IZOD IndyCar Series with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (won at Belle Isle among seven top-10 finishes).

"It was a pretty tough call to leave Dale and move on with my career," said Wilson, 31. "That's not an easy decision. I just got to thank Dale and Gail (Coyne) for everything they've done. It was a great year. I have really fond memories. I've spoken to Dale a few times and we still get along really well, which is nice. I've got a lot of admiration for him.

"It was just a great opportunity (to go to D&RR) and I feel like this is the direction to go. Obviously, Z‑Line had presented that. They've got an agency that was looking for them to see what was available and it just progressed. I was pretty shocked that I'd get this opportunity. But I'm very pleased to be driving the Z‑Line Designs car again, and driving for this team, and the IZOD IndyCar Series."

Wilson will partner with Mike Conway, who enters his second IZOD IndyCar Series season in the No. 24 car (high finish of third at Infineon Raceway in August) for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's first full-season two-car team.

"I did have some good teammates last year," Conway said. "It was just the case of they weren't always there the same weekend, we'd been changing so often. But it's great to have Justin on board. I know he's a great talent. And I think we can both bring a lot to the table and really move the team forward and get some good results."

Buhl, who posted a victory for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in its initial race in 2000 at Walt Disney World Speedway, expects both to progress while working with the team that has invested in personnel and testing.

"In this business, as you grow as a race entity, you can have your flashes of brilliance and you have big highs and lows," he said. "But how you really grow and strive is you want to be consistently in the game week in and week out. That is the challenge.

"With having the capabilities of Mike and Justin, that puts us in that position to go in every weekend with that mind-set. I think this is really going to transition Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to a place that we've been striving to be."

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=15731