Justin Wilson | The “forgotten” drivers of F1

Justin Boyd Wilson (31 July 1978 – 24 August 2015) was a British professional open-wheel racing driver who competed in Formula One (F1) in 2003, the Champ Car World Series (CCWS) from 2004 to 2007 and the IndyCar Series from 2008 to 2015. He won the first Formula Palmer Audi (FPA) in 1998, the International Formula 3000 Championship (IF3000) with Nordic Racing in 2001, and co-won the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona for Michael Shank Racing. From Wiki

Bio by Stephen Latham

Described as having an easy-going nature and being universally popular, Justin Boyd Wilson went on to compete in F1 in 2003, the Champ Car World Series from 2004 to 2007 and the IndyCar Series from 2008 to 2015. He won the first Formula Palmer Audi series in 1998 and the International F3000 Championship with Nordic Racing in 2001 plus took 2012’s 24 Hours of Daytona for Michael Shank Racing. Born on the 31st July, 1978, in Moorgate, Rotherham in Yorkshire, to Keith and Lynne Wilson, his father raced FFord cars from the 1960s until a major accident at Oulton Park in 1975 ended his career. He drove his first kart at the age of nine and, racing at the South Yorkshire Kart Club, his father served as chief mechanic, courier and mentor. After graduating to cars, on his debut in October 1994 Justin became the first 16 year old to win a UK single-seater race at the opening round of the Vauxhall Junior Winter series. He and Richard Tarling were the youngest two drivers ever to win car races in the UK. The RACMSA decided that 16-year-olds would be allowed full race licences in 1994, and he (aged 16 years and two months) won the first heat for Team JLR at Pembrey, which was run in foul conditions. He was tipped as a favourite for the FVJ title and was to be partnered in the team by Tarling, who was ten younger; Tarling won the opening round of the British FFord 1600 Championship at Snetterton but missed out by one month in beating Justin’s ‘youngest ever winner’ record. His plans for 1995 suffered a setback when he missed the opening Vauxhall Junior round while recovering from leg injuries sustained in an accident at Brands Hatch. He won races again during the season and held an outside chance of taking the championship all through the year though still won the Junior Challenge Cup division (for 16 year-olds) and he was also awarded the British Racing Drivers’ Club Chris Bristow Trophy as ‘the most promising driver to race at Silverstone’. Besides holding the title of youngest ever race winner he was also the most junior victor in a British championship race, which he took at Knockhill in July.

From there he gained a seat with Paul Stewart Racing to compete in the 1996 championship. He won the season-opening round at Brands Hatch and finished in the top five in every race plus took two pole positions and finished runner-up in the championship. However, it was felt that, at 6ft 4in, his height would hinder his progress in single-seaters and it was suggested that he concentrate on sports or touring cars. In the following year he finished fourth overall, with three victories and seven podium finishes and, for the 1997 EFDA Nations Cup at Donington Park in October, he joined fellow driver Warren Carway at the Diamond Racing-run European Union Team, and they finished fourth. Following this he entered the newly created Formula Palmer Audi championship and was employed as a driving instructor at Bedford Autodrome, acquiring the nickname ’Bad Ass’ by his driving instructor colleagues at PalmerSport, for being “as fearsome a competitor you could ever find.” With nine victories and four pole positions, he beat Darren Turner to the title and received the prize of a fully sponsored F3000 drive plus was a finalist in the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. During this time, Jonathan Palmer became his manager and, joining Astromega for 1999, Justin took a point on his debut at Imola though only had one other points scoring race during the season. More than forty drivers were challenging for twenty six places on the grid and they had only half an hour in which to acclimatise and set a qualifying time; he was one of only seven drivers who made the grid every time.

Switching to Nordic Racing in 2000, he took podiums at Silverstone and the A1-Ring and finished fifth in the standings. He stayed with the team for the following year though in the first round at Interlagos, he spun as a result of celebrating wildly after securing his maiden win. Webber took pole at Imola and led every lap to score his first win of the season, with the victory taking him to within a point of Justin. Nordic were on the front row in Spain, with him on pole and teammate Enge second, who then passed Justin at the start of the race and maintained the lead to the flag, while Justin finished third. He took his second win at the A1-Ring, which further extended his lead to seven points over Enge while at Monaco, Webber led every lap for his second victory and was now second in the championship. He suffered a retirement at Nurburgring while in the French round at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Enge was on pole, with Webber second and Justin fourth. At the start, he moved up to third though Webber took the lead at the first corner and went on to take victory, ahead of Justin. At Silverstone, the two Nordic cars collided at Stowe turn on the fourth lap and Justin ran wide onto the gravel but he was able to rejoin and eventually finished second, behind Bourdais. After starting second at Hockenheim, he took the flag in this position and with Webber retiring, he increased his championship lead by ten points. He took pole at the Hungaroring and went on to take his third career victory, extending his championship lead over Webber to 20 points and Nordic won the Teams’ Championship with two races to go. Arriving at Spa, Webber needed to win the final two races and Justin required a sixth-place result in either race to secure the title, regardless of where Webber finished. Early in the race, Webber crashed at Eau Rouge, destroying his car and he was taken to hospital for a precautionary x-ray scan that discovered knee ligament damage while Justin finished second and took the drivers’ title with one race remaining. At the final round at Monza, he qualified second and went on to finish second and during the year, had been on the podium for ten of the twelve races and only failed to score once, ending up with seventy one points while Webber and Enge had thirty nine points each.

He made his sports car racing debut in 2001’s Magny-Cours 500km, part of the FIA GT Championship, sharing the Coca-Cola Racing Team’s Porsche 911 GT3-RS with Tomas Enge and they finished third in class and in the following year he, Christian Vann and Ben Collins, finished sixth with Team Ascari’s A410 in the 12 Hours of Sebring. During the year he tested for Jordan at Silverstone but while Webber graduated with Minardi, Justin instead moved into the Nissan World Series. He took two victories at Interlagos and Valencia and finished fourth in the championship while team mate Franck Montagny was second. During the summer there was another chance for an F1 seat when he tested for Minardi as a possible replacement for Alex Yoong but unfortunately he didn’t fit the cockpit and the drive went to Anthony Davidson. However, Palmer searched for financial partners and, with the provision of him bringing the agreed financial settlement, Minardi boss Paul Stoddard designed the PS03 car to accommodate Justin. Despite their efforts, they did not raise the necessary sponsorship money and his father was close to selling his petrol station, saying “I have backed him all the way and I have always said I would sell the garage if I had to and if Justin deserved it. It is not something I want to do and it is most definitely a last resort – but I am prepared to do whatever is necessary. We are a long way from that at the moment because we are in the middle of sorting out the share scheme and we have a lot of interest.” Palmer spent most of January and February 2003 holding meetings with lawyers to develop the scheme, allowing investors to support Justin’s career by buying shares in him. A 34 page prospectus was shown which offered a chance for investors to double their money, though it did stress the risks of the scheme. Backers had to invest a minimum of £500 and it proved to be so popular that Palmer later revealed that the company had to return cheques to would be investors as the money had been raised and the issue was oversubscribed by tens of thousands of pounds. Justin told how he was “delighted and flattered that so many people have chosen to invest in my career. The response to the share offer and the publicity it has generated has been really amazing-not only here in the UK, but around the world.”

Minardi’s previous engine supplier Asiatech had folded and discussions with Ferrari to provide engines were ongoing through late 2002 but they eventually went with Cosworth. After Michelin stepped away as tyre supplier, Verstappen arrived to test in Valencia but the team had no tyres for the PS03 so he tested a 2001 PS01 on Avon F3000 tyres. It would not be until late February that an agreement with Bridgestone was reached and, late that month at Imola, they tested for the first time with Bridgestone tyres, just 24 hours before the car would be packed for transit to Australia for the first round. Early-season performances were impressive and he equalled the pace of his more experienced teammate Jos Verstappen but though they generally qualified at the back, Justin’s fast starts and readiness to go for first-lap gaps allowed him to run the car in higher positions than was expected. However, there were no points taken all season and they retired from eleven races, with Justin retiring from the first four rounds. He briefly ran seventh in Malaysia, having started nineteenth, but retired suffering from exhaustion and temporary paralysis in the neck due to his HANS device coming loose and restricting arm movement. Following this, he visited the team’s headquarters in Faenza, Italy to test a twin seat belt system installed in his car to prevent a similar occurrence. In June, Stoddart purchased five Arrows A23s following the team’s administration and Verstappen tested one at Mugello Circuit, to assess its suitability. Justin’s finishes included eleventh in Spain, thirteenth in Austria and in the European GP at Nurburgring plus fourteenth and sixteenth in France and Great Britain. Silverstone was his final drive for the team as Jaguar selected him to replace Antonio Pizzonia and he was teamed up again with former team mate Webber for the last five races of the year. His first race came at Hockenheim but he retired due to gearbox issues then qualified twelfth in Hungary but engine issues ended his race and he did not finish at Monza due to engine problems. His best result came in the US GP at Indianapolis where, despite driving over a Jaguar mechanic during a pit stop, he finished eighth (of eleven finishers) and took his first career championship point. His final race came at Suzuka, where he had his best qualifying position with tenth but only finished thirteenth. Webber outperformed him by half a second on average in his first four races, due to his unfamiliarity with the car, but he was consistently within three to four-tenths of a second per lap of Webber’s pace by the end of the season. He was not retained for 2004 and stated “I feel I could have done a better job if I’d had more seat time but I joined Jaguar in the middle of a test ban. I did about 10 laps on Silverstone’s South Circuit, to make sure the seat fitted, then headed off to race in the German GP at Hockenheim..It’s frustrating that I didn’t do more in F1 but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. The first couple of times I drove the car, everything felt very natural..but then it suddenly became pitch-sensitive. I couldn’t turn and brake simultaneously at all and was never able to get the car properly balanced for corner entries. And then, when I was asked to test at the season’s end, everything felt normal again. I never did get to the bottom of that. I don’t know what I was doing wrong. Perhaps I just forgot how to drive for a few months.”

He moved away from F1 to America and contested Champ Car with Conquest Racing, where he qualified as high as second at Cleveland and third at Monterrey and Mexico. He was sixth in the opening rounds at Long Beach and Monterrey, fifth at Portland plus seventh at Road America and Denver while his best result was fourth in the final round at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. Early in the year he entered the 12 Hours of Sebring alongside Milka Duno and Phil Andrews with Taurus Racing’s Lola B2K/10 and he debuted at Le Mans, sharing Racing for Holland’s Dome S101 with Tom Cornel and Ralph Firman but though the car was not classified at the end of the race, he recorded the fifth fastest lap.

2005 saw a switch to RuSport and in his first of four seasons with them he had three fourth place finishes with the Lola B02/00 in the opening rounds at Long Beach, Monterrey and Milwaukee and took his first Champ Car series victory, from pole, at Toronto. There was a third place result at Montreal and, starting from pole, a second victory in the season ending round at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, to finish third in the standings. He and A.J.Allmendinger stayed with the team the following season and he was a frontrunner, taking six podium finishes plus a victory at Edmonton but he suffered a fractured scaphoid bone in his wrist in a practice accident at Surfers Paradise. He withdrew from the race though was deemed fit to enter the season ending Gran Premio Telmex in Mexico City and finished second. Earlier in the year, away from single seaters, he was second in the 24 Hours of Daytona, driving Michael Shank Racing’s Riley Mk XI with Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson. Towards the end of the year, RuSport formed a technological partnership with Rocketsports, which became RSPORTS. He started 2007 with the new team and took three podiums with a Panoz DP01 then, when contesting the last four rounds with RuSport, he had a podium and won the Bavarian Champ Car Grand Prix at the TT Circuit of Assen, Netherlands. He finished second in the standings in 2006 and 2007 to Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing’s Sebastian Bourdais and in both seasons he received the Greg Moore Legacy Award in recognition of his spirit and achievement.

After finishing second for two seasons to Sebastien Bourdais and NewmanHaas/Lanigan Racing, he landed a drive with the team in 2008, when Champ Cars became Indy Cars. Results were not as good as he had achieved in his first four seasons in Champ Car though there was a podium in Edmonton and victory at Detroit but he only finished eleventh in the points. After switching to Dale Coyne Racing in the following year, he finished third in the first round at St. Petersburg and scored a memorable victory at Watkins Glen (the first victory for the team in their 23 year history). Recalling the race, he stated it “was really special because nobody expected it or even believed it possible. We had a fuel problem that whole race. The tank was supposed to hold 22 gallons but we could only put in 19.5. The car was very quick, but I constantly had to save fuel in order to do a two-stopper. I was thinking, ‘If ever I have the opportunity to go flat out, I know I’ll be able to drive away’. The others were sat behind me the whole time, but I was lifting on the straights and hardly braked for two-thirds of each lap. I’d coast into the corners, then get a good exit, but it was all about saving fuel. It was only with seven laps to go that I was told we had enough to make the finish. At that point I did a couple of quick laps, built up a lead of about four seconds and cruised to the flag.”

There was a return to the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2010, driving the Telmex/Target sponsored Riley Mk XX for Chip Ganassi Racing alongside Max Papis, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas and they finished second. In a switch of IndyCar teams, he joined Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for two seasons but was less successful with them, taking second place finishes at St Petersburg and Long Beach, plus fifth and sixth at Edmonton and Sears Point, in the first year. Unfortunately, he was involved in a huge practice crash at Mid-Ohio and injured his back, which put him out for the rest of the season. After a lengthy convalescence, he resumed racing in early 2012 at the 24 Hours of Daytona and, after a spirited battle with the Starworks Motorsport Riley Mk XXVI, he, Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri and John Pew were victorious with Michael Shank Racing’s Riley MkXXVI, completing 761 laps over the 24 hours. Late in the year there were two Australian Touring Car drives with Kelly Racing’s Holden Commodore VE alongside Greg Murphy at Surfers Paradise. His single seater quest saw a return to Dale Coyne Racing, for three seasons, where his best results were seventh in the Indianapolis 500 plus his first oval victory, and his career’s seventh, in the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway. At the start of 2013 he returned to Daytona and finished third (despite being several laps down in the early stages of the race) alongside Pew, Negri, Allmendinger and Marcus Ambrose with Michael Shank Racing’s Riley MkXXVI. Following this he was teamed with Gustavo Yacaman for several Grand-Am Series rounds with the Riley Mk XXVI, with the pair finishing sixth at Watkins Glen, Road America and Laguna Seca plus second at Lime Rock. There were no single seater victories though he started the year with three consecutive top-nine finishes and took a career-high fifth place result in the Indianapolis 500. During the rest of the year he had two third place finishes at Belle Isle and Houston plus a season’s best second place at Sonoma but fractured his pelvis in the final round at Fontana. At Baltimore, he raced against his brother Stefan, where he finished fourth and Stefan was eighteenth and told how “it was fun, because we’d never raced on the same track-I was already in F3000 when he started karting. Unfortunately, he had an opportunity to do one race and it happened to be at the toughest track. Baltimore is incredibly bumpy-it’s basically a motocross track for Indycars…”

Gallery F1

Photo Alastair Ladd

Name:	Justin	Surname:	Wilson
Country:	United Kingdom	Entries:	16
Starts:	16	Podiums:	0
Fastest laps:	0	Points:	1
Start year:	2003	End year:	2003
Active years:	2003

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