Justin
Wilson

Justin Wilson was born in Rotherham on 31 July 1978. He started karting at the age of eight, later raced in Formula Vauxhall and finished runner-up in 1996. In 1998 he won the first Formula Palmer Audi championship. In 2001 he took the International Formula 3000 title with Nordic Racing, winning three races and becoming the first British champion of the series. He was fourth in the 2002 World Series by Nissan.

Wilson competed in Formula One in 2003. He began the season with Minardi alongside Jos Verstappen and, before the German Grand Prix, replaced Antônio Pizzonia at Jaguar, where Mark Webber was his team-mate. He finished eighth in the United States Grand Prix for his only championship point, which left him twentieth in the standings. He started all 16 races. For 2004 he had no Formula One seat, and Christian Klien took his place at Jaguar.

Wilson then moved to the Champ Car World Series, where he raced from 2004 to 2007. After finishing eleventh for Conquest Racing in 2004, he joined RuSPORT and was third in 2005, with wins at Toronto and the Gran Premio Telmex/Tecate. He won once more in 2006 at Edmonton and in 2007 at the Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix, and was runner-up in the championship both years. That made four series wins in total.

From 2008 Wilson raced in the IndyCar Series. With Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing he won at Detroit in 2008. In 2009 he joined Dale Coyne Racing and won the Grand Prix at the Glen, the team's first victory in open-wheel racing. He drove for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in 2010 and 2011, then returned to Coyne from 2012 to 2014. In 2012 he won the Firestone 550, his first victory on an oval, and in 2013 he finished sixth in the championship. In 2015 he raced for Andretti Autosport and took second place at Mid-Ohio. In sports car racing he won the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona with Michael Shank Racing, sharing the car with A. J. Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri Jr. and John Pew.

Wilson died on 24 August 2015, the day after an accident in the race at Pocono Raceway. After the death of Dan Wheldon in 2011 he had pushed harder for better safety in IndyCar. In 2016 a corner at Snetterton Circuit was renamed Wilson Corner, so it now carries his name.

Source: Wikipedia, “Justin Wilson (racing driver)”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.