Stefan Wilson
Stefan Wilson | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationality | British | ||||||
Born | Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England | 20 September 1989||||||
Related to | Justin Wilson (brother) | ||||||
Firestone Indy Lights career | |||||||
Debut season | 2009 | ||||||
Current team | Fan Force United | ||||||
Car number | 24 | ||||||
Former teams | First Motorsports/Walker Racing Bryan Herta Autosport Andretti Autosport | ||||||
Starts | 32 | ||||||
Wins | 2 | ||||||
Poles | 2 | ||||||
Fastest laps | 2 | ||||||
Best finish | 3rd in 2011 | ||||||
Previous series | |||||||
2008 2006–07 | British Formula 3 Formula Palmer Audi | ||||||
IndyCar Series career | |||||||
5 races run over 5 years | |||||||
Team(s) | No. 25 (Andretti Autosport) | ||||||
Best finish | 33rd (2013) | ||||||
First race | 2013 Grand Prix of Baltimore (Baltimore) | ||||||
Last race | 2022 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
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Stefan James Wilson (born 20 September 1989 in Sheffield, UK) is a British racing driver. He is the younger brother of the late Formula One and IndyCar Series driver Justin Wilson. He is also the winner of the 2007 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award for promising young British drivers.[1]
Career
Formula Palmer Audi and British F3
After a long karting career as a child, Stefan stepped up to open-wheel racing in November 2006, competing in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy at Snetterton and Brands Hatch. Stefan gradually improved throughout his first six car races and finished the six-race mini-series in ninth place, also ending as top rookie. He picked up three top-six finishes and set the fastest lap in the final round at Brands Hatch.
Stefan competed in the 2007 Formula Palmer Audi Championship, the 10th anniversary of the series, and also the 10th anniversary of when his brother Justin won the first FPA title. He finished 2nd in the championship after a great final round at Croft, where he scored 2 podiums after his worst qualifying of the season, only starting 7th and 9th for the two races. Stefan overtook a total of 11 cars. He also closed the final gap between him and more experienced driver Tim Bridgman to just 28 points.
He scored 4 wins throughout the season; the first came in round 4 of the championship at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in front of nearly 50,000 spectators. The second half of Wilson's championship was more successful as he scored 4 pole positions and 3 of his 4 wins. Wilson ended the championship in 2nd place, with a tally of 4 wins, 9 podiums, 4 pole positions, 5 fastest laps, and 2 lap records.
At the end of the season he won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award for young British drivers. Part of the award was a prize drive in a McLaren Formula One car, which took place on the Silverstone National Circuit on 13 November 2009.[2]
In 2008 he competed in the British Formula 3 Championship National Class in 2008 with Fluid Motorsport and captured 4 class wins on his way to 4th in the National Class points standings.
Indy Lights
Wilson signed to race a partial schedule in Firestone Indy Lights in 2009 for First Motorsports with cars prepared by Walker Racing that included six road and street courses. He qualified third at Long Beach but was sidelined by a mechanical problem towards the finish. His best finish was fourth in the wet/dry race at Toronto. In 2010 returned to the series to race for Bryan Herta Autosport.[3] Wilson finished 11th in points despite missing one race due to funding issues and another due to a damaged racecar. He had a career-best finish of third in the season opener at St. Pete and ran the fastest race lap in Toronto.
In 2011 he returned to Indy Lights full-time with Andretti Autosport. He captured one pole, two wins, and finished on the podium three more times to finish third in the championship. Despite Wilson's 2011 success, he was out of racing until the 2012 Indy Lights season finale at Auto Club Speedway where he drove for Fan Force United and finished sixth.
IndyCar
Wilson made his IndyCar debut at the 2013 Grand Prix of Baltimore driving for Dale Coyne Racing, finishing sixteenth. His brother Justin drove the other full-time entry for Dale Coyne Racing, making the Wilson brothers the first pair of brothers to drive in IndyCar for the same team since Gary Bettenhausen and Tony Bettenhausen Jr. drove for their family team in 1983.
In June 2014 Fan Force United announced that they had signed Wilson for the team's full-time step up to the IndyCar Series in 2015.[4] However, this entry ultimately did not materialize.
On 26 April 2016, it was announced that Wilson would be driving for KV Racing Technology at the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Wilson would be driving the No. 25 Driven2SaveLives Chevy. He chose No. 25 in honor of his late brother Justin, who drove the No. 25 car when he received his fatal injuries during an incident at the 2015 ABC Supply 500.
A fuel gamble put Wilson in the lead late in the 2018 Indianapolis 500, but he had to pit for fuel with four laps to go, and Will Power won the race.
Wilson finished in last place at the 2021 Indianapolis 500 due to a crash upon entering the pit lane early in the race.
Racing record
Career summary
Year | Series | Team | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy | Justin Wilson | 6 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 9th |
2007 | Formula Palmer Audi | 20 | 4 | 4 | 332 | 2nd | |
2008 | British Formula 3 International Series - National | Fluid Motorsport Development | 22 | 3 | 4 | 194 | 4th |
2009 | Indy Lights | First Motorsports/Walker Racing | 6 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 22nd |
2010 | Indy Lights | Bryan Herta Autosport | 11 | 0 | 0 | 278 | 11th |
2011 | Indy Lights | Andretti Autosport | 14 | 1 | 2 | 450 | 3rd |
2012 | Indy Lights | Fan Force United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 23rd |
2013 | IndyCar Series | Dale Coyne Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 33rd |
2016 | IndyCar Series | KVSH Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 33rd |
2018 | IndyCar Series | Andretti Autosport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 33rd |
2021 | IndyCar Series | Andretti Autosport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 41st |
2022 | IndyCar Series | DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 35th |
IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD | Team Hardpoint | 3 | 0 | 0 | 627 | 35th |
American open-wheel racing results
(key)
Indy Lights
Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | FIRST/Derrick Walker Racing | STP1 13 |
STP2 17 |
LBH 22 |
KAN | INDY | MIL | IOW | WGL 12 |
TOR 4 |
EDM | KTY | MDO 8 |
SNM | CHI | HMS | 22nd | 112 |
2010 | Bryan Herta Autosport | STP 3 |
ALA 6 |
LBH 17 |
INDY 7 |
IOW 7 |
WGL 12 |
TOR 3 |
EDM 7 |
MDO 4 |
SNM | CHI 6 |
KTY 12 |
HMS | 11th | 278 | ||
2011 | Andretti Autosport | STP 16 |
ALA 2 |
LBH 3 |
INDY 4 |
MIL 8 |
IOW 8 |
TOR 1 |
EDM1 4 |
EDM2 2 |
TRO 4 |
NHM 12 |
BAL 5 |
KTY 1 |
LVS 8 |
3rd | 450 | |
2012 | Fan Force United | STP | ALA | LBH | INDY | DET | MIL | IOW | TOR | EDM | TRO | BAL | FON 6 |
23rd | 28 |
IndyCar Series
(key)
Year | Team | Chassis | No. | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara DW12 | 18 | Honda | STP | ALA | LBH | SAO | INDY | DET | DET | TXS | MIL | IOW | POC | TOR | TOR | MDO | SNM | BAL 16 |
HOU | HOU | FON | 33rd | 14 |
2016 | KVSH Racing | 25 | Chevrolet | STP | PHX | LBH | ALA | IMS | INDY 28 |
DET | DET | RDA | IOW | TOR | MDO | POC | TXS | WGL | SNM | 34th | 14 | ||||
2018 | Andretti Autosport | Honda | STP | PHX | LBH | ALA | IMS | INDY 15 |
DET | DET | TXS | RDA | IOW | TOR | MDO | POC | GTW | POR | SNM | 34th | 31 | ||||
2021 | ALA |
STP |
TXS |
TXS |
IMS |
INDY 33 |
DET |
DET |
ROA |
MDO |
NSH |
IMS |
GTW |
POR |
LAG |
LBH |
41st | 10 | |||||||
2022 | DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports | Chevrolet | STP |
TXS |
LBH |
ALA |
IMS |
INDY 26 |
DET | ROA | MDO | TOR | IOW | IOW | IMS | NSH | GTW | POR | LAG | 35th | 10 |
* Season still in progress.
Indianapolis 500
Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 30 | 28 | KVSH Racing |
2018 | Dallara | Honda | 23 | 15 | Andretti Autosport |
2021 | Dallara | Honda | 28 | 33 | Andretti Autosport |
2022 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 33 | 27 | DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports |
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | BAR1 Motorsports | PC | Oreca FLM09 | Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8. | DAY | SEB | COA 2 |
DET | WGL | MOS | ELK | PET | 17th | 32 | ||||
2022 | Team Hardpoint | GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Porsche MA1.76/MDG.G 4.0 L Flat-6 | DAY 10 |
SEB 8 |
LBH | LGA | MDO | DET |
WGL 14 |
MOS |
LIM |
ELK |
VIR |
PET |
-* | 0* |
References
- ^ Freeman, Glenn (2 December 2007). "McLaren Autosport BRDC: Stefan Wilson". autosport.com. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
- ^ Glendenning, Mark (13 November 2009). "Wilson gets prize Formula 1 test". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
- ^ "Bryan Herta Autosport signs Stefan Wilson". motorsport.com. via Bryan Herta Autosport. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ^ Glendenning, Mark (27 June 2014). "Stefan Wilson gets 2015 IndyCar deal with Fan Force United". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
External links
- Stefan Wilson Official Website
- Stefan Wilson career summary at DriverDB.com
- English racing drivers
- Living people
- 1989 births
- IndyCar Series drivers
- Indy Lights drivers
- Formula Palmer Audi drivers
- Indianapolis 500 drivers
- Walker Racing drivers
- Bryan Herta Autosport drivers
- Andretti Autosport drivers
- Dale Coyne Racing drivers
- KV Racing Technology drivers
- WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
- DragonSpeed drivers
- Fluid Motorsport Development drivers