Stefan Wilson

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]

Stefan Wilson
Nationality British
Born (1989-09-20) 20 September 1989
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Related toJustin Wilson (brother)
Firestone Indy Lights career
Debut season2009
Current teamFan Force United
Car number24
Former teamsFirst Motorsports/Walker Racing
Bryan Herta Autosport
Andretti Autosport
Starts32
Wins1
Poles2
Fastest laps2
Best finish3rd in 2011
Previous series
2008
200607
British Formula 3
Formula Palmer Audi

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 over the course of 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 fastest lap in the final round at Brands Hatch.

Wilson driving for Fluid Motorsport at the Croft round of the 2008 British Formula 3 season.

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 over the course of 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 will be driving for KV Racing Technology at the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Wilson will 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.

Wilson nearly won the 2018 Indianapolis 500, but ran out of fuel with four laps to go, handing the victory to Will Power.

Racing record

Career history

Year Series Team Name Races Poles Wins Points Final Placing
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 Championship National Class Fluid Motorsport Development 22 3 4 194 4th
2009 Firestone Indy Lights First Motorsports/Walker Racing 6 0 0 112 22nd
2010 Firestone Indy Lights Bryan Herta Autosport 11 0 0 278 11th
2011 Firestone Indy Lights Andretti Autosport 14 1 2 450 3rd
2012 Firestone Indy Lights Fan Force United 1 0 0 28 23rd
2013 Izod IndyCar Series Dale Coyne Racing 1 0 0 14 33rd
2016 Verizon IndyCar Series KVSH Racing 1 0 0 14 33rd
2018 Verizon IndyCar Series Andretti Autosport 1 0 0 31 33rd

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 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 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 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

* 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

References

  1. Freeman, Glenn (2 December 2007). "McLaren Autosport BRDC: Stefan Wilson". autosport.com. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  2. Glendenning, Mark (13 November 2009). "Wilson gets prize Formula 1 test". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  3. "Bryan Herta Autosport signs Stefan Wilson". motorsport.com. via Bryan Herta Autosport. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  4. Glendenning, Mark (27 June 2014). "Stefan Wilson gets 2015 IndyCar deal with Fan Force United". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
Awards
Preceded by
Oliver Turvey
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
2007
Succeeded by
Alexander Sims
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