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.

Career

Formula Palmer Audi and British F3 After a long karting career as a child, Wilson stepped up to open-wheel racing in November 2006, competing in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy at Snetterton and Brands Hatch. Wilson 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.

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

Wilson competed in the 2007 Formula Palmer Audi Championship, the tenth anniversary of the series, and also the tenth anniversary of when his brother Justin won the first FPA title. He finished second in the championship after a great final round at Croft, where he scored two podiums after his worst qualifying of the season, only starting seventh and ninth for the two races. Wilson overtook a total of eleven cars. He also closed the final gap between him and more experienced driver Tim Bridgman to just 28 points.

Wilson scored four 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 four pole positions and three of his four wins. Wilson ended the championship in second place, with a tally of four wins, nine podiums, four pole positions, five fastest laps, and two lap records.

At the end of the season, Wilson 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.

In 2008, Wilson competed in the British Formula 3 Championship National Class with Fluid Motorsport and captured four class wins on his way to fourth 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. Wilson finished eleventh 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, Wilson 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. 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.

During the 2023 Indianapolis 500, Wilson originally qualified for the race with a starting position of 25th on the grid. However, during the last practice session, Wilson suffered a back injury when he crashed after Katherine Legge ran into the back of him. As a result, Wilson was forced to withdraw from the event and was replaced by Graham Rahal, who initially failed to qualify after being bumped from the field.

Racing record

Career summary

American open-wheel racing results (key)

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series (key) Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points Ref 2013 Dale Coyne Racing 18 Dallara DW12 Honda STP ALA LBH SAO INDY DET DET TXS MIL IOW POC TOR TOR MOH SNM BAL HOU HOU FON 33rd 14 2016 KVSH Racing 25 Chevrolet STP PHX LBH ALA IMS INDY DET DET RDA IOW TOR MOH POC TXS WGL SNM34th14 2018 Andretti Autosport Honda STP PHX LBH ALA IMS INDY DET DET TXS RDA IOW TOR MOH POC GTW POR SNM 34th 31 2021 ALA STP TXS TXS IMS INDY DET DET ROA MOH NSH IMS GTW POR LAG LBH 41st 10 2022 DragonSpeed/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet STP TXS LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA MOH TOR IOW IOW IMS NSH GTW POR LAG 35th 10 2023 Dreyer & Reinbold/Cusick Motorsports 24 STP TXS LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA MOH TOR IOW IOW NSH IMS GTW POR LAG - 0

Indianapolis 500

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 Points Ref 2017 BAR1 Motorsports PC Oreca FLM09 Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8. DAY SEB COA 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 SEB LBH LGA MOH DET WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR PET 35th 627