bigbadbrother
01-23-2014, 07:42 PM
Justin Wilson announced Wednesday he will return to Dale Coyne Racing for his third consecutive IndyCar Series season with the team, after returning to the squad in 2012. The 2014 season will mark his 11th straight year in the top level of North American open-wheel racing since his debut in 2004, a year after his single season in Formula One.
Wilson made the announcement during a series conference call. The team is yet to make a formal announcement, but with limited openings elsewhere on the grid, Wilson’s uncanny ability to upset the bigger teams will likely be on display once more in 2014.
“I was waiting to see if Dale would be taking up my option; we’re trying to make the necessary improvements,” said Wilson, who finished sixth in the 2013 points and likely would have been higher had he not had an accident in the season finale at Fontana.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions. He’s trying to be more consistent to make things easier,” he added. “We had some good performances last year, and feel we need to work on some consistency, in every aspect. The other teams have a couple more people, and can analyze that.”
Wilson is fully recovered from his injuries, resumed training and racing in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with Michael Shank Racing. He’ll co-drive with the same trio he won overall in 2012, AJ Allmendinger, Ozz Negri and John Pew.
Additionally, Wilson confirmed Michael Cannon will work as his race engineer. Cannon engineered E.J. Viso’s fourth Andretti Autosport entry in 2013, and shifts to his sixth different team in five seasons (2010 HVM Racing with Simona de Silvestro, 2011 KV Racing Technology with Tony Kanaan, 2012 part-time with Ed Carpenter Racing and Carpenter, also was with Dragon Racing at Sonoma).
No timeframe was determined on figuring out who may slot in as Wilson’s teammate. Wilson had five different teammates in 2013 (Ana Beatriz, Pippa Mann, Mike Conway, Stefan Wilson, James Davison) and told MotorSportsTalk he’d like to have “just one teammate” if possible this year.
The team is likely to have its first test of the new year on February 3 at Sebring.
Wilson made the announcement during a series conference call. The team is yet to make a formal announcement, but with limited openings elsewhere on the grid, Wilson’s uncanny ability to upset the bigger teams will likely be on display once more in 2014.
“I was waiting to see if Dale would be taking up my option; we’re trying to make the necessary improvements,” said Wilson, who finished sixth in the 2013 points and likely would have been higher had he not had an accident in the season finale at Fontana.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions. He’s trying to be more consistent to make things easier,” he added. “We had some good performances last year, and feel we need to work on some consistency, in every aspect. The other teams have a couple more people, and can analyze that.”
Wilson is fully recovered from his injuries, resumed training and racing in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with Michael Shank Racing. He’ll co-drive with the same trio he won overall in 2012, AJ Allmendinger, Ozz Negri and John Pew.
Additionally, Wilson confirmed Michael Cannon will work as his race engineer. Cannon engineered E.J. Viso’s fourth Andretti Autosport entry in 2013, and shifts to his sixth different team in five seasons (2010 HVM Racing with Simona de Silvestro, 2011 KV Racing Technology with Tony Kanaan, 2012 part-time with Ed Carpenter Racing and Carpenter, also was with Dragon Racing at Sonoma).
No timeframe was determined on figuring out who may slot in as Wilson’s teammate. Wilson had five different teammates in 2013 (Ana Beatriz, Pippa Mann, Mike Conway, Stefan Wilson, James Davison) and told MotorSportsTalk he’d like to have “just one teammate” if possible this year.
The team is likely to have its first test of the new year on February 3 at Sebring.