Max Wilson

Max Wilson
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	22 August 1972 Hamburg, Germany
Stock Car Brasil
Teams	Eufarma RC
Starts	48
Wins	4
Best finish	1st in 2010
Previous series
1994 1995 1995–96 1996 1997–99 2001 2002–08	Formula Chevrolet Formula Three Sudamericana German Formula 3 DTM International Formula 3000 Champ Car V8 Supercar

Max Wilson (born August 22, 1972 in Hamburg, Germany) is a racing driver of Brazilian parentage.

Racing career

Junior formulae

He started his motor racing career in 1985 in go-karts. His tenacious racing style led him to move into single-seaters in 1993, when he was offered a ride in the Brazilian Formula Ford Championship.

In 1994 he moved to the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship and finished 2nd overall, behind Felipe Giaffone.

Formula 3

Again, Wilson graduated up a level into Formula Three Sudamericana for the 1995 season. Again he finished 2nd in the championship, this time behind Ricardo Zonta.

After testing successfully for the WTS-F3-Team, owned by Michael Schumacher's personal manager Willi Weber, Max was snatched up by the BSR squad to compete at Magny-Cours for the penultimate round of the German Formula Three Championship that year. A 5th and a 6th place in double header generated further interest in the unknown youngster.

Wilson moved to Munich at the beginning of 1996 as his personal friend Mario-Alberto Bauér managed to find a seat for Max in the German Formula Three Championship. Willi Weber had sold his WTS-F3-Team to aspiring team owner Georgis Tokmakidis and Max was signed to race with Dutchman Tom Coronel as a team-mate. But the team dwindled due to persistent personnel problems. Coronel ended up never racing for the team and a variety of drivers walked in and out. After winning a pre-season non-championship the results were disappointing and led to Max, aside Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld and Arnd Meier one of the championship favorites, leaving the team after a couple of races.

Against all warnings he then decided to join the Italian Prema Power F3 Team as a team mate to André Couto from mid-season on and managed to win one championship round in wet conditions at Diepholz, despite the notoriously underpowered Fiat-engine. In those days almost every car on the grid was powered by the superior Opel Spiess engine. Restrained by the power disadvantage the initial title favourite ended up in 10th in the championship.

Formula 3000 / Formula 1 / Indycars

In 1997, Edenbridge Racing chose him to drive one of their Formula 3000 cars, alongside Werner Lupberger. He finished 5th in the championship, albeit only 19 points behind champion Ricardo Zonta after 10 rounds.

He stayed on at Edenbridge for the 1998 season, and also became a test driver for the Williams F1 team.

At the end of 1999, Wilson was offered a drive with the ailing Minardi team but a lack of financial backing saw him lose the ride at the last minute to Gastón Mazzacane, a less experienced but more financially solvent driver. But all was not lost: after an impressive stint at Williams, Wilson spent 2000 as an F1 test driver for Michelin as the tyre manufacturer prepared to re-enter Formula One competition.

Unable to secure a full-time Formula One ride for the 2001 season, Wilson returned to the United States and joined the Arciero-Blair Racing Team to contest the Champ Car World Series. In his rookie year, he posted some inspiring results against the likes of Michael Andretti, Christian Fittipaldi and Kenny Bräck.

Touring cars

At the end of 1996, he drove one race in ITC at Interlagos for Alfa Romeo, as all manufacturers had one local driver to improve interest among local spectators. He led the second race for a while, eventually finishing in 2nd.

Failing to raise a full Champ Car budget for 2002, Wilson packed his bags and headed for Australia where he joined the Ford V8 Supercars team Briggs Motor Sport. Keeping in mind he had never driven anything but an open-wheeler, the extra weight, right hand drive and sheer size of a V8 Supercar seemed a significant challenge for the young Brazilian. Wilson, however, had other ideas.

In just his second outing in a V8 Supercar, Wilson managed to snare fifth position on the grid at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. His trend for setting the pace during qualifying continued throughout the year, qualifying inside the top 15 starters in 11 of the 14 events during his debut year in the championship.

Wilson continued his impressive qualifying form with Dick Johnson Racing in 2003 where he capped off the year with his first podium finish in the championship at the final round of the year.

2004 was a tough year for Wilson when he failed to finish five of the rounds due to a variety of reasons while in a position for some solid results whilst driving for Triple 8 Racing.

A last-minute arrangement saw Wilson compete in the championship with Team Dynamik after his former Briggs Motor Sport team mate, Tony Longhurst became the entrant for one of the team's Holden Commodore VZs. During his 2005 campaign he again showed glimpses of his true potential which included a fifth place in the final race in China and a top ten finish at the Oran Park round.

For 2006, Wilson moved to the WPS Racing team however immediately prior to the 2008 season the team folded, leaving Wilson without a drive. Wilson returned to his native Brazil but did drive the Australian enduro season with Brad Jones Racing, finishing an excellent fifth with Brad Jones at the Bathurst 1000 having led the race in parts.

In 2009 he returned to racing in Brazil competing in the Stock Car Brasil winning the title in 2010.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
1995	Formula Three Sudamericana	2nd	Dallara 394 Mugen Honda Dallara 394 Opel	Amir Nasr Racing Prop Car
1995	German Formula Three Championship	19th	Dallara 395 Opel	Opel Team BSR
1996	German Formula Three Championship	10th	Dallara 395 Fiat	Tokmakidis Motorsport Prema Powerteam
1996	International Touring Car Championship	19th	Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI	JAS Engineering
1997	International Formula 3000 Championship	5th	Lola T96/50 - Zytek	Edenbridge Racing
1998	International Formula 3000 Championship	9th	Lola T96/50 - Zytek	Edenbridge Racing
1999	International Formula 3000 Championship	8th	Lola B99/50 - Zytek	Super Nova Racing
2001	CART Championship Series	25th	Lola B2K/00 - Ford Cosworth	Arciero-Blair Racing
2002	V8Supercar Championship Series	32nd	Ford AU Falcon	Briggs Motor Sport
2003	V8Supercar Championship Series	17th	Ford BA Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing
2004	V8Supercar Championship Series	28th	Ford BA Falcon	Triple Eight Race Engineering
2005	V8Supercar Championship Series	24th	Holden VZ Commodore	Team Dynamik
2006	V8Supercar Championship Series	15th	Ford BA Falcon	WPS Racing
2007	V8Supercar Championship Series	17th	Ford BF Falcon	WPS Racing
2008	V8Supercar Championship Series	33rd	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing
2009	Stock Car Brasil	9th	Chevrolet Vectra	Eurofarma RC
2010	Stock Car Brasil	1st	Chevrolet Vectra	Eurofarma RC
2011	Stock Car Brasil	4th	Chevrolet Vectra	Eurofarma RC
2012	Stock Car Brasil	6th	Chevrolet Sonic	Eurofarma RC

International Touring Car Championship results

(key)

Year	Team	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		Final Pos	Points
1996	Alfa Romeo	HOC1	HOC2	NUR1	NUR2	EST1	EST2	HEL1	HEL2	NOR1	NOR2	DIE1	DIE2	SIL1	SIL2	NUR1	NUR2	MAG1	MAG2	MUG1	MUG2	HOC1	HOC2	SAO1 9	SAO2 2	SUK1	SUK2	19th	17

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
1997	Edenbridge Racing	SIL Ret	PAU 7	HEL Ret	NÜR 5	PER 3	HOC 2	A1R 8	SPA 2	MUG 4	JER 10			5th	21
1998	Edenbridge Racing	OSC Ret	IMO Ret	CAT 6	SIL 5	MON DNPQ	PAU 2	A1R Ret	HOC Ret	HUN Ret	SPA 13	PER Ret	NÜR Ret	9th	9
1999	Den Blå Avis Petrobras Junior Team	IMO Ret	MON 3	CAT Ret	MAG Ret	SIL Ret	A1R Ret	HOC 2	HUN Ret	SPA	NÜR 3			8th	14

American open wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2001	Arciero-Brooke Racing	Lola B2K/00	Phoenix IC108F	MTY 28	LBH 21	TXS NH	NZR 17	MOT																	25th	12
	Arciero-Blair Racing		Ford XD						MIL 23	DET 23	POR 4	CLE 19	TOR 25	MIS DNS	CHI	MDO 15	ROA 25	VAN 25	LAU 18	ROC 21	HOU 16	LS 24	SRF	FON

Complete V8 Supercar results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Pos.	Points
2002	Team Betta Electrical	Ford AU Falcon	ADE DNS	PHI 25	EAS 26	HID 13	CAN 32	BAR 17	ORA 31	WIN 21	QLD Ret	BAT Ret	SUR 18	PUK 12	SAN 20			32nd	319
2003	Dick Johnson Racing	Ford BA Falcon	ADE Ret	PHI 16	EAS 16	WIN 9	BAR 18	HID 22	QLD 24	ORA Ret	SAN 19	BAT 12	SUR 13	PUK 22	EAS 3			17th	1244
2004	Team Betta Electrical	Ford BA Falcon	ADE Ret	EAS 10	PUK 16	HID 22	BAR 18	QLD 14	WIN Ret	ORA Ret	SAN Ret	BAT Ret	SUR 6	SYM 19	EAS 11			28th	865
2005	Team Dynamik	Holden VZ Commodore	ADE 21	PUK 19	BAR 21	EAS 20	SHA 17	HID 21	QLD 14	ORA 10	SAN Ret	BAT Ret	SUR 22	SYM 15	EAS 16			24th	931
2006	WPS Racing	Ford BA Falcon	ADE 8	PUK 22	BAR 23	WIN 10	HID 17	QLD 12	ORA 29	SAN 11	BAT 14	SUR 17	SYM 13	BAH 16	PHI 17			15th	2038
2007	WPS Racing	Ford BA Falcon	ADE 26	BAR 18	PUK 15	WIN 18	EAS 23	HID 13	QLD 19	ORA 13	SAN Ret	BAT 7	SUR 10	BAH 25	SYM 24	PHI 19		17th	110
2008	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VE Commodore	ADE	EAS	HAM	BAR	SAN	HID	QLD	WIN	PHI Q 7	PHI R 15	BAT 5	SUR	BAH	SYM	ORA	33rd	343

† Non Championship

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2009	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Vectra	INT Ret	CTB 5	BSB 4	SCZ 1	SAO 16	SAL 14	RIO 9	CGD 25	CTB 13	BSB 18	TAR 10	INT 3										9th	234
2010	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Vectra	INT 1	CTB 4	VEL Ret	RIO 8	RBP 5	SAL 5	INT 20	CGD Ret	LON 1	SCS 8	BSB 2	CTB 8										1st	265
2011	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Vectra	CTB 2	INT 5	RBP 2	VEL Ret	CGD 9	RIO 5	INT 3	SAL 2	SCZ 5	LON 3	BSB 16	VEL 17										4th	248
2012	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Sonic	INT 24	CTB 2	VEL 3	RBP 20	LON 9	RIO 5	SAL 9	CGD 6	TAR 7	CTB 13	BSB 1	INT 29										6th	138
2013	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Sonic	INT 6	CUR 7	TAR 13	SAL 5	BRA 13	CAS 18	RBP 2	CAS 3	VEL 6	CUR 23	BRA 7	INT 5										5th	163
2014	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Sonic	INT 1	SCZ 1	SCZ 2	BRA 1	BRA 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	GOI 1	CAS 1	CAS 2	CUR 1	CUR 2	VEL 1	VEL 2	SAL 1	SAL 2	TAR 1	TAR 2	RBP 1	RBP 2	CUR 1	NC	N/A

External links

• Orrcon Racing official website