Wilson making most of unexpected WeatherTech Championship debut

Stefan Wilson has been riding a rollercoaster of late. His plans to race with Andretti Autosport at the Indy 500 changed when he was asked by the team and the Verizon IndyCar Series to step out of the seat which would open the door for Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso to enter the race. Coming off an unrewarding Indy 500 debut in 2016, the Briton was enthused to have a better chance at finding success with Andretti, the defending race winners, but with the Alonso situation taking place, his next-best option was to defer and accept a guaranteed ride with the team in 2018.

Wilson's classy move – one that has helped IndyCar to attract a considerable amount of new attention with the inclusion of the Spaniard in the Indy 500 line-up – also required the racer to willingly forego the thing he loves most. That's where an unexpected call to join the BAR1 Motorsports PC team this weekend at Circuit of The Americas gave the 27-year-old something to look forward to until he takes another shot at Indy 500 glory.

"Bryan Delaney, who works with the BAR1 team, he was my spotter last year at Indy and was going to be my spotter again there this year until everything changed," Wilson told RACER. "He felt bad that we weren't going to be working together at Indy, so he called BAR1 team owner Brian Alder and pulled some strings to make something happen. I had a couple of sponsors step in to make it possible, and here I am making my first PC start."

Wilson is sharing the No. 26 PC with Pro-Am driver Nick Boulle, and so far, things have gone well, but the gap to the class-leading No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports PC has been hard to ignore. Expected to vie for pole, Wilson has been facing a challenge of his own by cramming his 6-foot-5 frame into a car that does not have the correct pedals to accommodate taller drivers.

"It's not ideal, but we're doing our best to work around it," he said. "I drove a PC cars a few years ago with the JDC team and it went well, so I know what I'm capable of. I think this will be just a one-race deal, but I am looking hard at how I can race in one of the other WeatherTech Championship classes. I've also enjoyed racing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series, so I'm pretty open to anything good here. I want to be in a car all the time; I'm a racecar driver, so I'm not going to be picky."

Wilson and Boulle will start second in the PC class for Saturday's Advantage Auto Parts SportsCar Showdown.