Keith Wilson was trying to get into victory lane to watch his son celebrate but his cell phone kept ringing. "Good news travels fast," he said with a grin.
source: champcarworldseries.com Sunday's good news was that Justin Wilson had earned his initial Champ Car win for himself and RuSport Racing with a nifty move around Oriol Servia with 10 laps remaining in the annual Molson Indy Toronto. The triumph came in Justin's 20th start and surprised no one because he's been quick ever since leaving Formula One following the 2003 season. And it made the amiable 6-6 Brit even more satisfied about his career change. "Let's face it, F-1 can be pretty unpredictable and there's no guarantee you'll ever be competitive," said Wilson, who impressed everyone in his 13 races for Minardi and Jaguar in '03 but lost his ride to a paying driver. "I had been looking at Champ Car the year before I came over here and it was appealing because it seemed like a lot of teams had a good chance to be competitive. It turned out to be exactly that." Last year, driving for the under-funded but savvy Conquest/MiJack team, Wilson was always near the front and, even though his best result was a fourth, that talent impressed Carl Russo and Jeremy Dale. "It was obvious he had it and we were looking for a good teammate for A.J. (Allmendinger), somebody who could push him, and also somebody who could win," said Russo, whose team won the Formula Atlantic title in 2003 with Allmendinger before moving into Champ Car last year. "I think we accomplished that." While A.J. is outwardly demonstrative and a little more emotional, Justin never seems to get too high or too low -- regardless of the situation -- and is a measured mix of controlled aggression and polite English. "Yeah, he's got a super temperament for auto racing," said Keith Wilson. "Although if you listened to him on the radio sometimes he's not so quiet and shy." Last month it was hard for Wilson to retain his composure after his engine quit while he was comfortably leading at Portland on Lap 45. "That was a tough one because I was driving so easy and my car was so good," he recalled. "But A.J. and I felt it was only a matter of time before we won a race because this team is really talented. "And the racing is close and tough and good fun."
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