While most IndyCar drivers have taken their first laps of the season behind the wheel throughout testing, Justin Wilson is just getting the opportunity to do that recently due to healing from injuries sustained in the season finale at Auto Club Speedway.
“It was great to get back in an IndyCar, get back up to speed with everything,” Wilson commented. “My first experience with the Honda twin turbo. I was really pleased with how that performed and how that drove. Generally just working away on things, trying to get used to the new personnel. Had a lot of changes at Dale Coyne Racing. Working with Michael Cannon, my new race engineer. He’s got a lot of experience. That’s great.
“We’re just comparing notes, trying things out. Seeing what works, what didn’t for each of us. I think it was a good test. Hopefully there’s more to come tomorrow. We’ll hit the track tomorrow and try and get a bit more speed, try and be faster. ”
Except for the unfortunate incident in the season finale, Wilson had a solid 2013 season as he finished sixth in points last year. Wilson said they weren’t expecting that success last year, but now they have to build on it.
“There’s a lot of things that got to happen,” he commented. “We have to make sure we don’t make any mistakes. Trying to get the most out of the car in qualifying, trying to get the car to work over a full stint in the race, that’s just part of it.”
Wilson hopes to kick off the season strong, though also says there will be lots of work involved in learning the new personnel on the team and not making mistakes.
“It’s easy to go down a path and get trapped and lost. That’s our focus,” he added. “Hopefully we can build on that and win races. That was the one thing last year, we came close to winning a couple races. There were a few races that something happened and I thought, We should have won that one. We didn’t. Want to change that around this year and at least win one, if not multiple.”
There will be difficulty in making sure to stay focused, though, as there are going to be weekends that offer a limited amount of practice time. Wilson says he feels confident his team can make sure they’re fast off the truck due to the work they’ve put in and learning from past experiences.
“The key thing now is Michael has a lot of experience over the last two years with the teams he’s worked with. Then I’ve got my experiences. They’re quite different. Trying to pick apart which bits to go with, not make a mess of it,” Wilson commented. “It’s so easy to choose the wrong items, say, It’s obvious this car needs this front spring. It may look like it on paper, but it’s not obvious.
“The car has to work with every component to work properly. You can end up with two very different setups producing the same lap time and doing it a completely different times. You can’t say this, this and this is going to make a fast racecar. ”
Wilson’s crash last year that resulted in a back injury also has played a part going into this season as IndyCar has make changes to the driver’s compartment.
“I think it’s been positive,” Wilson commented on the results. “It should be a lot better this year. There’s still things in the pipeline they’re talking about doing. They need more data on that before they implement it. I think it’s only going to help. The key is getting the car safe and safer, the safest racecar possible.
“It takes up a little bit of room in the cockpit. It’s maybe, from what I’ve seen, eighth of an inch each side. Doesn’t sound a lot, but it actually is. This car is designed very straight-sided. There’s not a lot of elbow room. When you sit in the car, your elbows come in and almost touch your ribs. When you start bringing it in an eighth inch each side, I don’t have a lot of room left anyway. It’s made it a little bit tricky, but it’s a compromise you have to make.”
