Max Wilson
Max Wilson is a racing driver of Brazilian parentage.
Racing career
Junior formulae
Wilson started his motor racing career in 1985 in go-karts. He moved 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 for the WTS-F3-Team, owned by Michael Schumacher's personal manager Willi Weber, Wilson was signed by the BSR squad to compete at Magny-Cours for the penultimate round of the German Formula Three Championship that year. He finished 5th and 6th in the double-header event.Wilson moved to Munich at the beginning of 1996 to race in the German Formula Three Championship. Willi Weber had sold his WTS-F3-Team to aspiring team owner Georgis Tokmakidis, and Wilson was signed to race with Dutchman Tom Coronel as a team-mate. But the team struggled with 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 team's subsequent results were disappointing and led to Wilson, one of the championship favorites, leaving the team after two races. 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 car having an underpowered Fiat engine. In those days almost every car on the grid was powered by the superior Opel Spiess engine. Wilson finished 10th in the championship.
Formula 3000, Formula 1 and Indycars
In 1997, Edenbridge Racing chose him to drive one of their Formula 3000 cars, alongside Werner Lupberger. He finished 5th in the championship, 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. He 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.Touring cars
At the end of 1996, he drove one race in the International Touring Car Championship 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 moved to Australia where he joined the Ford V8 Supercars team Briggs Motor Sport. In his second outing in a V8 Supercar, Wilson qualified fifth at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. Racing for Dick Johnson Racing in 2003, he took his first podium finish in the championship at the final round of the year.2004 saw Wilson fail to finish five of the rounds, driving for Triple 8 Racing. In 2005, 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. His 2005 campaign 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, but immediately prior to the 2008 season the team folded, leaving Wilson without a drive. He returned to his native Brazil but did drive the Australian enduro season with Brad Jones Racing, finishing 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
Complete International Formula 3000 results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pts | |
| 1997 | Edenbridge Racing | Lola T96/50 | Zytek-Judd | 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 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek-Judd | OSC 17† | IMO Ret | CAT 6 | SIL 5 | MON DNPQ | PAU 2 | A1R Ret | HOC Ret | HUN Ret | SPA 13 | PER Ret | NÜR 23† | 9th | 9 |
| 1999 | Petrobras Junior Team | Lola T99/50 | Zytek | IMO Ret | MON 3 | CAT DSQ | MAG Ret | SIL Ret | A1R Ret | HOC 2 | HUN Ret | SPA | NÜR 3 | 8th | 14 |
American open wheel racing results
FedEx Championship Series
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pts | |
| 2001 | Arciero-Brooke Racing | Lola B2K/00 | Phoenix IC108F | MTY 28 | LBH 21 | NAZ 17 | MOT | 25th | 12 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Arciero-Blair Racing | Lola B2K/00 | Ford XD | MIL 23 | DET 23 | POR 4 | CLE 19 | TOR 25 | MCH | CHI | MDO 15 | ROA 25 | VAN 25 | LAU 18 | ROC 21 | HOU 16 | LAG 24 | SRF | FON | 25th | 12 |
V8 Supercar Championship 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 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | Pts | |
| 2002 | Briggs Motor Sport | Ford AU Falcon | ADE R1 Ret | ADE R2 Ret | PHI R3 18 | PHI R4 Ret | EAS R5 21 | EAS R6 27 | EAS R7 19 | HDV R8 18 | HDV R9 22 | HDV R10 14 | CAN R11 Ret | CAN R12 17 | CAN R13 Ret | BAR R14 12 | BAR R15 15 | BAR R16 19 | ORA R17 24 | ORA R18 Ret | WIN R19 18 | WIN R20 29 | QLD R21 Ret | BAT R22 Ret | SUR R23 8 | SUR R24 Ret | PUK R25 11 | PUK R26 16 | PUK R27 9 | SAN R28 14 | SAN R29 23 | 32nd | 319 | |||||||||
| 2003 | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford BA Falcon | ADE R1 26 | ADE R1 Ret | PHI R3 16 | EAS R4 16 | WIN R5 9 | BAR R6 24 | BAR R7 17 | BAR R8 13 | HDV R9 Ret | HDV R10 20 | HDV R11 16 | QLD R12 24 | ORA R13 Ret | SAN R14 19 | BAT R15 12 | SUR R16 9 | SUR R17 23 | PUK R18 18 | PUK R19 24 | PUK R20 19 | EAS R21 5 | EAS R22 3 | 17th | 1214 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford BA Falcon | ADE R1 Ret | ADE R2 Ret | EAS R3 10 | PUK R4 5 | PUK R5 28 | PUK R6 17 | HDV R7 10 | HDV R8 Ret | HDV R9 22 | BAR R10 16 | BAR R11 23 | BAR R12 17 | QLD R13 14 | WIN R14 Ret | ORA R15 Ret | ORA R16 Ret | SAN R17 Ret | BAT R18 Ret | SUR R19 8 | SUR R20 5 | SYM R21 26 | SYM R22 15 | SYM R23 15 | EAS R24 22 | EAS R25 8 | EAS R26 11 | 28th | 865 | ||||||||||||
| 2005 | Team Dynamik | Holden VZ Commodore | ADE R1 Ret | ADE R2 7 | PUK R3 15 | PUK R4 15 | PUK R5 Ret | BAR R6 31 | BAR R7 18 | BAR R8 Ret | EAS R9 26 | EAS R10 16 | SHA R11 Ret | SHA R12 14 | SHA R13 5 | HDV R14 16 | HDV R15 33 | HDV R16 13 | QLD R17 14 | ORA R18 13 | ORA R19 10 | SAN R20 DNS | BAT R21 Ret | SUR R22 26 | SUR R23 25 | SUR R24 14 | SYM R25 16 | SYM R26 14 | SYM R27 15 | PHI R28 20 | PHI R29 21 | PHI R30 12 | 24th | 931 | ||||||||
| 2006 | WPS Racing | Ford BA Falcon | ADE R1 16 | ADE R2 8 | PUK R3 6 | PUK R4 Ret | PUK R5 Ret | BAR R6 8 | BAR R7 19 | BAR R8 Ret | WIN R9 17 | WIN R10 6 | WIN R11 13 | HDV R12 11 | HDV R13 Ret | HDV R14 16 | QLD R15 10 | QLD R16 Ret | QLD R17 11 | ORA R18 11 | ORA R19 25 | ORA R20 Ret | SAN R21 11 | BAT R22 14 | SUR R23 28 | SUR R24 13 | SUR R25 13 | SYM R26 15 | SYM R27 15 | SYM R28 14 | BHR R29 16 | BHR R30 12 | BHR R31 24 | PHI R32 20 | PHI R33 16 | PHI R34 16 | 15th | 2038 | ||||
| 2007 | WPS Racing | Ford BF Falcon | ADE R1 17 | ADE R2 Ret | BAR R3 23 | BAR R4 18 | BAR R5 13 | PUK R6 16 | PUK R7 12 | PUK R8 14 | WIN R9 9 | WIN R10 Ret | WIN R11 Ret | EAS R12 19 | EAS R13 23 | EAS R14 21 | HDV R15 8 | HDV R16 14 | HDV R17 16 | QLD R18 15 | QLD R19 14 | QLD R20 Ret | ORA R21 16 | ORA R22 11 | ORA R23 9 | SAN R24 Ret | BAT R25 7 | SUR R26 13 | SUR R27 9 | SUR R28 10 | BHR R29 23 | BHR R30 26 | BHR R31 20 | SYM R32 26 | SYM R33 17 | SYM R34 19 | PHI R35 19 | PHI R36 24 | PHI R37 15 | 17th | 110 | |
| 2008 | Brad Jones Racing | Holden VE Commodore | ADE R1 | ADE R2 | EAS R3 | EAS R4 | EAS R5 | HAM R6 | HAM R7 | HAM R8 | BAR R29 | BAR R10 | BAR R11 | SAN R12 | SAN R13 | SAN R14 | HDV R15 | HDV R16 | HDV R17 | QLD R18 | QLD R19 | QLD R20 | WIN R21 | WIN R22 | WIN R23 | PHI Q 7 | PHI R24 15 | BAT R25 5 | SUR R26 | SUR R27 | SUR R28 | BHR R29 | BHR R30 | BHR R31 | SYM R32 | SYM R33 | SYM R34 | ORA R35 | ORA R36 | ORA R37 | 33rd | 343 |