Stefan Wilson realised a dream to race in the Indianapolis 500, but the KV Racing Technology driver was unable to see the chequered flag, with mechanical issues curtailing his day early at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The British racer was honouring his late brother Justin Wilson throughout the Month of May, and had made a good start to move from thirtieth to twenty-fourth, but was disappointed to suffer a fuel leak and a subsequent electrical fire that ultimately caused his retirement from the 100th running of the Indy 500.
Wilson felt it was a good month at Indianapolis, a place he now calls home with wife Katie, and believes that he learned a lot should he get the opportunity to return to the legendary race again in the future.
“[It was] disappointing to not be able to bring home the No. 25 Driven2SaveLives car and make it to the finish,” reflected Wilson. “Unfortunately, a fuel leak started happening maybe on the 100th lap caused an electrical fire and disabled the gearbox so when we went on that final restart during lap 104, it wouldn’t shift out of third gear.
“We tried to solve the issue and took the car back to the garage, came back out and the issue persisted so we had to call it a day.
“The No. 25 Driven2SaveLives Chevy was handling really well and we made a great start going 30th to 24th on the first lap and really felt that the car was getting going and I felt like we had some more speed in there that we just had to make adjustments on the pit stop and I think we would’ve been in really good shape.
“We could’ve brought home a top 15 finish today but you know, that’s racing – there’s always mishaps and unfortunately that’s what happened today.
“Overall, it was a good month, we ran a lot of laps and I’ve learned a lot
about running an IndyCar here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I think that’s going to help me in future years if I’m able to come back here and race again.
“I know now what I want to achieve from the car handling and I think if I do come back next year, I’m already so far developed from where I started just under two weeks ago. It seems as though a lot of time has passed but it’s crazy to think it has only been two weeks.”
