What could have been: Wilson to Le Mans
The Le Mans 24 Hours is on the bucket list for drivers the world over. But for all those who tick it off, there are many more who miss the boat. For former Williams tester Max Wilson, that ship sailed twice.
Hot property after an impressive International Touring Car Championship cameo at Interlagos in 1996, Wilson had a chance to join Porsche’s FIA GT1 and Le Mans roster for 1997, but turned down Weissach to prioritise Formula 3000.
“I didn’t take it because I wanted to go to Formula 1,” he says.
He came close too, and was set to join Minardi for 2000 when its main backer Telefonica requested an Argentinian to partner Marc Gene. Having already declined attractive F3000 options, Wilson was glad to accept when Bryan Ireland – who engineered his Edenbridge F3000 team-mate Werner Lupberger in 1997-98 – invited him to test the Ascari A410.
Klaas Zwart’s Judd V10-powered LMP900 – based on the Lola T92/10 Group C car, converted from a coupe into an open-top – certainly looked the part. “The car wasn’t too bad,” recalls Wilson. “It was fast compared to other prototypes, but the gearbox broke all the time.”
That hampered development, and prior to its planned debut in the American Le Mans Series at Silverstone, a recurrence forced its pre-race withdrawal.
While the team worked on a new unit, Wilson was entered for Le Mans alongside Zwart and Robbie Stirling, but lightning struck again at pre-qualifying. “On the very first lap, the gearbox broke,” he says.
“The Ascari team can count itself unlucky not to get in,” said Autosport, but that was little consolation. It would race at Le Mans the next year, and won an FIA Sportscar Championship round at Donington with Lupberger and Ben Collins. But Wilson had long since left for a short-lived stint in Champ Car and latterly V8 Supercars before an 11-year spell in the Brazilian Stock Car series with Eurofarma, winning the 2010 title. Today, the seven-time Bathurst 1000 starter races beside company boss Maurizio Billi in the national GT3 series and harbours no ill-feeling on Le Mans.
“I was very fortunate after [losing the Minardi drive] to keep going with my career,” he says. “I’m thankful to Klaas for the opportunity, it was great fun.”