Justin Wilson finished in a strong seventh position in Sunday's ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225, having endured a sometimes frenetic afternoon at the Milwaukee Mile.
Starting from 22nd after a difficult qualifying session, the #02 McDonald's car was much more competitive on race day, but the result still had to be fought for as Wilson was forced to battle his way through the field more than once.
He had gained several places at the start, but contact between Enrique Bernoldi and Oriol Servia bunched the field up and, when Servia dove from the high side of the track into the pit entrance, he crossed in front of Wilson, who had to jump on the brakes to avoid the KV Racing Technology car and lost valuable positions.
“The car was much better in the race and the team did a great job, but it was a hectic race,” the Briton said, “On the first lap, I'd passed a load of cars and I was coming out on the inside of Turn Four because there was a bit of a stack-up on the outside when Servia came from the outside, across the front of me and into the pit-lane. I had to hit the brakes and went back to last place - and I wasn't too happy about that.”
After that setback, Wilson again worked his way back through the field, and was running in a comfortable ninth place by lap 108. However, with the laps counting down to his next pit-stop, Newman Haas Lanigan team-mate Graham Rahal brought out the yellow after hitting the wall. With his fuel gauge registering almost empty, Wilson was forced to enter a closed pit, and could only take on a splash of fuel before needing an additional stop for more fuel and tyres.
“We kept battling on and I was very pleased with progress,” he said of his climb through the field, “We were inside the top ten but were due to pit, and had begun the countdown. That's when Graham had his accident and they closed the pits. We had a choice - come in on a closed pit or run out of fuel.
