Tall Englishman making comeback from last year



At 6-foot-5, Justin Wilson was 12th-fastest in Friday's opening tests.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- In a sport where the ideal body is a tiny one, Justin Wilson's is closer to that of a small forward in basketball.
At 6-feet-5, Wilson has learned to wedge himself into the tight confines of an open-wheel race car cockpit well enough to score a ride last year in Formula One. But his season at perennial underdog Minardi and then troubled Jaguar produced just one point in the standings and no seat for this year.
However, the 26-year-old Englishman has been doing well with Eric Batchelart's Champ Car team, and is 10th in standings. Wilson was 12th-fastest in Friday's opening qualifying session for Sunday's Molson Indy Vancouver with a time of 1 minute, 2.427 seconds -- almost two seconds off Paul Tracy's provisional pole.
Final qualifying is today.
Competitive
Batchelart, co-owner of Mi-Jack Conquest Racing, says Wilson has helped make the sophomore team competitive with top contenders such as Tracy's Forsythe Racing and the series-leading Newman/Haas car of Sebastien Bourdais.
"We are probably doing a bit better than we thought we would at this time of the year," said Batchelart, a former CART series driver. "When you're fighting with the two best teams in Champ Car, Newman/Haas and Forsythe, I think it's a pretty good situation."
Wilson has made a comfortable transition from the highly developed F1 cars to heavier turbo-boosted Champ Cars.
"It's quite a good, fun car to drive," he said. "It's nice to be on the slick tires because you can feel what the car's doing and I really enjoy it so far."
The only letdown has been some of what Wilson says is unnecessary bumping.
"It's a little bit disappointing but that's what happens," he said.
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