Wilson to race in Grand-Am event

UPDATE This rumor is now upgraded to 'fact.' Team owner Mike Shank announced today that Champ Car championship contender Justin Wilson has signed on to race the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Lexus-Riley in Saturday's Sunchaser 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. The affable Briton will share the driving duties with 2006 defending race winners Mark Patterson and Oswaldo Negri. The Rolex Sports Car Series event marks the second Rolex start for Wilson, who scored a strong 2nd place with Michael Shank Racing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2006 when he teamed with Patterson, Negri, and AJ Allmendinger.

Wilson arrives with Formula 1 and Champ Car experience and has shown great speed in the Daytona Prototypes; he’s also bringing a little bit of momentum with him out West, having won the most recent round of the Champ Car World Series at Zolder in the Netherlands.

“I’m really happy about the opportunity to race with this team again," said Wilson. “We had a great race together at Daytona last year and I’ve been keeping tabs on them ever since. I have never run at Miller before, but it sounds like an very interesting track. These cars are a lot of fun to race, and really, who better to team up with than the guys who won the race last year? I’m really looking forward to it."

The team is hoping to create another positive “Rolex Moment" again this weekend as the two-car squad looks to defend an excellent team performance at Miller last season, taking fifth place as well as the win with the two team Lexus-Riley entries. The performance has been selected as one of the top “Rolex Moments in Time," and fans can pledge their support at this address: http://www.grand-am.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9066
09/10/07 According to AutoRacing1.com sources, Champ Car driver Justin Wilson may race for Michael Shank Racing in the Grand-Am Season finale Sunchaser 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park this coming weekend. The Shank team won the race last year.

And in a related rumor, this SPEEDTV.com article speculates that Justin Wilson could be a candidate to fill the Andretti Green Racing seat vacated by Dario Franchitti. That we think might be a stretch.