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Justin Wilson Q&A

Despite winning the 2001 Formula 3000 championship, Justin Wilson found making the next step in his single-seater blocked, not least because of his greater than average height. With no options in Formula 1, the Englishman eventually opted for a move to the Dallara Nissan World Series. The series attracted a strong field, but the season didn't go to plan for Justin, as his Racing Engineering team took its time to get up to speed with his and the car's demands. However, at Valencia on the weekend the pieces all fell into place, and after taking third in the sprint race, Justin fended off a constant attack from new champion Ricardo Zonta to take his first win of the year in the feature. Andrew Van de Burgt caught up with him after the race:



"It's a relief really, but it's nice to finally get back to the top. There was a lot of pressure in that race. Not just from Ricardo but from within me, because it had been such a long time. It makes it harder when you haven't won for so long. It's nice to get that one out the way and think more positively about the future now."



"I thought it would be easier once he was out of the mirrors, but it wasn't. It was actually harder. I was thinking 'how quickly is he going to be going when he comes out of the pits?', 'what's his car going to be like on those tyres?'. But you can think about that too much and I just had to concentrate on what I was doing myself."



"My team did a great job. I think we did the quickest pit stop. I had to push all the way after coming out after the stop and I actually made a small mistake about four laps from the end at the first corner and that cost me three or four tenths. I think that revived Ricardo and he seemed to get a second wind and it was a real battle to the end."



"I'm not sure it really justifies it because I've not had a very good season. But I'm pleased for Racing Engineering - the guys have all worked very hard. It's a new team, we're not like Gabord, who have just switched categories, so it's taken a while for it all to gel. David Floury my engineer only started half way through the season and he really turned this around. So this result is a credit to the team, they have kept pushing hard."



"Nothing! It's Ricardo's home town, but that's about all I know. I've seen a picture so we'll see when we get there."



"It will help a bit. But the set-up of these cars is completely different, so the only benefit will be in terms of track knowledge. But with the amount of time we'll get to test that might not be an issue. We get two hours on Friday and then two half-hour qualifying sessions, so there's plenty of track time."



"I don't know at the moment. I'd like to go to America, I'd like to go to Formula 1. Whatever happens, happens really. I think both are good options and trying to choose between them is not so easy. There's a lot of talk going on at the moment about CART and people saying it's on its way out, but I still feel there's a lot of enthusiasm and I reckon that it's at the bottom of its lull. There's been a lot of negative talk, but I believe next year it will be strong, especially as everybody will be using the same engines. There are a lot of teams talking about going to CART, but these words just need to be put into action. I'm a little bit concerned with what's going on with Formula 1 at the moment. I can't believe that there are keep that are trying for force Minardi out for the sake of what is to them peanuts. It's disgraceful."

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