Stefan Wilson plans to apply lessons learned from Justin for Indy 500

The Andretti Autosport team will run Wilson in a sixth entry for the 105th running of the Indy 500, which will be the second time that Michael Andretti has run the younger brother of the much-loved seven-time IndyCar race winner Justin Wilson, who died following an accident at Pocono in 2015.

Asked whether joining a team that regularly contends for the win at Indy adds extra pressure, Stefan Wilson said, “To a certain degree, yes, it does for sure.

"But it’s something I had before – ‘I don’t have many excuses here!’, you know?

“But at the same time, I think it’s just really important to keep everything in check and just focus on the things I can control.

“That’s something I’m not that good at – I’m a bit of an emotional person.

"It’s very easy to let things that you can’t control distract you.

"That’s actually something that Justin tried to teach me a lot – try to focus on the things that you control and you’ll be fine.

"He was the master at that and at staying cool, calm and collected under pressure.

“So I’m definitely trying to channel that and learn from him and put those lessons to good use this month.”

Stefan Wilson, Andretti Autosport Honda, Indianapolis 500 2018

Photo by: Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

Wilson will be joining a driver line-up that comprises two Indy 500 winners in Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi, two Indy 500 pole-winners in James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti (now only a part-time IndyCar racer), and a rising star who is already a winner in IndyCar, Colton Herta.

Despite these yardsticks against which he will be measured, Wilson sees far more upside to rejoining a team with which he’s familiar.

“It’s going to be very similar to 2018, it’s not something new,” he stated.

“I know exactly how the team operates and how we go through each day, how we work each day, and that’s really beneficial.

“The fact that we have six cars, the fact that we work collectively as one, gives us that benefit.

"If we just did our own thing and didn’t talk at the end of the days, we wouldn’t be able to cover as much ground and develop the car as much.

"So I think knowing what to expect going into the month is a nice change compared with 2018.

“And I think the idea of working with some of the same drivers that I worked with in 2018…. Hinch is a new one for me but I’ve known him since 2010 when I first came to the States – we were roommates – so I’m looking forward to working together professionally with him.

"And then the addition of Colton, who’s obviously a bit of a standout so I’m excited to work with him as well.

“The engineering side is staying relatively the same on the #25 team, so keeping that core group together is going to help me pick up where I left off and hit the ground running.”