Racing career

Junior formulae

He started his motor racing career in 1985 in go-karts. His tenacious racing style led him to move into single-seaters in 1993, when he was offered a ride in the Brazilian Formula Ford Championship.

In 1994 he moved to the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship and finished 2nd overall, behind Felipe Giaffone.

Formula 3

Again, Wilson graduated up a level into Formula Three Sudamericana for the 1995 season. Again he finished 2nd in the championship, this time behind Ricardo Zonta.

After testing successfully for the WTS-F3-Team, owned by Michael Schumacher's personal manager Willi Weber, Max was snatched up by the BSR squad to compete at Magny-Cours for the penultimate round of the German Formula Three Championship that year. A 5th and a 6th place in double header generated further interest in the unknown youngster.

Wilson moved to Munich at the beginning of 1996 as his personal friend Mario-Alberto Bauér managed to find a seat for Max in the German Formula Three Championship. Willi Weber had sold his WTS-F3-Team to aspiring team owner Georgis Tokmakidis and Max was signed to race with Dutchman Tom Coronel as a team-mate. But the team dwindled due to persistent personnel problems. Coronel ended up never racing for the team and a variety of drivers walked in and out. After winning a pre-season non-championship the results were disappointing and led to Max, aside Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld and Arnd Meier one of the championship favorites, leaving the team after a couple of races.

Against all warnings he then decided to join the Italian Prema Power F3 Team as a team mate to André Couto from mid-season on and managed to win one championship round in wet conditions at Diepholz, despite the notoriously underpowered Fiat-engine. In those days almost every car on the grid was powered by the superior Opel Spiess engine. Restrained by the power disadvantage the initial title favourite ended up in 10th in the championship.

Formula 3000 / Formula 1 / Indycars

In 1997, Edenbridge Racing chose him to drive one of their Formula 3000 cars, alongside Werner Lupberger. He finished 5th in the championship, albeit only 19 points behind champion Ricardo Zonta after 10 rounds.

He stayed on at Edenbridge for the 1998 season, and also became a test driver for the Williams F1 team.

At the end of 1999, Wilson was offered a drive with the ailing Minardi team but a lack of financial backing saw him lose the ride at the last minute to Gastón Mazzacane, a less experienced but more financially solvent driver. But all was not lost: after an impressive stint at Williams, Wilson spent 2000 as an F1 test driver for Michelin as the tyre manufacturer prepared to re-enter Formula One competition.

Unable to secure a full-time Formula One ride for the 2001 season, Wilson returned to the United States and joined the Arciero-Blair Racing Team to contest the Champ Car World Series. In his rookie year, he posted some inspiring results against the likes of Michael Andretti, Christian Fittipaldi and Kenny Bräck.

Touring cars

At the end of 1996, he drove one race in ITC at Interlagos for Alfa Romeo, as all manufacturers had one local driver to improve interest among local spectators. He led the second race for a while, eventually finishing in 2nd.

Failing to raise a full Champ Car budget for 2002, Wilson packed his bags and headed for Australia where he joined the Ford V8 Supercars team Briggs Motor Sport. Keeping in mind he had never driven anything but an open-wheeler, the extra weight, right hand drive and sheer size of a V8 Supercar seemed a significant challenge for the young Brazilian. Wilson, however, had other ideas.

In just his second outing in a V8 Supercar, Wilson managed to snare fifth position on the grid at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. His trend for setting the pace during qualifying continued throughout the year, qualifying inside the top 15 starters in 11 of the 14 events during his debut year in the championship.

Wilson continued his impressive qualifying form with Dick Johnson Racing in 2003 where he capped off the year with his first podium finish in the championship at the final round of the year.

2004 was a tough year for Wilson when he failed to finish five of the rounds due to a variety of reasons while in a position for some solid results whilst driving for Triple 8 Racing.

A last-minute arrangement saw Wilson compete in the championship with Team Dynamik after his former Briggs Motor Sport team mate, Tony Longhurst became the entrant for one of the team's Holden Commodore VZs. During his 2005 campaign he again showed glimpses of his true potential which included a fifth place in the final race in China and a top ten finish at the Oran Park round.

For 2006, Wilson moved to the WPS Racing team however immediately prior to the 2008 season the team folded, leaving Wilson without a drive. Wilson returned to his native Brazil but did drive the Australian enduro season with Brad Jones Racing, finishing an excellent fifth with Brad Jones at the Bathurst 1000 having led the race in parts.

In 2009 he returned to racing in Brazil competing in the Stock Car Brasil winning the title in 2010.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
1995	Formula Three Sudamericana	2nd	Dallara 394 Mugen Honda Dallara 394 Opel	Amir Nasr Racing Prop Car
1995	German Formula Three Championship	19th	Dallara 395 Opel	Opel Team BSR
1996	German Formula Three Championship	10th	Dallara 395 Fiat	Tokmakidis Motorsport Prema Powerteam
1996	International Touring Car Championship	19th	Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI	JAS Engineering
1997	International Formula 3000 Championship	5th	Lola T96/50 - Zytek	Edenbridge Racing
1998	International Formula 3000 Championship	9th	Lola T96/50 - Zytek	Edenbridge Racing
1999	International Formula 3000 Championship	8th	Lola B99/50 - Zytek	Super Nova Racing
2001	CART Championship Series	25th	Lola B2K/00 - Ford Cosworth	Arciero-Blair Racing
2002	V8Supercar Championship Series	32nd	Ford AU Falcon	Briggs Motor Sport
2003	V8Supercar Championship Series	17th	Ford BA Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing
2004	V8Supercar Championship Series	28th	Ford BA Falcon	Triple Eight Race Engineering
2005	V8Supercar Championship Series	24th	Holden VZ Commodore	Team Dynamik
2006	V8Supercar Championship Series	15th	Ford BA Falcon	WPS Racing
2007	V8Supercar Championship Series	17th	Ford BF Falcon	WPS Racing
2008	V8Supercar Championship Series	33rd	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing
2009	Stock Car Brasil	9th	Chevrolet Vectra	Eurofarma RC
2010	Stock Car Brasil	1st	Chevrolet Vectra	Eurofarma RC
2011	Stock Car Brasil	4th	Chevrolet Vectra	Eurofarma RC
2012	Stock Car Brasil	6th	Chevrolet Sonic	Eurofarma RC

International Touring Car Championship results

(key)

Year	Team	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		Final Pos	Points
1996	Alfa Romeo	HOC1	HOC2	NUR1	NUR2	EST1	EST2	HEL1	HEL2	NOR1	NOR2	DIE1	DIE2	SIL1	SIL2	NUR1	NUR2	MAG1	MAG2	MUG1	MUG2	HOC1	HOC2	SAO1	SAO2	SUK1	SUK2	19th	17

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
1997	Edenbridge Racing	SIL	PAU	HEL	NÜR	PER	HOC	A1R	SPA	MUG	JER			5th	21
1998	Edenbridge Racing	OSC	IMO	CAT	SIL	MON	PAU	A1R	HOC	HUN	SPA	PER	NÜR	9th	9
1999	Den Blå Avis Petrobras Junior Team	IMO	MON	CAT	MAG	SIL	A1R	HOC	HUN	SPA	NÜR			8th	14

American open wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2001	Arciero-Brooke Racing	Lola B2K/00	Phoenix IC108F	MTY	LBH	TXS	NZR	MOT																	25th	12
	Arciero-Blair Racing		Ford XD						MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LS	SRF	FON

Complete V8 Supercar results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Pos.	Points
2002	Team Betta Electrical	Ford AU Falcon	ADE	PHI	EAS	HID	CAN	BAR	ORA	WIN	QLD	BAT	SUR	PUK	SAN			32nd	319
2003	Dick Johnson Racing	Ford BA Falcon	ADE	PHI	EAS	WIN	BAR	HID	QLD	ORA	SAN	BAT	SUR	PUK	EAS			17th	1244
2004	Team Betta Electrical	Ford BA Falcon	ADE	EAS	PUK	HID	BAR	QLD	WIN	ORA	SAN	BAT	SUR	SYM	EAS			28th	865
2005	Team Dynamik	Holden VZ Commodore	ADE	PUK	BAR	EAS	SHA	HID	QLD	ORA	SAN	BAT	SUR	SYM	EAS			24th	931
2006	WPS Racing	Ford BA Falcon	ADE	PUK	BAR	WIN	HID	QLD	ORA	SAN	BAT	SUR	SYM	BAH	PHI			15th	2038
2007	WPS Racing	Ford BA Falcon	ADE	BAR	PUK	WIN	EAS	HID	QLD	ORA	SAN	BAT	SUR	BAH	SYM	PHI		17th	110
2008	Brad Jones Racing	Holden VE Commodore	ADE	EAS	HAM	BAR	SAN	HID	QLD	WIN	PHI Q	PHI R	BAT	SUR	BAH	SYM	ORA	33rd	343

† Non Championship

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2009	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Vectra	INT	CTB	BSB	SCZ	SAO	SAL	RIO	CGD	CTB	BSB	TAR	INT										9th	234
2010	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Vectra	INT	CTB	VEL	RIO	RBP	SAL	INT	CGD	LON	SCS	BSB	CTB										1st	265
2011	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Vectra	CTB	INT	RBP	VEL	CGD	RIO	INT	SAL	SCZ	LON	BSB	VEL										4th	248
2012	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Sonic	INT	CTB	VEL	RBP	LON	RIO	SAL	CGD	TAR	CTB	BSB	INT										6th	138
2013	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Sonic	INT	CUR	TAR	SAL	BRA	CAS	RBP	CAS	VEL	CUR	BRA	INT										5th	163
2014	Eurofarma RC	Chevrolet Sonic	INT 1	SCZ 1	SCZ 2	BRA 1	BRA 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	GOI 1	CAS 1	CAS 2	CUR 1	CUR 2	VEL 1	VEL 2	SAL 1	SAL 2	TAR 1	TAR 2	RBP 1	RBP 2	CUR 1	NC	N/A

[ Source: Wikipedia ]