Junior formulae Wilson started his motor racing career in 1985 in go-karts. He moved 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 for the WTS-F3-Team, owned by
Michael Schumacher's personal manager
Willi Weber, Wilson was signed by the BSR squad to compete at
Magny-Cours for the penultimate round of the
German Formula Three Championship that year. He finished 5th and 6th in the double-header event. Wilson moved to
Munich at the beginning of 1996 to race in the German Formula Three Championship. Willi Weber had sold his WTS-F3-Team to aspiring team owner Georgis Tokmakidis, and Wilson was signed to race with Dutchman
Tom Coronel as a team-mate. But the team struggled with 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 team's subsequent results were disappointing and led to Wilson, one of the championship favorites, leaving the team after two races. 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 car having an underpowered Fiat engine. In those days almost every car on the grid was powered by the superior
Opel Spiess engine. Wilson finished 10th in the championship.
Sportscars Wilson was offered a drive with
Porsche to contest the
1997 FIA GT1 championship and the
Le Mans 24 Hours but turned down the offer to prioritise Formula 3000 and, ultimately, Formula 1.
Formula 3000, Formula 1 and Indycars In 1997, Edenbridge Racing chose Wilson to drive one of their
Formula 3000 cars, alongside
Werner Lupberger. He finished 5th in the championship, 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 for the
2000 season 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. He spent 2000 as an F1 test driver for
Michelin as the tyre manufacturer prepared to re-enter
Formula One competition in 2001. 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
CART FedEx Championship Series. The lone bright spots were a 4th place finish in Portland and leading laps in Cleveland.
Touring cars At the end of 1996, Wilson drove one race in the
International Touring Car Championship 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 moved to
Australia where he joined the
Ford V8 Supercars team
Briggs Motor Sport. In his second outing in a V8 Supercar, Wilson qualified fifth at the
Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. Racing for
Dick Johnson Racing in 2003, he took his first podium finish in the championship at the final round of the year. 2004 saw Wilson fail to finish five of the rounds, driving for
Triple Eight Race Engineering. In 2005, 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. His 2005 campaign 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, but immediately prior to the 2008 season the team folded, leaving Wilson without a drive. He returned to his native Brazil but did drive the Australian enduro season with
Brad Jones Racing, finishing 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==