DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For starters, Justin Wilson acknowledged, he'll be back in a Dale Coyne Racing car for the third consecutive IndyCar Series season.
Wilson, who placed sixth in the series championship in 2013, returns to racing this weekend in the Rolex 24 At Daytona three months after suffering three fractures to his pelvis in a race at Auto Club Speedway. Wilson, who won the endurance race overall title in 2012 and placed third in 2013, again is co-driving the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing car. Wilson will participate in a test Feb. 3-4 with Dale Coyne Racing at Sebring International Raceway.
"I'm looking forward to getting back in the IndyCar," he said. "I've got a new engineer this year, Michael Cannon, and Bill Pappas left at the end of last year, went to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. I'm looking forward to working with Michael, and hopefully we can gel quickly and do what we need to do, and hopefully we can win some races."
Q. How has the recovery from the injuries gone for you, and are you ready to get back in a car?
A. I can't wait. The recovery went well. I was back walking five and a half, six weeks after the accident, so I was very fortunate the way my pelvis broke, it healed fast. Didn't need any surgery. I had some good doctors, good advice.
I felt great when we tested here two weeks ago and it was good to get back in the car. I'm looking forward to getting back to competition. Hopefully it's going to be a good 24 hours for us, and nothing would please me more than repeating what happened after my injury in 2011 and winning the Daytona 24 Hours the following year. That's our plan. A lot of work to do between now and then, but we're definitely up for the fight.
Q. You haven't been in an IndyCar since Fontana and seat time is everything to racing drivers these days. How important is an event like the 24 in preparing you for the IndyCar season?
A. It's the perfect way to start out your year and get seat time when there's not a lot happening in IndyCar. The teams are just prepping, getting things ready, and you come here and get plenty of seat time, get some good racing in, and some really good competition. The thing that attracts me is nothing else is going on this time of year so you don't have to worry about you're missing something else, and you're racing against some of the best guys from all over the world, and you come here and try something different out.
It's really a test of everything: Your patience, trying to deal with the traffic, timing, getting through that traffic. There's so many things that can go wrong that stop you from winning this race, and you're just trying to not make any of those mistakes, fall down any of those traps. It's the perfect way to get up to speed, blow off the cobwebs and get ready for the new season.