Check Out CJ Wilson’s First Laps In A Porsche GT3 Cup Car
The southpaw pitcher is trading in his mitt for a pair of racing gloves and turns out he’s pretty damn quick
Pro baseball pitcher, racing team owner, dealership magnate, and all around good role-model, CJ Wilson has always wanted to be a racing driver, and now he's taking time away from baseball to start a full-fledged racing career with Porsche at his back. Wilson, with help from CJ Wilson Racing driver, Marc Miller, has begun testing his brand new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, the second generation developed from the 991 chassis, in Texas. Running some laps at the beaten and battered Texas World Speedway, CJ seems pretty happy with his first experience, and Marc should be a good coach.
The GT3 Cup season begins next month at Sebring in the run up to the famed 12-hour race there, and CJ needs to be ready to attack from the very first round. He's always been a very physically fit baseball player, but racing comes with a new set of challenges. Working with the machine to get the best out of a lap time is a very different discipline from being alone on the pitching mound. His initial onboard videos show themselves pretty well, and with a few weeks to go before the opening round, it's possible he can get completely up to speed with the new career, the new car, and the new life. It'll all come in time, all he's got to do is turn laps.
In a discussion with Road & Track, Wilson had this to say about his initial test:
It's great to take another step towards my goals. We had a chance to burn through two sets of tires today and I made a lot of progress. Having Marc as my coach was incredibly helpful because we have a lot of faith in each other and communicate using the same terms. Having sat in driver debriefings for the past six years with the race team I was able to take all the input logically and make progress each session.
The only odd thing about the test is that nobody else was here, which was the first time I have ever been on a track completely alone, so when we did a race simulation I had to use my imagination. TWS is a really fast and bumpy track... Looking forward to getting back in the car in ten days and pick up where I left off.
