its owner, Ford, was not prepared to pour unlimited funds into F1 and advised the team to sign a pay driver. Christian Klien, a Formula Three driver funded by the drink company Red Bull, replaced Wilson. A return to Jaguar as a test driver on race weekends became unfeasible after F1's governing body – the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – retained a regulation for 2004 prohibiting drivers who had competed in six or more F1 events from participating in Friday test sessions. American open-wheel racing career Champ Car World Series (2004–2007) With the loss of employment in F1, Wilson was disenchanted with his career, and sought a drive in the U.S.-based Champ Car World Series (CCWS) over the rival Indy Racing League (IRL) due to its parity, noting: "Same cars, same engines, so working with the team with a half reasonable budget you can do a half decent job." Wilson signed with the small-budget Conquest Racing team for the 2004 season. The layout of his Lola car allowed him to lie almost flat on its floor and demonstrated a decent performance in pre-season testing. Wilson had a mixed season driving the 34 car; he took eight top-ten finishes, with a year-best of fourth at the season-ending Gran Premio Telmex/Tecate. He generally qualified higher than he finished, taking a season-high of second at the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland. Wilson finished 11th in the drivers' standings with 188 points, and was second to A. J. Allmendinger in the rookie of the year standings. After the season, Wilson declared his wish to remain in the CCWS for the 2005 season and enquired several teams about employment. Car owner Carl Russo signed him to replace Michel Jourdain Jr. at the RuSPORT team in November 2004. Wilson worked with driver coach Barry Waddell, and cautioned his rivals he was ready to win races due to further car and driver development. In the No. 9 Lola-Ford car, Wilson took three fourth-place finishes in the first three rounds before earning his first series pole position at the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland. He led the final ten laps of the Molson Indy Toronto to claim his first series victory. Wilson followed that victory with four more top-ten finishes, and ended the season with a second career win at the Gran Premio Telmex/Tecate from pole position. He amassed 265 points to finish third in