P.S. - It's good to see Robert move into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He's certainly shown his talent in the TCR class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
Photograph Courtesy DXDT Racing
In 2018, an IndyCar crash left Robert Wickens partially paralyzed. In 2023, he won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR championship racing a Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai with Harry Gottsacker. Now, he’ll compete in five races in a Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
Wickens will race for DXDT Racing, which made its IMSA debut this year after scoring eight consecutive victories in SRO’s GT World Challenge.
“It’s a dream opportunity,” Wickens said in a press release. “Since I began racing again in the Michelin Pilot series the goal has always been to make it to WeatherTech. It’s going to be very difficult, I’m well aware of that. Frankly, I want to be a professional driver again as I was prior to my accident, and this is a massive step forward in that regard.”
[This is the unique hand-control setup Robert Wickens uses to win]
Wickens debuted a new-and-improved electronic hand control package developed in conjunction with Bosch at Indianapolis this year. It’s based on the electronic brake system used in GTP cars. The system “eliminates the delays and friction associated with the mechanical system previously used,” according to IMSA.
“The first key is Bosch,” continued Wickens. “Coming to the table with their technology and lending a hand on allowing me the chance to drive other cars. I always had ambitions to move up into the WeatherTech series but there was always a complicated discussion. It’s hard to try to sell myself and say, ‘Oh, by the way, you guys will have to engineer a brake system from scratch on top of everything else.’
“That’s where Bosch lent a hand, saying, ‘We have technology we believe can benefit you.’ It was the perfect partnership; the perfect match. It’s always going to be a little more complicated for me to drive each car than for an able-bodied driver, but (now) all we have to do is adapt a current system into a car. We don’t have to design something from nothing and then adapt it to the car.”
The Acura Grand Prix at Long Beach also holds special meaning for Wickens. He almost won there in IndyCar as a rookie.
“The racer in me would love to be competing at Daytona and Sebring,” Wickens said. “But from an emotional standpoint, [Long Beach] is almost the best debut I could make given my prior career.
“It’s a fun debut to actually share a weekend with IndyCar. On the grid walk before the IMSA race on Saturday, I’m hoping there’s some good cross pollination with IndyCar staff, friends, competitors, former teammates and colleagues offering support. It’s going to make it even sweeter.”
P.S. - It's good to see Robert move into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He's certainly shown his talent in the TCR class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
I have been following his career since Formula BMW and Atlantics. I watched some of his DTM career and was excited when he moved to ICS. Glad he was able to make a life altering event into a postive. Happy for him and will be rooting for him in IMSA.
I love when I see companies and people come together to help make something happen. DXDT is a great team full of great people and Robert feels like a perfect fit. Rooting for him and DXDT as they enter IMSA.
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