Is Robert Wickens Ever Going to Race Again
- It has taken him nearly 3 ½ years, but Robert Wickens will return to racing on January 28, when he competes in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (IMPC) season opener at Daytona.
- When he's behind the wheel, Wickens will pilot his No. 33 Hyundai Elantra N TCR race car with hand controls attached to a secondary steering wheel
- The driver says that he's likely to be a (wheel) chair for the remainder of his life "as long as modern medicine and science stays where it is."
Shortly after a horrific and near-fatal IndyCar crash that left him paralyzed from the chest down in August 2018, Robert Wickens vowed he would be back racing one day.
It has taken him nearly 3 ½ years, but Wickens will live up to his word on January 28, when he competes in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (IMPC) season opener, the four-hour BMW Endurance Challenge race during the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona race weekend.
"Today is a monumental day for us as a team and as fans of Robert Wickens," Bryan Herta, president of Brian Herta Autosport (BHA), said in a statement. "We have followed along with Robert's rehabilitation and marveled at his determination and dedication, along with his many, many fans.
"To now announce that he will be making his professional motorsports return in one of our Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars is truly incredible. We thank Hyundai for their amazing support and helping us build a path for Robert to get back to where he belongs."
Wickens will team in the entire IMPC season with fellow Canadian driver and 2022 IMPC champion Mark Wilkins, making it essentially a Wickens-Wilkins show, so to speak.
"I really wanted to make sure in my life where I am right now that it's something I wanted to do," Wickens said of returning to racing during a Friday teleconference. "It didn't take a whole lot of consideration, but the big thing was putting the pieces together, like a budget to go racing competitively.
"To get all those pieces together, it took some time, but with a lot of hard work and a lot of committed people, we got me to where we needed to be."
When he's behind the wheel, Wickens will pilot his No. 33 Hyundai Elantra N TCR racecar with hand controls attached to a secondary steering wheel that underlays the primary wheel, and which essentially does everything that normal foot controls do, most notably braking (he controls his speed with paddle shifters on the steering wheel).
When it comes time for Wickens to exit and turn over the car to his teammate, he'll be helped out by crew members.
"We did a mock driver change to get me out of the car, to see what we're dealing with, and I got out in six seconds," Wickens said. "So I'm pretty confident we can continue to work to get that time down. I'm not worried about getting in or out of the car in any way at all."
There apparently is not a time restriction on how quickly a driver must exit a car on a pit stop. The IMSA rule book states: "The driver must be able to exit the car through both the driver's side and passenger's side in an emergency to the satisfaction of IMSA."
Wickens anticipates he'll drive between a minimum of 40 minutes in the four-hour race, up to a maximum of 3 hours, 20 minutes, also according to the IMSA rule book.
Once Wilkins replaces Wickens in the car, the former will quickly deactivate the push buttons on the custom-made underlapping steering wheel that houses the hand controls for Wickens—bringing the car back to normal pedal control for Wilkins.
BHA is a three-time IMSA IMPC championship-winning organization and has worked with Wickens for the last 18 months, including this past May at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, when Wickens tested a Hyundai Veloster N TCR using hand controls, nearly 1,000 days after his near-fatal crash at Pocono Raceway on August 19, 2018.
Wickens has been nothing short of miraculous in his recovery, including fulfilling a vow to stand and dance at his wedding to Karli Woods on September 30, 2019, just over a year after his crash.
Racing on January 28 will be yet another milestone in Wickens' recovery. He will start the four-hour endurance race before yielding to Wilkins.
"I've spent a lot of nights thinking and dreaming of this moment, and with the support from Bryan Herta and Hyundai, it is all becoming a reality," Wickens said. "I am hungrier now than I was before my accident to compete for wins again."
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After serving as a Formula One test driver, Wickens roared onto the IndyCar scene in 2022 and immediately proved a force to be reckoned with:
• He led from the pole for all but the final two laps in the season-opening race at St. Petersburg before being involved in a late-race wreck that knocked him out of contention for the win (finished 18th).
• He earned four podium finishes in 14 starts before his wreck, including runner-up finishes at Phoenix (the race following St. Pete) and Mid-Ohio, as well as third-place finishes in races in his native Toronto and the Indianapolis Grand Prix.
• Was named Rookie of the Year in that season's 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500, finishing an impressive ninth.
But all of the accolades—as well as expectations of multiple wins to come—ended with a terrifying wreck on Lap 7 of the Pocono race, one of the most brutal IndyCar wrecks in recent memory.
Wickens suffered a thoracic spinal fracture, spinal cord injury, neck fracture, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs, fractures in both hands, a fractured right forearm, fractured elbow, a concussion, four fractured ribs and a pulmonary contusion.
He has been in near-constant physical therapy since then, with a perseverance and persistence that has allowed him to achieve numerous breakthroughs and milestones in his recovery.
Wickens will race the first time at next weekend's Roar Before the 24, essentially a prelude one week before the IMPC event, an undercard event for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway.
Wickens said he's at the point where he's accepted his fate for the remainder of his life.
"Honestly, what you see is what you get," Wickens said. "I'm at the point where my recovery has more or less plateaued in terms of neuro recover. I haven't regained any more muscle function, so unfortunately, it looks like I'll be in a (wheel) chair for the remainder of my life as long as modern medicine and science stays where it is.
"It's a great life, I have been able to regain a lot of function. I can stand and make a few steps with some support, but in terms of leaving the chair permanently, I don't believe that's in my pipeline right now."
And while he remains an advisor to the Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar team, returning to race in IndyCar is looking less likely for Wickens, at least at the present time.
"I was hoping they'd go to a brake by wire concept, especially with the hybrid elements they're including (in the 2023 new car)," Wickens said. "To my knowledge, I don't believe they've done so, so we're stuck in the same circle that we were in originally.
"I think anything is possible with the right time, money and resources. It's a big ask, a colossal ask, but I'm honestly at the point of my life where if I never return to IndyCar, I'm very satisfied with that and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity I have with Hyundai and Bryan Herta Autosport, to really get back behind the wheel and feel that hunger I've had for so many years, watching from the sidelines.
"If things in the future arise, we'll address them as they come. But for the time being, I don't see IndyCar as a feasible option for my return. … It would take (the building of) almost a one-off Indy car, which I don't know if other teams would agree to."
Wickens returns to the driver's seat during practice sessions in next week's Roar Before the 24 at Daytona International Speedway. He's more than ready to get his motor running and get back to chasing race wins and championships.
"My past track record in the past speaks for itself, but I feel like I'm embarking on a brand new chapter of my story," Wickens said. "I expect I haven't forgotten how to drive, but I think until we're green flag and racing wheel-to-wheel, we're going to see what we've got."
Wickens summed up his goals quite succinctly:
"Aim big, right? Let's go for the win. The goal is simple: to try and win this thing. I feel I was forced to leave in 2022 almost at the peak of my career, felt great, never felt fitter or stronger, felt like I was driving the best I've ever driven. I want to hit the ground running, I want to continue where I left off and at least challenge for the victory or podium, if anything."
Follow Autoweek contributor Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
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