The story of how Robert Wickens emerged from a devastating IndyCar accident in 2018 to successfully race as a paraplegic \u2013 this year driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R fitted with hand controls and electronic braking developed by Bosch in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship \u2013 has been well documented.<\/p>\n
The Canadian racer is gratified by the support and encouragement he has received online from fans, and one of the greatest moments of his comeback came in 2022 when he and Mark Wilkins teamed to win the Touring Car (TCR) class of IMSA\u2019s Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in a Hyundai Elantra N TCR.<\/p>\n
As a teenager when he dreamed of being a top-level car racer, Wickens spent thousands of hours pounding around the professional karting track of the motorsports complex that was then known as Mosport. So, when Wickens\u2019 2025 program in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class of the WeatherTech Championship in a DXDT Racing Corvette was confirmed earlier this year, he immediately knew he wanted to do something special for his home crowd.<\/p>\n
Working with CTMP and the promoters of the Chevrolet Grand Prix, the 2023 Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR class co-champion created a $120 (U.S.) fan package that included a three-day general admission ticket, a swag bag featuring a T-shirt, can koozie, poster and other goodies, a meet-and greet for photos and a Q&A session with Wickens, co-driver Alec Udell, and DXDT Racing Program Manager Bryan Sellers, and a reserved viewing area in Turn 2 \u2013 the very place where Wickens would watch cars on the big track when he was a kid racing karts. Fans who had already purchased race tickets could join in for $50.<\/p>\n
Split into groups on Saturday and Sunday, about 50 fans took advantage of the package, which offered tremendous value.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was once one of those kids running around the paddock collecting every free thing I could find,\u201d Wickens said. \u201cHonestly, I just wanted to try to give people an experience they might not have ever had. IMSA does such an amazing job of full inclusion; as a fan, a general admission ticket can get you on the grid or close to the cars in the garage. I think that\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for me, it\u2019s just giving back,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s not every day you get to have a home race at the highest level of any motorsports category.\u201d<\/p>\n
The viewing area outside Corner 2 was especially meaningful to Wickens.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a kid growing up, when I wasn\u2019t in the kart, I would often ride my bike over to the \u2018car\u2019 track and watch whatever was racing,\u201d he recalled. \u201cSometimes it was an ALMS (American Le Mans Series) weekend, other times it was a regional Formula Ford race or a vintage race or whatever\u2026I would always go to the outside of Turn 2. I thought it was just the coolest place to watch from. To set up a fan experience and a viewing area so they can enjoy and love the track the way I did is just a really cool deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wickens rewarded his fans with an outstanding performance at his home track. After coming to grips with the car in the first Friday practice session, Wickens qualified the No. 36 Corvette third in the GTD class. He and Udell then teamed up to bring the DXDT entry home fourth in the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis place is a big wake-up call in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R compared to what I\u2019ve driven in the past at CTMP,\u201d Wickens stated. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really steep learning curve and the last time I was in the car was early May at Laguna Seca, so I feel like I had to shake the rust off a little and get back into the swing of things. We made a big step overnight between practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, a pretty good race for us,\u201d he continued. \u201cGutted we didn\u2019t make it on the podium, but I thought as a team we executed a near flawless race. To come away with a top-five finish, first one of the year for me in the WeatherTech Championship and my first with Corvette, I think we can hold our heads high.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the fan interaction was the highlight of Wickens\u2019 homecoming weekend. Seeing fans in person who have been such keen and passionate supporters online meant the world to the popular racer. He was delighted to show them the real side of racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith social media, there is always that layer of separation,\u201d he observed. \u201cEveryone portrays their best life online, right? Here you see the nitty-gritty, you see the emotions. You see everyone working hard, you see the sweat and the effort. It\u2019s not a beautifully cut and edited montage video of a day\u2019s work; it\u2019s the real-world stuff. Sometimes it\u2019s boring, sometimes it\u2019s exciting, and that\u2019s motorsport, right? You might get a tour while the mechanics are having lunch. That\u2019s the human side of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opportunity to meet Wickens and get an up-close look into the machinations of a top sports car team certainly resonated with the fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to meet Robert and see behind-the-scenes with the DXDT team was incredible,\u201d said racing enthusiast Jesse Grey. \u201cIt made the weekend really special to me as a diehard motorsports fan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe awesome fan experience was much more than we expected,\u201d added Peter Nodwell after being part of the Saturday group who met Wickens and the team. \u201cRobert\u2019s backstory was great for those not familiar with his career so far. We will proudly be flying Robert\u2019s colors tomorrow!\u201d<\/p>\n
Hosting a group of fans for the first time was also extremely positive for Wickens himself \u2013 so much that he\u2019s not waiting for next year\u2019s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He\u2019s going to offer a similar opportunity for fans attending the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America, August 1-3. Details will be available shortly at www.robertwickens.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to all the fans who came out and supported us over the weekend,\u201d Wickens said. \u201cThey braved the weather, and we ended up getting a perfect sunny day in the end. It\u2019s just been a really cool experience, and hopefully next year we can ramp it up even further. This first one was just kind of dipping my toes in to see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
IMSA Wire Service PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The story of how Robert Wickens emerged from a devastating IndyCar accident in 2018 to successfully race as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6162,12440,9649,5169,1833,1406,6141,6180,51092,6166,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-73033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-chevrolet","9":"tag-daytona","10":"tag-ford","11":"tag-group","12":"tag-motorsports","13":"tag-nascar","14":"tag-park","15":"tag-racing","16":"tag-road-america","17":"tag-series","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114875066262208696","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}