Taking the next step on the comeback trail

Robert Wickens was all the time going to get again right into a racing automobile after the life-changing accidents he sustained on the wheel of an Indycar at Pocono in 2018. He by no means doubted it, and nor did these round him. So nobody must be stunned that his comeback is gathering tempo with an IMSA SportsCar Championship marketing campaign aboard a Chevrolet Corvette outfitted with the latest-generation of hand-controls developed at the side of Bosch Motorsport.

“I don’t suppose I ever didn’t take into consideration getting again right into a race automobile: for me it was by no means actually an choice to not,” says Wickens of the weeks and months after he was left paralysed because of the a number of accidents on the opening lap of the Pocono 500 in August ’18. His dedication was by no means questioned by good good friend after which team-mate James Hinchcliffe, who was additionally concerned within the accident: “I don’t suppose anybody doubted that Robbie would need to get again in a automobile — and that he would.”

The return to the wheel of racing automobile didn’t come for practically three years. There have been different priorities within the meantime, like getting married and changing into a father. However inside laps of easing himself into the cockpit of a Hyundai Velostar TCR in Might 2021, Wickens knew that he can be resuming a racing profession that encompassed an IndyCar Rookie of the 12 months title — received in ’18 regardless of lacking the ultimate three races – the 2011 Formulation Renault 3.5 crown and a stint as a Formulation 1 check driver with Marussia Virgin Racing.

“I used to be attempting to get again right into a automobile and I didn’t know the way it was going to occur,” explains Wickens, who acquired his first alternative to do exactly that courtesy of fellow IndyCar alumni Bryan Herta. “It was a wet day at Mid-Ohio; Bryan Herta invited me to a monitor day together with his TCR race staff. Lastly, I used to be going to drive a race automobile once more. Actually, I knew I nonetheless had it the second lap I drove with hand controls.”

That check led on to a full-season drive with Bryan Herta Autosport within the 2022 Michelin Pilot Problem on the invoice of the principle IMSA sequence aboard a Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Wickens took class victory in two races along with Mark Wilkins. In season two of his comeback, he received the TCR title along with Harry Gottsacker after which completed third within the factors with the identical team-mate final 12 months.

The following step for Wickens has been to maneuver up into the principle IMSA sequence with the assistance of Bosch. This 12 months he’s contesting the 5 dash rounds of the sequence, beginning at Lengthy Seaside in April with Tommy Milner as his team-mate, driving a Corvette Z06 GT3.R entered by the DXDT Racing squad within the GT Daytona class.

Bosch has stepped as much as the plate and performed an important position within the growth of a brand new system of hand controls — Wickens accelerates and modifications gear together with his left hand and brakes together with his proper. Now it incorporates brake by wire, an digital braking system (EBS). Which means, explains Bosch motorsport software program technical professional Jeff Blair, turning digital alerts on the steering wheel into brake stress on the calliper.

Wickens regards the system, initially developed on his TCR automobile from late 2023, as a breakthrough. “I acquired launched to everybody at Bosch, and one factor led to a different and we acquired the primary EBS into my Hyundai TCR automobile. On my first lap within the automobile I had a smile on my face. I had the braking that I needed to have after I launched into this journey racing with hand controls.”

It was a motivating programme during which to be concerned, and never just for Wickens. “That is undoubtedly a type of tasks the place everybody on the staff in North American and Europe was like, ‘Do you want something on this?’,” says Jordan Krell, Bosch Motorsport senior techniques engineer. “It was actually cool to see all 200 folks inside Bosch Motorsport around the globe actually excited in regards to the venture.”

“Racing is all I do know,” says Wickens, who began out racing karts when he was eight. His query within the early days after the Pocono accident was, “How will you go racing with hand controls?”. Now, his horizons are broadening alongside together with his aspirations.”

“ the place we’re proper now and what Bosch is ready to present for me,” he continues, “I really feel like it will create nearly countless alternative.”