Wickens takes the long way home
Rookie sensation from Guelph envisions ‘dream’ ride before family and friends
Canadian driver Robert Wickens is officially a rookie on the IndyCar circuit — but that’s a misnomer.
The 29-year-old from Guelph, who set the 13th-fastest time in a field of 23 during Friday’s practice for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place, was a champion just one level below Formula One in 2011and got a feel for the Toronto circuit more than a decade ago.
In 2007, after winning the Formula BMW USA championship, Wickens picked up sponsorship from Red Bull and drove in the Champ Car Toyota series at the Ex. He says the circuit is virtually the same today, although the stakes are much higher.
“It would be a dream come true,” he said in an interview about the possibility of winning Sunday’s race close to home.
Part of the challenge, he added, will be psychological.
For the first time in more than a decade, many of his old friends from Guelph — who haven’t seen him race in person because he’d been competing in Europe — will be in attendance, along with his entire family.
“The big thing is, mentally, not to try too hard,” he said. “Trying to get results because it’s Toronto and people are there to watch you can be counterproductive. Whenever you try to overachieve, you start making mistakes. Weird things will start happening. You’ll put too much pressure on yourself.
“I’m going to approach the weekend as I do all the time, and take it one session at a time. It’s been my approach my whole rookie season and I don’t see any reason to change.”
It’s been quite a rookie season for Wickens, racing for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with best friend James Hinchcliffe of Oakville as a teammate. Wickens set the IndyCar world on its ear when he won the pole for his first race at St. Petersburg, Fla. in March. He was actually winning the race late, but crashed out on the final lap. He’s had some more tough luck along the way, but still managed to crack the top five in five events: a second-place finish at Phoenix, third on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, fourth at Alabama and two fifths — at Road America in Wisconsin, and last weekend on an oval speedway in Iowa.
One thing he has to “get better at” — as he put it — is handling situations beyond his control. In Iowa, he was running third with a few laps to go when the pits opened during a caution and he ducked in for fresh tires, anticipating a restart that never came.
“I was upset about that,” he said, “but when I try to put it out of my mind, the media do a good job of putting it back in. So I have to work on things like that, to not let things fester and bother me.”
Hinchcliffe fared a bit better in Friday’s practice, 10th fastest on a day when twotime Toronto Indy winner Scott Dixon set the pace, followed by Takuma Sato and Marco Andretti. Montreal’s Zachary Claman DeMelo was 23rd. The drivers will practise again Saturday before final qualifying.
“Practice didn’t go super well for us,” said Wickens. “The Lucas Oil crew and I definitely have some work to do overnight.”
Familiarity with the Exhibition Place course should help both teammates.
“The track is unique,” Wickens said, “in the number of surface changes you go through in one lap. You go from pavement on the straights to concrete in the turns and the concrete can be smooth or bumpy. Trying to get the car to work across all the different kinds of surfaces is the challenge.
“The car is going to behave differently on asphalt than it will on concrete. They resurfaced the whole straight heading toward the first turn at the Princes’ Gates and that will be an improvement, because before when you braked going into turn one there was a big bump and it would be unsettling for the car.”
The road to Toronto has taken several turns for Wickens, whose comes from a family of modest means. When he won that title one step below F1 in 2011, he beat out drivers including Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Éric Vergne and Alexander Rossi — all of whom went on to Grand Prix racing stardom. The politics and money of Formula One being what they are, Wickens couldn’t make the move up. But Mercedes-Benz Motorsports CEO Toto Wolff, who knows talent when he sees it, snapped him up and put him in the German Touring Car Championship, where he won races every year until last fall, when Schmidt Peterson came calling.
And now, a real shot at his first IndyCar victory with family and friends looking on.
“It feels good to be here in Toronto,” Wickens said. “The fans have been great. Earlier today we had the autograph session and there were so many people from Guelph. It’s been amazing to have all the support.”