Toronto Indy a homecoming for Wickens
TORONTO They weren’t exactly empty celebrations, but each time Robert Wickens celebrated a race win in victory lane, he did so somewhat anonymously.
Wickens, the former karting sensation out of Guelph, Ont., enjoyed immense success throughout a decade-long sojourn in Europe, capturing race victories in various series, including a Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship in 2011, as well as a half-dozen wins with Mercedes in the German-based DTM touring car series.
Wickens had his crew and he had his wins, but it always felt like something was missing.
“When I was racing in Europe, I had a lot of races that were regarded as a very important race, but for me it was just another race because I didn’t have support with me,” the 29-year-old said. “I had a lot of races where, say, in the past, Mercedes had won there the past 10 years and there was kind of some added pressure to keep that streak alive. And fortunately, I could rise to the top and get that result. I won consecutive years in a row for them. It was all a great time, but for me it was just another race because I didn’t have that hometown feel.
“I was living in Germany at the time, but Germany never felt like my home. Where I was living, we never had a race in that town, so there was never a home race.”
On Sunday, Wickens will finally get his wish. The series rookie will race in IndyCar for the first time at home — and, in his enthusiastic words, “nothing is going to relate to what Toronto is going to feel like.”
His Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate, eight-year IndyCar veteran James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont., has overcome many obstacles on his racing journey — namely coming back from a nearfatal collision at the Indianapolis 500 in 2015.
Meanwhile, Wickens has taken his own long road to get to IndyCar. Having earlier in his career been passed over in Formula One, Wickens packed his belongings and bided his time in Europe before an opportunity finally came to fruition this past fall that saw him join SPM, thanks to some heavy recruiting help from Hinchcliffe, his childhood friend.
With that, dreams are about to come true.
“All year, the whole winter when I signed to come to IndyCar, there were three races that I was really looking forward to. The first one was (the season-opening race in) St. Petersburg, just because it was going to be my first ever IndyCar race. The next one was the Indy 500, because, well, to be frank, it’s the friggin’ Indy 500. Pretty selfexplanatory,” Wickens said. “And the next one, it’s racing in Toronto. I was born in Etobicoke, lived in Guelph my entire life. It’s just going to be special.”
It won’t be Wickens’ first time on the Toronto street course. Aside from regularly attending the event as a youngster, he raced along the lakeshore in 2007 with the Champ Car Atlantic series. “But you know, you don’t really get that same vibe,” Wickens said of that lower-series race, adding, “I’ve been racing in Europe for so long that, for a lot of friends and family this is going to be their first opportunity to see me work, to see me race.”
Does Wickens, who enters the weekend sixth in the overall driver standings with five top-fives and a season-opening pole win at St. Petersburg, Fla., feel he has what it takes to capture his first IndyCar win in what he called a “bucketlist” race?
“We’ve been fast at every race this year. As long as everything goes smoothly, Toronto isn’t going to be anything different,” he said.