Wickens turns corner close to home
Canadian hits podium one year after cheering Hinchcliffe’s finish
Canadian IndyCar driver Robert Wickens can now say he’s been at both ends of the spectrum at the Honda Indy Toronto.
The third-place finisher in Sunday’s exciting 85-lap race recalled the 2017 edition, where he was a spectator and rushed to the podium to watch fellow Canadian James Hinchcliffe celebrate his third-place finish.
This time, Wickens popped out of his car, stripped off his helmet and waved with both hands to race fans who packed the stands at Exhibition Place.
And it was Hinchcliffe, the fourth-place finisher Sunday, who rushed over to give Wickens a congratulatory hug.
“To be honest, no, I never thought (in 2017) that I’d be standing up here now (as a third-place finisher), but life’s a crazy thing and I’d like to think this is a perfect example of that,” said a gracious Wickens, who was racing in the German Touring Car series this time last year.
Wickens and Hinchcliffe, now teammates with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, finished off a tremendous race with topfour finishes by beating the heat and slippery track conditions.
“A top-five finish is tremendous, given everything we fought through this weekend,” Hinchcliffe said. “To be honest, we were pretty average all weekend, so to come away (with fourth place) was impressive.”
Hinchcliffe started fifth on the grid, but sat ninth after a wild opening lap. After that, almost every car in the 23-car field came in contact with another driver or one of the retaining walls — or shot forward or backward on restarts after yellow flags. Hinchcliffe, whose car’s performance was compromised after one incident, used his driving smarts and acumen to almost reach the podium.
Wickens, in similar straits, vaulted into the top three when 2017 winner Josef Newgarden banged the wall out of turn 11, apparently sliding off line because of rubber on the track.
Wickens had an early battle with second-place finisher Simon Pagenaud, in which Wickens attempted an outside move in turn three at the end of the long Lakeshore Blvd. straightaway. The two went tire to tire into the turn, when Pagenaud appeared to veer to his left to run Wickens into the wall. No harm was done, and later both called it good, hard racing — although Wickens drew laughter at the post-race media gathering by noting: “I think (we didn’t have harsher words) because we both made it through … if one of us didn’t finish the race because of that, there would be different feelings.”
The third-place finish was a treat for dozens of family and friends on hand to see Wickens from his hometown of Guelph. They saw him drive a sound race, including moments near the end where he had to balance caution against the desire to chase down the leaders.
“I tried to get past Simon there (in turn three) and he was on cold tires,” Wickens said. “When it didn’t work, I was looking at a (third-place finish). Then as the race went on, I saw we were both catching up to (winner Scott Dixon) and I said to myself: Let’s go for more.
“Then there were crashes and I backed it down … so over the last 20 laps, I got into a comfy zone, but I also saw openings to go for more. I’ve never been through that before.”
Ultimately, Hinchcliffe and Wickens — as well as Montreal driver Zachary Claman DeMelo, who finished 14th — were credited with sparking interest that led to what appeared to be the biggest Honda Indy crowd in more than a decade.
“I think I’d take a home race every race,” Wickens said. “Scott (Dixon) said it, Simon (Pagenaud) said it: Toronto fans are the best (in IndyCar). That makes you want to wake up tomorrow and get to the gym to try and get better and improve your position.”