Taking the next step on the comeback trail

Robert Wickens was always going to get back into a racing car after the life-changing injuries he sustained at the wheel of an Indycar at Pocono in 2018. He never doubted it, and nor did those around him. So no one should be surprised that his comeback is gathering pace with an IMSA SportsCar Championship campaign aboard a Chevrolet Corvette equipped with the latest-generation of hand-controls developed in conjunction with Bosch Motorsport.

“I don’t think I ever didn’t think about getting back into a race car: for me it was never really an option not to,” says Wickens of the weeks and months after he was left paralysed as a result of the multiple injuries on the opening lap of the Pocono 500 in August ’18. His determination was never questioned by good friend and then team-mate James Hinchcliffe, who was also involved in the accident: “I don’t think anyone doubted that Robbie would want to get back in a car — and that he would.”

The return to the wheel of racing car didn’t come for nearly three years. There were other priorities in the meantime, like getting married and becoming a father. But within laps of easing himself into the cockpit of a Hyundai Velostar TCR in May 2021, Wickens knew that he would be resuming a racing career that encompassed an IndyCar Rookie of the Year title — won in ’18 despite missing the final three races – the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 crown and a stint as a Formula 1 test driver with Marussia Virgin Racing.

“I was trying to get back into a car and I didn’t know how it was going to happen,” explains Wickens, who got his first opportunity to do just that courtesy of fellow IndyCar alumni Bryan Herta. “It was a rainy day at Mid-Ohio; Bryan Herta invited me to a track day with his TCR race team. Finally, I was going to drive a race car again. Honestly, I knew I still had it the second lap I drove with hand controls.”

That test led on to a full-season drive with Bryan Herta Autosport in the 2022 Michelin Pilot Challenge on the bill of the main IMSA series aboard a Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Wickens took class victory in two races together with Mark Wilkins. In season two of his comeback, he won the TCR title together with Harry Gottsacker and then finished third in the points with the same team-mate last year.

The next step for Wickens has been to move up into the main IMSA series with the help of Bosch. This year he is contesting the five sprint rounds of the series, starting at Long Beach in April with Tommy Milner as his team-mate, driving a Corvette Z06 GT3.R entered by the DXDT Racing squad in the GT Daytona class.

Bosch has stepped up to the plate and played a crucial role in the development of a new system of hand controls — Wickens accelerates and changes gear with his left hand and brakes with his right. Now it incorporates brake by wire, an electronic braking system (EBS). That means, explains Bosch motorsport software technical expert Jeff Blair, turning electronic signals at the steering wheel into brake pressure at the calliper.

Wickens regards the system, initially developed on his TCR car from late 2023, as a breakthrough. “I got introduced to everyone at Bosch, and one thing led to another and we got the first EBS into my Hyundai TCR car. On my first lap in the car I had a smile on my face. I had the braking that I wanted to have when I embarked on this journey racing with hand controls.”

It was a motivating programme in which to be involved, and not only for Wickens. “This is definitely one of those projects where everyone on the team in North American and Europe was like, ‘Do you need anything on this?’,” says Jordan Krell, Bosch Motorsport senior systems engineer. “It was really cool to see all 200 people within Bosch Motorsport around the world really excited about the project.”

“Racing is all I know,” says Wickens, who started out racing karts when he was eight. His question in the early days after the Pocono accident was, “How can you go racing with hand controls?”. Now, his horizons are broadening along with his aspirations.”

“Looking at where we are right now and what Bosch is able to provide for me,” he continues, “I feel like it is going to create almost endless opportunity.”