Remember me
There is a feeling of appreciation Robert Wickens is carrying into the paddock at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) this weekend’s Chevrolet Grand Prix.
Roughly two months ago, a fire struck the transporter of DXDT Racing en route to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, destroying nearly everything, including the custom-adapted, one-of-one, hand control system used by Wickens.
Remarkably, the team was able to return for last month’s Six Hours of The Glen, with team manager Bryan Sellers noting the extent of the damage and the rebuild that included completely stripping down a Corvette chassis previously used in SRO America competition and converting it to strict specifications to race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
And there was also continued relentless work behind the scenes to get Wickens, set to run all the sprint rounds, back behind the wheel for CTMP. A massive coalition including Bosch, Pratt Miller, DXDT Racing, and Corvette Racing formed to achieve the near-impossible: manufacturing and delivering a brand-new, specialized braking system in just four weeks.
Reflecting on the frantic timeline, Wickens admitted the mountain initially seemed too high to climb, making the final result all the more profound. "Honestly, it’s gratitude," said Wickens, 37, during an IMSA media call on Monday.
“There was a brief period of time where I wondered if one, that was the end of my season. Then second, were we going to make it for my next race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
“Until we knew for sure, I had made plans to try to do my fan experience again, like I did last year, and have a kind of viewing area. But we decided to postpone that for a year because once we kind of got the green light for everything, it was kind of too late to plan it all properly.”
#36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Mason Filippi, Robert Wickens, Danny Formal
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
Rather than focusing on his own stressful race against time, the Canadian is quick to redirect the spotlight toward the mechanics, engineers, and managers who carried the heaviest logistical burdens.
Even as small reminders of the fire continued to pop up, requiring last-minute scrambles for standard safety gear, Wickens kept his perspective firmly rooted in appreciation for the team's relentless effort.
“I feel like the driver probably has it the easiest,” said Wickens, who took the GTD class pole at the opening sprint round at Long Beach in April. “It’s down to the mechanics, engineers and the team managers dealing with insurances… we’re still learning about things that were compromised in the fire. I had to overnight a new HANS device and new shoes because we didn’t realize it, but my shoes had some fire damage. And it’s just little stuff like that kind of keeps popping up.
“From the driver's side, yeah, I lost all my driver equipment. The car is a much bigger thing, much more important thing. We can all buy generic suits and blank helmets and still drive the race cars. There was definitely a lot of communication between Laguna Seca and now, but we’re everyone’s just excited to kind of get back at it.”
And with a successful shakedown in the books, Wickens is officially back in the #36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R alongside full-time co-driver Mason Filippi. Now, his ultimate goal is to repay everyone’s tireless work the best way a racing driver knows how: win.
"The work doesn’t stop," Wickens said. "We want to win in this series. We want to prove that we’re strong enough to fight for podiums and wins every weekend. So that’s going to be the goal here, and it’s going to be even sweeter if it happens."
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