Exclusive: Robert Wickens on returning to CTMP, future Endurance Cup prospects

Written by Natalie Johnston, edited by Rohan Brown

Credit: Robert Wickens via Instagram

Robert Wickens returned to his old stomping grounds at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) last weekend for the IMSA Chevrolet Grand Prix. 

Having adapted to a new ‘hand-control’ style of racing since his paralysis, Wickens is back competing at the pinnacle of North American sportscar racing.

Wickens spent his last three years racing in the Michelin Pilot Challenge with Bryan Herta Racing, earning a championship win in 2023 and a P3 finish in 2024. The Canadian driver made his IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship debut with DXDT Racing at Long Beach in April. 

The number 36 DXDT Racing Corvette had a slower start to the season, sitting in P11 after suffering two critical DNFs in Daytona and Watkins Glen. In his third outing with the team Wickens had home-field advantage, having had massive success at CTMP in past years.

In an interview with DIVEBOMB, Wickens commented on what he was hoping to extract from his No.31 Corvette on Sunday. 

“Hopefully some of the same [success],” Wickens said.

“You know, you never expect to win, especially in any category of IMSA, but for whatever reason, I've had a lot of success here at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in the past.”

Wickens took home two wins and one second-place finish in his last three outings at CTMP in the Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR class. Not to mention his history of dominance at Mosport back in his karting days in the Ron Fellows Karting Championship. Ron Fellows is now a co-owner of Mosport alongside co-owner Carlo Fidani (yes, that Fidani).

Wickens went on to talk about how full-circle this race is for him with his history at this track:

“I love it here. There's so much nostalgia for me. Like, riding my bike over from the kart track over to the car track when I was a kid growing up, watching Ron Fellows have success here.”

The Fellows name has become concurrent with Corvette, having established a relationship with GM’s Corvette Racing organization back in 1998.

“You know, I think for me, it's a really cool moment to be driving this track in a Corvette because Ron was such a special person in my life and in my career,” Wickens continued. “So, to kind of, in a way, almost carry the baton and follow in his footsteps is really cool.”

“Corvette themselves have had a lot of success here at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, so we're aiming high this weekend. Hopefully we can at least end up on the podium.”

Wickens and the DXDT Racing team ended up having their best finish of the season at Mosport, finishing just outside of the podium places in fourth position. After qualifying third, Wickens avoided an accident at the beginning of the race that dropped the number 36 car down to fifth. 

Through caution and pitting for driver changes, the DXDT Corvette sat in fifth position for the majority of the race. During his stint, Alec Udell secured fourth in the last 15 minutes due to two consecutive cautions to end the race.

Credit: DXDT Racing via X

The Canadian also shared insight into expanding his racing duties with DXDT to include the Michelin Endurance Cup (in his interview with DIVEBOMB).

Wickens did not participate in any of the three Endurance Cup races so far this season with DXDT Racing. When asked if he plans on competing in the endurance side of the series in the future, Wickens responded, “I mean, that's the goal.”

The DXDT team has done an exemplary job adapting the Bosch hand-controls system that enables Wickens to race as a paraplegic. However, the Bosch system is still a new technology that must be extensively tested in order to be used in an endurance context in this DXDT Corvette.

Wickens commented on the development that is still to come for hand-control racing in IMSA: 

“You know, the Bosch electronic braking system that we use is well up for the challenge. It's just, you just need to make sure that it is. And honestly, that just requires testing.”

Wickens then commented that the Bosch system went through some tests between the Roar before the 24 and Daytona, with American GM factory driver Tommy Milner at the wheel: “we all drove two hours away from Daytona Beach and watched the car drive around for a couple of days, and it worked flawlessly.”

“But, yeah, and then, obviously, just to get an idea out of the timeline, like you can't just go blind and do a 24-hour race, or something like that, right?” Wickens said. “Especially, [Daytona's] a flagship race. It's a race everyone wants to win, and reliability is the critical part of it.”

The Bosch system was tested last month (June) in a 24 hour race with a Hyundai TCR car when Wickens raced in the Nürburgring 24 hour endurance race (N24). The experience was a massive success, with Wickens finishing second in class.

The challenging nature of the N24 was a perfectly rigorous testing ground for hand-control racing. Wickens stated that this was an essential learning experience for the technology, “what we're learning this year is going to be vital for next.”

“Doing the 24 hours of Nürburgring this year was vital for the future. So, now we know the Bosch electronic braking system can successfully do a 24-hour race. And probably one of the toughest 24-hour races out there.”

Wickens is hopeful that he will compete in the full IMSA calendar next season with how well testing and the practical experience of the N24 have gone. This will mark a massive achievement for the future of hand-control racing, and another milestone in Robert Wickens journey as a professional racing driver.

“Next year the logical goal is to try to be full time to do everything.”

Just racing in the full IMSA calendar is not enough for the Canadian driver. Robert Wickens is fixated on achieving further accolades and championships in the future.

“And then once we're full time, then we can start talking about championships and things down the road.”