From Indy to IMSA: what’s next for Robert Wickens?

Written by Jackson Lambros, edited by Rohan Brown

Credit: Lorena Barros

In a car he had driven once at Long Beach - the intimidating concrete canyon he hadn’t driven in seven years - Robert Wickens's return to top-level racing saw the Canadian hold his own, and then some. The driver of the No.36 DXDT Racing Corvette showed pace all weekend long, but had his qualifying session deleted after bringing the red flag out in the prior practice session. 

Rolling off eighth for the race on Saturday, the man who was fastest of all Friday still outpaced many of the silver-ranked drivers that started alongside him. He gained one position at the start and handed the Corvette Z06 GT3.R over to Tommy Milner in seventh. 

Had it not been for yet another incident between Milner and the BMW, a fifth-place finish may have been in the cards, and a 15th place finish for the duo hides a large amount of pace and progress achieved over the weekend: “There are a lot of positive takeaways from the weekend," Wickens told the press after the race Saturday: “We proved we belong here, that we can be competitive.”

The following morning, Wickens was back to the full-time job on the Andretti Global IndyCar stand, coaching Kyle Kirkwood to victory. It’s been the job he’s had since his debilitating crash at Pocono in 2018, first with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (now Arrow McLaren), and in recent years, for Dan Towriss and Michael Andretti’s three-car program. Keeping him as a constant presence in the IndyCar grid, Wicken’s enjoys the driver-side benefits as well.

Credit: Paul Hurley

“It’s honestly kept me very sharp mentally,” said Wickens. “Even though I wasn’t driving a race car, constantly trying to extract performance from the drivers and the team…doing what I felt like I did a great job in my career, which was feedback. So even though I’m not driving the car, I feel like I can still use that part of my brain to stay sharp.”

With recent technological aid from Wicken’s partner Bosch, Wickens returned to full-time racing in 2022, running in IMSA’s lower Michelin Pilot Challenge with Bryan Herta Autosport. Since then, talks of Wickens returning to an IndyCar Cockpit for a second run of the 500 have been ongoing for the past several years.  

“If I were presented an opportunity do to the 500, I’m gonna jump in with both feet. I’d be crazy not to do that race after getting a taste of it in 2018, and it’s something I wanna do every year for the rest of my life. Being at that race every year since and seeing the atmosphere, it makes me want to drive in that race so bad, and hopefully I get the opportunity to do it at some point.”

However, following Long Beach, Wickens's debut in the IMSA Sportscar Championship hopes to plant the seeds that will grow into a full-time seat in the series. 

“Honestly, the bigger step for me would to be full-time here. Right now, I’m only doing a limited schedule. I think right now, my focus is on IMSA and trying to be a full-time guy in the weather tech series, hopefully winning races and fighting for championships.”

He’ll continue to work on his resume with a trip to Germany to compete in this year’s edition of the Nürburgring 24. A maiden attempt at the enduro for Wickens, the former DTM pilot is no stranger to the Nordschleife, but hops back on the horse after a harrowing crash in VLN last year.

Credit: Hyundai Motorsport

Across three series and two continents, Wickens continues to juggle his roles in and out of the cockpit. For now, he keeps his options open for ‘26.