In his first race after a serious IndyCar crash, Robert Wickens finishes on the class podium at Daytona together with Mark Wilkins in the Hyundai Elantra TCR
Robert Wickens made an impressive return to the cockpit of a race car on Friday. The Canadian, who has been confined to a wheelchair since his IndyCar horror crash on 19 August 2018, competed in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race as part of the Daytona 2022 24 Hours. And on his comeback, Wickens finished on the podium in his class straight away.
Teaming up with Mark Wilkins in the 4-hour race, Wickens drove a Hyundai Elantra N TCR owned by Bryan Herta’s team, which was customised to his needs with throttle and brake on the steering wheel. Wickens drove the first stint of the race and worked his way up from seventh on the grid to third.
Then team-mate Wilkins took over the Hyundai. Because he is physically unrestricted, he drove the car normally with the accelerator and brake pedals. To let the car know, so to speak, all he had to do was flip a switch, just like Wickens had to flip it for himself.
Jump in the cockpit of my @Hyundai Elantra with me and get a look at the hand controls @BHA have put together for me this weekend!@IMSA | @DAYTONA | #RW6 | #IMSA | #ROLEX24 pic.twitter.com/bAion9cbtw
— Robert Wickens (@robertwickens) January 27, 2022
Wilkins even briefly drove the 33 Herta-Hyundai to the class lead. At the last pit stop, however, several positions were lost due to acceleration problems. But then Wlkins started to catch up. And after he had been in fourth place shortly before the end, he managed the decisive manoeuvre a few minutes before the chequered flag.
In turn 3 of the circuit-oval combination in Daytona, Wilkins braked his way past Tristan Herbert (NGP-Audi) and thus took over the third position again, where he had taken over the car from Wickens. And he did not relinquish this position until the finish. In doing so, Wilkins gave himself and Wickens an acclaimed podium finish on the latter’s comeback.
“It feels strange to be on the podium without having passed the chequered flag yourself,” were Wickens’ first words after the race. “Mark gave everything,” the returnee praises his team-mate’s final attack and admits: “Of course I’m happy to be part of a victory ceremony again. After all, the last time was a long time ago. ”
Wickens’ last podium finish before the serious IndyCar accident came directly at the then-previous race, at Mid-Ohio on 29 July 2018. Now the 32-year-old Canadian has been able to experience that feeling directly again at Daytona in his TCR debut.
The TCR class was won on Friday by Roy Block and Tim Lewis in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR from KMW Motorsports. Meanwhile, overall victory in the race that marked the season opener of the 2022 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge went to Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer (RS1-Porsche).
