After completing his first laps around Sebring International Raceway in a specially adapted Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R on Tuesday, and in between a more rigorous second day of testing at the circuit on Wednesday, Robert Wickens reflected on his first experiences as the countdown to his much-anticipated IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship return with DXDT Racing on the Long Beach street circuit.
“So far, I feel like a kid on Christmas!” said Wickens, whose smile reflected his joy of driving the Corvette GT3 with its cutting-edge hand control system for the first time in real life.
“It’s been a lot of work so far. (On Tuesday) I got my first taste in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R just before lunch. Got a couple laps in, then we had to stop for a lunch break, and then kind of hit the ground running in the afternoon.
“I felt like we finished in a good place. And then, thankfully, got a good night’s rest and a lot of planning (ahead of Wednesday). I think the biggest takeaway I have so far is that it feels like the Bosch EBS, and the hand control system that was developed by Pratt Miller, it was like it belonged in this car. There hasn’t been a single hiccup. It’s like when they designed this Z06 GT3.R, this was always in the plan. It just feels like it belongs in the car.
“Immediately, I felt way more comfortable with the braking feeling and braking sensation than I had in my past, racing in TCR with the Bosch EBS. It was a massive step forward, so hats off to all the men and women at Bosch and also Pratt Miller and DXDT, really, for collaborating to make this all possible.”
But even before driving his new Corvette Z06 GT3.R for the first time in earnest, Wickens has been preparing at home, using his custom-built racing simulator setup to get ready for driving a GT3 car for the first time in actual competition.
“Racing on my home simulator, not only is it very fun, but it made my dexterity and my resolution of my hand, for throttle application in particular, just stronger and stronger. And I think after driving this Corvette Z06, I feel like the next step for me is actually to start doing more throttle application with my right hand, just to build that muscle memory,” Wickens said, comparing his home simulator to the real car. “My brake that I use on my home simulator is very different to what we have in the race car, but for throttle purpose, I think it’s very helpful.
“For people that don’t know, I pretty much do 98 percent of my throttle application with my left hand, so that I can freely upshift with my right hand, and then brake with my right hand and downshift with the left hand. There’s a few corners here where I feel like I need to start practicing using throttle with both hands a little bit more.”
He will also try to draw on some of his past racing experiences in single-seaters, silhouette DTM touring cars, and even his lone IMSA start to date in an ORECA FLM09 prototype. That includes his IndyCar start at Long Beach back in 2018, his Rookie of the Year-winning campaign which was cut short due to the catastrophic injuries he sustained later that year in a crash at Pocono Raceway.
Up to this point in his comeback, Wickens has only driven front-wheel drive TCR cars. His 2023 TCR title in the Michelin Pilot Challenge highlights just how good he’s been since starting his second racing life — reflecting the natural talent that was always clear in his progression through multiple racing categories.
“I feel at home in a rear-wheel-drive car — I feel like I never left, in a way,” Wickens said. “That being said, a TCR car, with it being front-wheel drive, a lot of your instability moments are all kind of corner entry and mid-corner. By the time you apply throttle, you’re not really fighting the car. It’s been an interesting adjustment here, trying to maintain a consistent throttle position while the rear is starting to slide or step out a little bit. That’s taken some getting used to, and I still need to learn that. Sometimes I’ll get a snap oversteer and I’ll accidentally lift off the throttle completely and just bleed loads of lap time.
“But the biggest thing for me is understanding the traction control system that’s in this Corvette Z06 GT3.R, because I haven’t really felt traction control for all my career. I’ve done some testing in a GT3 from my time at Mercedes, and some other stuff in a couple other race cars here and there. But in terms of extracting lap time from a proper traction control system and all the aids and assists that we have inside the car, I’m still trying to understand what makes it click. Because I think when I’m applying throttle, my resolution is not spot-on yet. I think I’m applying, like, 10 percent throttle, but I’m actually more like 30, 35, 40 percent throttle. I’m immediately getting traction control intervention, and the car is coping and handling it great and there’s no dramas. But I feel like it’s still catching me by surprise, and it’s still something I need to keep working on.”
Working with Wickens along the way has been Corvette Racing factory driver Tommy Milner, who will be Wickens’ co-driver at Long Beach. The Canadian was very candid about how helpful Milner has been in the journey, saying: “I’m going to be leaning on Tommy exclusively!
“From getting to know Tommy a little bit, watching him shake down the car at The FIRM around Daytona — he actually drove me from Daytona up to The FIRM and back, so I was chewing his ear off and asking loads of questions about the car already then. And that’s just going to carry on.
“Hopefully he doesn’t get tired of me too soon, but I’m definitely going to be leaning on him for a lot of support.”
Wickens spent the second day of testing trying to refine not only his technique, but also to make sure that all the unique components of his Corvette are working in harmony, since there will be no other real-world testing ahead before it’s showtime at Long Beach.
“Even now, it’s this fine line where we’re trying to evolve the brake system and get the braking sensation, the spring rates, and also the software side with Bosch and the EBS all dialed into the car,” he said. “But in parallel, I’m also still trying to learn what the car likes and how the car likes to be driven. When I did this in the TCR car, I had driven the car for two years so I knew how to drive it and how to get lap time out — so it was just solely trying to get the brake feel to what I wanted. Now it’s kind of a more foggy experience because I feel like I’m learning both at the same time. We only have basically a day and a half, and we’re on to the launch.
“Today’s been a lot more intense. An 8:30 start, and I basically never got out of the car for most of the morning. I got my first taste of a long run with double-stinted tires to see what the car behaves like. These are all things I need to learn for my database because you don’t get an opportunity to test very often. So I’m trying to make sure I have as much information before I start the season.”
Wickens admitted some frustration that his return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship couldn’t happen earlier, but later said, “Good things take time.” His Long Beach run will actually put him ahead of his initial schedule, which would have seen him make his DXDT debut at Laguna Seca.
“Frankly, for me, I wanted to get into the car as soon as possible. If there was a way to have driven the car in (Petit Le Mans) last year, I would have been all over it. The same for Daytona and the same for last weekend in Sebring,” he said.
“I think in the moment, I was frustrated. But obviously, I respect that you can’t rush something like this. It has to be done properly because also this is the product that I have to now use for the entire 2025 season. If you don’t have a strong foundation, you can just set yourself up for failure.
“In terms of the car, it just took a group of people to believe that this is possible. I feel like when I was speaking to other teams, everyone thought it was a good idea. But it took (team owner) David Askew at DXDT to take the leap of faith and say, ‘You know what? I want to do this.’ And then we aligned with Pratt Miller, Bosch was already on my side, and they were fully supporting it, and then the fine people at General Motors all basically pulled together and said, ‘You know, let’s give this a shot and see what it can do.’”
The design of Wickens’ Bosch hand control and electronic braking system is meant to be flexible and work in virtually any other race car without the need for the driver to learn a new system every time they get behind the wheel of a new car. And a good series of races in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R would also go a long way towards proving its viability for use not just in racing, but in making civilian road vehicles more accessible.
By being prepared to race at Long Beach next month, Wickens has already taken an enormous step in his post-injury racing career. It’s a step that he sees as the first toward what he hopes will be a long and successful tenure in sports car racing.
“My goal from the outset of this was to get back to the highest levels of motorsport again. I’ve always seen that the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the highest level of sports car racing in North America. Aligning myself with General Motors and DXDT Racing, it was just the perfect fit. It would be a dream if I could call it a 10-year career here in the IMSA WeatherTech series, racing against the best drivers in the world in one of the best series in the world.
“In terms of what’s left, there’s always opportunity,” he continued, acknowledging the possibility of other opportunities outside sports car racing. “But my goal is always to get to the highest levels, and I feel like I’m here.
“The next step is to become a week-in, week-out staple of the series, make sure I can get myself to a full-time position for 2026, and then start fighting for championships. Hopefully, we can challenge for race wins and podiums here this year.
“I think this is a big step, for me to officially get that fulfillment. Honestly, taking the green flag in Long Beach is going to be an enormous step forward in my career and my journey back to the highest levels. Basically, you could say, ‘We did it. We’re racing against the best cars and the best drivers in the whole sports car industry.’
“There’s still some work to be done. I think you could say it’s definitely a massive box to check — probably the biggest box that we could check off so far in my return.”