ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin – Robert Wickens’ journey to the Verizon IndyCar Series officially began a year ago at Road America. As far as teammate James Hinchcliffe is concerned, it’s an anniversary worthy of celebration.
Wickens parlayed a temporary assignment last year into a full-time role this year with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. He’s been impressive so far – standing seventh in points heading into the 10th race of the season – and Hinchcliffe is happy to have his friend on board.
“I had obviously a huge interest in Rob coming to the team,” said Hinchcliffe, who joined Wickens and 21 other INDYCAR drivers for the first practice Friday in preparation for Sunday’s KOHLER Grand Prix. “I was a huge advocate for it very early on. I was one of the few guys – myself and (team manager) Piers Phillips were the ones that followed Robby's career all through Europe and knew what he was capable of. We were the ones that put our foot down and said, ‘This is the guy we have to take a look at.’”
It wasn’t as simple as it sounds. Wickens, then a factory driver for Mercedes Benz in the prestigious Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, replaced Mikhail Aleshin for practice day last year at Road America when Aleshin was delayed re-entering the country from Russia because of visa issues. Aleshin arrived in time to compete in the race, but Wickens’ journey to INDYCAR had just begun. His assist at Road America, along with a ride swap in early 2017 – with Wickens driving Hinchcliffe’s No. 5 Arrow Electronics SPM Honda at Sebring International Raceway in Florida and Hinchcliffe driving Wickens’ DTM Mercedes at a circuit outside Rome – led to Wickens’ full-time hire for 2018.
So far, it’s working. In the first nine races of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, Wickens has finished among the top nine six times. He opened the season with a pole position at St. Petersburg, then finished second at ISM Raceway and fourth at Barber Motorsports Park.
Wickens continued to impress in Friday’s opening practice at Road America, running second fastest on the combined timesheet from the two practice sessions. His best lap of 1 minute, 42.9025 seconds (140.428 mph) in the No. 6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda provided further evidence that the decision was correct.
“It’s what you hope for versus reality,” team co-owner Sam Schmidt said. “A lot of times you hope for this type of scenario, but it doesn’t turn out that way. Twelve months ago, we thought continuity was everything. Keep the same guys, keep the same crew, and at the end of 2016, the fastest Honda on the track was Mikhail. … We just didn’t get it clicking in 2017. We decided to shake things up with crew and engineering and drivers and see what comes out the other end.”
Road America, the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course in the Kettle Moraine of east central Wisconsin, played a major role in Wickens’ decision to help the team.
“A big reason why I agreed to help out the team last year was because it was at Road America, just because it's such a cool track to drive,” he said. “Driving an Indy car on such a good track, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Now I'm a full-time guy. Hopefully we can get some good results this weekend.”
Hinchcliffe and Wickens grew up racing go-karts together. They lived a short distance apart in the Toronto area, and quickly became buddies. Their professional careers took different paths, but they stayed in touch. When the possibility that Wickens might be available to join SPM arose, Hinchcliffe pressed for it. Then, cautious of appearances, he let the process take its course.
“Once his name was on everybody else's radar within the team, I tried to sit back,” Hinchcliffe said. “What I didn't want to happen is I didn't want people to think I was trying to get my buddy in the seat. I laid out all the facts. If you looked at everything on paper, the facts were this is the best available guy for this car in the world. I wanted them to figure it on out on their own rather than just hammer it in.”
Schmidt and SPM co-owner Ric Peterson faced a choice in the offseason: Hire a driver who brought funding to the team or hire a pro and chase the funding. They chose the latter.
“We took a hard look at it for 30 days and finally pulled the trigger,” Schmidt said. “We doubled down and took the risk that we could fill in the budget over the next six months and go hire a guy like Robby that we know can get the job done. We had hoped that he would be performing in the second half of the season like he has in the first half. We honestly didn’t have the expectations that it would happen so quickly out of the box. It’s a welcome blessing that it did.”
As for the guy getting the results? He’s just happy to be at a racetrack.
“Honestly, it's just fun,” Wickens said. “I'm racing with a smile on my face. Not every person can wake up in the morning and be really happy to go to work, regardless of the environment.”
Sometimes, happiness can be found with a little help from a friend.
“Honestly, once they looked at what he was capable of, I think the decision was pretty simple from everyone's point on this side,” Hinchcliffe said. “It's really fun saying, ‘I told you so.’”