Robert Wickens Full of “Gratitude” in Home Race Return After Extraordinary Industry Effort

There is a profound sense of appreciation that Robert Wickens is carrying into the paddock at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) this weekend for the Chevrolet Grand Prix. For the 37-year-old Canadian, returning to his home track is not just a competitive milestone; it is a testament to human resilience and industrial collaboration.

Roughly two months ago, disaster struck when a fire engulfed the transporter of DXDT Racing en route to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The blaze destroyed nearly everything in its path, including the custom-adapted, one-of-a-kind hand control system that Wickens relies on to compete. For a driver who has already overcome a life-altering spinal cord injury to return to professional racing, the loss of his specialized equipment threatened to end his 2026 season before it truly began.

Remarkably, the team managed to return for last month’s Six Hours of The Glen. Team manager Bryan Sellers noted the sheer scale of the damage and the rebuild, which involved completely stripping down a Corvette chassis previously used in SRO America competition and converting it to strict IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship specifications. But the work didn’t stop there. Behind the scenes, a massive coalition formed to achieve the near-impossible: manufacturing and delivering a brand-new, specialized braking and hand-control system in just four weeks.

This unprecedented effort included key industry players such as Bosch, Pratt Miller, DXDT Racing, and Corvette Racing, all working in lockstep to ensure Wickens would be behind the wheel for his home race.

Reflecting on the frantic timeline, Wickens admitted the mountain initially seemed too high to climb. "Honestly, it’s gratitude," Wickens said during an IMSA media call on Monday. “There was a brief period of time where I wondered if one, that was the end of my season. Then second, were we going to make it for my next race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park?”

The uncertainty forced Wickens to pivot his plans. He had intended to host a fan experience event similar to the one he organized last year, but the logistical chaos meant those plans had to be postponed. “We decided to postpone that for a year because once we kind of got the green light for everything, it was kind of too late to plan it all properly,” he explained.

Rather than focusing on his own stressful race against time, Wickens is quick to redirect the spotlight toward the mechanics, engineers, and managers who carried the heaviest logistical burdens. Even as small reminders of the fire continued to surface, requiring last-minute scrambles for standard safety gear, Wickens kept his perspective firmly rooted in appreciation.

“I feel like the driver probably has it the easiest,” said Wickens, who took the GTD class pole at the opening sprint round at Long Beach in April. “It’s down to the mechanics, engineers, and the team managers dealing with insurance… we’re still learning about things that were compromised in the fire. I had to overnight a new HANS device and new shoes because we didn’t realize it, but my shoes had some fire damage. And it’s just little stuff like that keeps popping up.”

From the driver's side, the material losses were significant but replaceable. “I lost all my driver equipment. The car is a much bigger thing, much more important thing. We can all buy generic suits and blank helmets and still drive the race cars. There was definitely a lot of communication between Laguna Seca and now, but everyone’s just excited to kind of get back at it.”

With a successful shakedown now in the books, Wickens is officially back in the #36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R alongside full-time co-driver Mason Filippi. Now, his ultimate goal is to repay everyone’s tireless work the best way a racing driver knows how: by winning.

"The work doesn’t stop," Wickens said. "We want to win in this series. We want to prove that we’re strong enough to fight for podiums and wins every weekend. So that’s going to be the goal here, and it’s going to be even sweeter if it happens."