Robert Wickens: “I had this dream for a while”

Face covered with a big smile, Robert Wicken found the wheel for a while on the sidelines of the Toronto meeting in IndyCar Series. On home soil, the Canadian will perform the pre-race parade on Sunday with an Acura NSX specially prepared by Arrow, sponsor of his SPM team.

In order to test the installation carried out by the company, which consists of a steering wheel bringing together all the controls for driving, Wickens completed a test on Thursday on the Toronto track, following a previous run at Mosport.

“I had this dream for a while and the goal was to have the car ready for Toronto, says Wickens. And it's perfect that it's here on my home race. I was able to do a few test laps on Thursday, and it gave me a big smile.

I’m lucky to have such great partners around me to make this happen. Running is my dream, my passion, it's all I want to do. »

Arrow, title sponsor of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, was thus able to provide a solution to the Canadian driver, which partly evokes the one seen in the race for Alex Zanardi when he competes in GT events or DTM with BMW as has been the case in recent years.

“We wanted to start now with Robert so we can be part of his recovery with our friends at Honda and get Robert back racing because that's what he wants, and we will be there to support that effort until at the end. » comments Mike Long, CEO of Arrow

“I have a whole new perspective on life, and I think it's good to get something out of this experience, continues Wickens. But the most important thing for me, when I was in rehabilitation every day, was the support of my partners, my family, Karli (his partner), all the fans, all those who allowed me to be at the gym the next day.

I was just patient 31265, and then you become friends with these patients, you hear their story, and when I went home at the end of the day and I was like, "I'm so lucky to have a such support. »

If I'm having a bad day, all my fans can come and support me when everyone else can easily go into this huge spiral and fall into depression. »