“It’s been the most amazing six years… of my life. It’s been an honour to represent the brand with the three-pointed star.”Robert Wickens, Professional Race Car Driver
In his 84 DTM races, Wickens secured 5 pole positions, 5 fastest laps, 6 wins, 15 podiums and 429 points for Mercedes-AMG. His most successful year was the 2016 season, during which he was a title contender until the penultimate weekend in Budapest.
“It’s been the most amazing six years,” said Wickens. “ Until this season, I’d never really considered leaving Mercedes or the DTM. Those were the most amazing six years of my life. It’s been an honour to represent the brand with the three-pointed star.”
Robert Wickens
“But first off, I can’t thank Mercedes enough for the last six years and wish them the best of luck for the future,” said Wickens. “It’s probably been the best six years of my entire life.”
Wickens, 28 years old from Toronto, Ontario, has made lots of friendships during his time in the DTM that will last a lifetime and has always been proud to be a part of the team. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs on the way but have never had so much support from a team before,” said Wickens. “It’s been an honour to represent the brand and maybe it’s not the last time.”
“Over the past six years, Rob has been an important member of our team, and has steadily improved during the last few years to become an integral part of the DTM,” Said Ulrich Fritz, head of Mercedes-AMG DTM.
He is looking forward to his new role in the IndyCar Series. “It’s going to be a very steep learning curve,” he said. “A lot of things will be completely new to me. I’ve never driven on an oval before. As everyone knows, I haven’t been driving formula cars over the last six years since I’ve been in DTM, so I have to get up to speed very quickly but am looking forward to the new challenge.”
Open wheel racing is not new to Wickens, who began his career in various single-seater racing series, became championship runner-up in both Formula 2 and GP3 and won the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship in 2011. He also completed several Formula 1 test drives for Lotus Renault GP and Marussia Virgin Racing and is now returning to his formula racing roots. His first IndyCar race will take place March 11th, 2018, at the IndyCar season opener on the streets of St Petersburg, Florida.
The IndyCar series is not completely new to Robert, as he got the chance to test in the IndyCar for the first time at Sebring before the 2017 DTM season began, driving the racing car of fellow Canadian, James Hinchcliffe. Robert got his ‘revenge’ at DTM testing on the Autodromo Vallelunga and got James to post a few laps in a Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM
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