Fresh off his podium finish at the Honda Indy Toronto this past weekend, 29-year-old IndyCar rookie Robert Wickens is not only feeling good about how he was able to perform, but is hopeful for the future of motorsport across his home nation.
“I think it’s an exciting time right now for Canadian motorsport,” the Guelph, Ont., native told Bob McCown and Mike Zeisberger on Prime Time Sports Monday afternoon. “We’ve got a driver in Formula 1, a Canadian driver racing in the Formula 2 series over in Europe, we’ve got three Canadians racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series right now, and there’s a lot of talent coming up through the junior categories of motorsport all over the world from Canada.”
Some of the Canadian drivers Wickens is referring to include Lance Stroll, who races for Williams in F1 and Nicolas Latifi, who drives the No. 6 car for DAMS in F2.
Wickens, who began his racing career in earnest in 2005 and was actually gearing up to originally become an F1 driver, has been keeping his eye on the Canadian motorsport scene, and is happy to see the profile of race car driving begin to rise again in Canada with thanks to names like Stroll, Latifi and, of course himself and his Schmidt Peterson “Eh Team” compatriot James Hinchcliffe.
“I think it’s a great time for Canadian motorsport and it’s kind of cool to see the Canadian motorsport stock coming back up because there was a bit of a lull for a little bit there,” said Wickens. “James and I call ourselves the ‘Eh Team’ in the Verizon IndyCar Series and it’s just so cool to see an all-Canadian team for the first time since the early 2000s, so hopefully we can make an impact.”
Wickens and Hinchcliffe currently sit in sixth and ninth place, respectively in the drivers standings with Wickens only 32 points away from being in the top five. Not bad for a rookie.
Listen to Wickens’ full appearance on Prime Time Sports Monday below, where he also discusses what being up on the podium in front of friends and family means to him and the adjustment he’s trying to make racing on oval courses among other topics..
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