Wickens Looking At “How Much More” He Can Push

Robert Wickens said he is looking at ‘how much more he can push’ after his first official practice laps aboard the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R ahead of this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Wickens will share his GTD class Corvette with Corvette factory driver Tommy Milner this weekend in just his second-ever WeatherTech Championship start and his first race outing in GT3 machinery.

After a two-day test at Sebring International Raceway, the 36-year-old Canadian took to the track for the first time in an official practice session on Friday morning using Bosch’s latest edition of its hand control braking system.

“I just need to figure out how much more I can push,” Wickens told reporters after first practice. “If I need to brake later, harder, more entry speed, stuff like that.

“Tommy drove the car, put in a great lap. And then when I got in at the end of the session, I had a great reference lap on the dash to understand how to extract lap time from this Corvette Z06 GT3.R around Long Beach.

“It’s the exact reason why I was so happy to have a teammate like Tommy here this weekend. We can look at some data and we can calm down and come up with a strong approach to try to find time and improve.”

Wickens said he felt comfortable with his new hand controls, despite the tight and technical nature of the 1.968-mile Southern California street circuit.

“This track is kind of the ultimate challenge for hand controls, given how tight some of the corners are,” said Wickens.

“The fountain and obviously the Hairpin, so something I’ve never experienced with racing with hand controls is kind of having to deal with so much like steering angles around these tight corners.”

“When you turn so much and you realize that you can’t reach the brake paddle that I was initially using, and I need to switch hands to continue to slow down the car, it’s going to take some time to continue to get lap time.

“I think that’s honestly probably one of my biggest time losses to Tommy that I could see inside the car in that session. But the Bosch electronic braking system is working flawlessly. It’s giving me confidence.

“So I’ll focus a little more on getting settled into the car and then keep working away on driving the Corvette. For me, I think that’s the next step, I felt like I got to a point in that first session where, without risking the car, I needed to see a lap of data to understand how to go quicker.

“I know exactly where I feel like the threshold is on the brake and I feel like I understand how much I need to brake for each corner. I just need to try and figure out how to extract performance from the Corvette.”

An unknown issue delayed Wickens’ amount of seat time in morning practice, but he still managed to turn laps in his DXDT Corvette at the end of the session.

Following considerably more seat time in second practice, Wickens topped the GTD time charts with a 1:17.879 lap, a significant improvement on his morning pace.

Milner: Wickens’ Practice Pace Was “Quite Impressive” Given 

Tommy Milner, a four-time class winner at Long Beach, said that his co-driver’s pace in first practice aboard the Z06 GT3.R was admirable, considering his relatively limited time behind the wheel.

“For somebody who’s in his third day in this GT3 car, I know his standards for himself are super high, but to come here for the first time to Long Beach in a long time, driving basically a car new to himself and be a second off the pace [in FP1] in about 10 minutes of practice is quite impressive,” he said.

“He’s talking from the position of who he is. He wants to be the fastest. And that’s why, for me, I’m excited to be here this weekend with him and his journey.

“Just talking to him, understanding how his brain works a little bit, there’s always things to learn and pick up, and someone with the talent that he has, I’m always keeping my mind and my ears open to understand what makes him as good as he is.

“So I’ll be stealing as many secrets as I possibly can this weekend.”