Robert Wickens starts from pole in the race at Long Beach.

      Robert Wickens is once again competing in the American IMSA series in the GTD category this season, and we recently reported on this. It seems that the 37-year-old Canadian's return to racing, despite the aftermath of a severe spinal injury sustained in 2018 in IndyCar, promises to be successful. In any case, in today's race at the California Long Beach track, he is starting from pole position.

      Robert is racing for the DXDT Racing team and, along with his teammate, is piloting a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R sports car equipped with a manual control system specially developed for him by Bosch.

      It should be mentioned that pole position for crew No. 36 was inherited after the disqualification of another driver who set a better time, but it seems that this does not diminish Wickens' achievement. The placement of the Lexus RC F GT3 at the very back of the starting grid is due to the fact that this car does not comply with the technical regulations, as it turned out that its ground clearance is below the allowed minimum.

      The sprint in the IMSA series lasts about 100 minutes, during which Wickens will have to spend at least 35 minutes behind the wheel before being replaced by his teammate, Mason Filippi.

      “To some extent, we made up for last season; the DXDT Racing team and the specialists at Corvette Racing are doing a great job,” Wickens is quoted by the American publication Racer. “Driving such a car is very enjoyable. When I found out that I was just one-tenth short of pole, I immediately realized what I could have done to complete the lap faster.

      However, this is not the worst of all possible problems, as the car allowed me to fight for pole. I think when I gain a bit more experience, I will be able to extract a little more from it. If someone had told me before the weekend that I would start from the front row, I would have gladly agreed.”