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Robert Wickens entered his first race of the season in the IMSA WeatherTech sportscar Championship at Long beach with a clear objective: “To leave with our heads held high.” The canadian driver achieved this during his first event driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which was specially modified with hand controls. Despite the accomplishment, Wickens and his teammate, Tommy Milner, couldn’t help but feel they could have achieved even more.

Among the positive aspects of the race was the performance of the second-generation electronic brake system developed by Bosch Motorsport, which proved to be “flawless from start to finish” throughout the 100-minute event. This system allowed Wickens to demonstrate his racing capabilities at this high level of motorsports for the first time since his return to professional racing, following a life-altering accident in indycar back in 2018.

Wickens achieved the fastest time in the second free practice, skillfully navigating his GT Daytona class DXDT Racing Chevy between the barriers of the challenging 1.97-mile Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit.He also qualified just over half a second from pole position, despite a collision with another car during his qualifying lap that resulted in damaged suspension.

“It was all sunshine and rainbows going into qualifying,” said Wickens, who has always felt a connection with street circuits.”We thought if we do everything right and play our cards right, we have a shot at pole on debut. Frankly, if you had told me that last week, I would have said you are dreaming.”

“But we ended up eighth. The electronic hand control system from Bosch was doing everything I needed it to do. That’s why it hurts that we didn’t get to maximise my qualifying.”

Wickens views the system developed by Bosch for the Corvette as a significant advancement that has enabled him to progress in his racing comeback, participating in the five IMSA sprint races aboard the corvette. Jordan Smart,a motorsport application engineer at Bosch Motorsport,describes the system as being “deeply integrated with the car.”

In contrast to the hydraulic braking system used in the Hyundai TCR car, in which Wickens returned to competition in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge support series, the bosch electronic Brake System (EBS) allows Wickens to use controls on the steering wheel to generate “a little electrical signal that is converted into brake pressure” at the wheel, according to Smart. “It’s true brake-by-wire.”

Wickens and Milner entered the Long Beach race on April 12th with the goal of improving upon their eighth-place starting position,but they were aware of a potential disadvantage. Driver changes are a crucial aspect of the IMSA series, and DXDT recognized that they would likely lose time in the pits compared to their competitors.

“It just takes a little more time currently with the position we are in with Robert having to be lifted out of the car,” explained Bryan Sellers, DXDT’s program manager on the IMSA team. “We have a lot of moving pieces with getting Robert out, with getting the next driver in.”

This delay caused Milner to drop to P10 from the seventh position after Wickens entered the pits. The veteran Corvette driver advanced to fifth place, but contact with a BMW while passing for that position resulted in dislodged bodywork.

Race control mandated that Milner pit to secure the loose bodywork, leading to a 15th-place finish in class for the DXDT Chevy.

“Safety is the top priority and after having some contact our rear bumper was a little bit loose, and they gave us a black flag to pit for repairs,” Wickens explained.”Our race was more or less over at that point, so we finished whatever it was.I don’t think it tells the whole story.”

“That’s racing,” said Smart. “The system we have developed gave robert the potential and the pace was there.That was the key takeaway for us: we provided him the tool to get to that level.”

“Safety is the top priority and after having some contact our rear bumper was a little bit loose, and they gave us a black flag to pit for repairs.”