Wickens: DTM is my priority, it’s all I want to do
Robert Wickens has dampened speculation that he might be trying to get back into open-wheel racing, after subbing for Mikhail Aleshin in the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda at Road America today.
Robert Wickens, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda
IndyCar Series
The Canadian got the surprise call-up after Aleshin encountered visa issues as he returned to the United States following his Le Mans foray.
Since Wickens was in Toronto for the weekend, he was contacted by fulltimer and compatriot James Hinchcliffe, with whom he performed a ride-swap in February (IndyCar) and May (DTM).
The former Formula Atlantics ace said: “First off, I'm excited to be here. I mean, it's definitely a last-minute trip. I found out basically yesterday at 2pm that this is going to happen, got on a flight last night, got to the hotel about 10pm last night, sleep, here as soon as the gates opened. It's been a bit of a ride.”
Asked if IndyCar, Formula 1 or DTM were the main focus of his future plans, Wickens replied: “To be honest, Formula 1 is not on my radar whatsoever. I'm 28 years old. I have no ambition to start a Formula 1 career now.
“I'm very happy where I am with Mercedes and DTM. Obviously, this was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. James and I, we're very close.
“Also, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports – we've stayed in contact since the car swap because they're great people, we got along very well. We kind of just chatted as friends through texting and stuff.
“Hinch actually asked me if I was in Canada, because I wasn't supposed to be going to have a relaxing weekend at home before I go back to Germany for my next DTM race.
“At the moment, DTM is my priority. That's all I want to do. You never know what the future holds – but I can confidently say that Formula 1 is not on the radar for me.”
Wickens said that Mercedes personnel had given no opposition to his substitution for Aleshin this weekend.
“I had to call Ulrich Fritz, the CEO of HWA,” he said. “He's more than happy for me just to get more seat time. He understood the situation.
“He believes that drivers driving different cars will make you better when you come back to your day job. More than happy with it. He did have to call Toto [Wolff].
“I was more nervous about the timeframe of everything. This was all happening extremely last minute. I know Toto is at the European Grand Prix this weekend. I wasn't sure if he would be traveling or not. We kind of needed a quick answer, yes or no, if I could do it or not.
“Surprisingly five minutes later, he called me back and said, ‘Pack your helmet and have fun.’ So luckily it wasn't that hard to convince him.’
Wickens finished opening practice in 20th.
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