Vikan: Taking the next step on the return mark

Robert Vikens was always to return to a racing car, which was attached to an indycar wheel in Poconi in 2018 after life -changing injuries. He never doubted this, nor the people around him. So no one should surprise that their return is riding with an IMSA Sportscar Championship campaign with a Chevrolet Carvet, which is equipped with the latest generation of hand-control developed in combination with Bosch motorsports.

“I don’t think I never thought of going back to a race car: it was not really an option for me,” weeks and months of months say Vikan, when he was paralyzed as a result of several injuries on the opening lap of Poconi 500 in August ’18. His determination was never questioned by good friends and then team partner James Hunchcliffe, who was also involved in the accident: “I don’t think anyone suspected that Robbie would like to go back to a car-and he would be.”

Returning to the wheel of the racing car did not return for almost three years. Meanwhile there were other priorities, such as getting married and becoming a father. But within May 2021, within the Cockpit of Hyundai Velostar TCR, Vikans knew that he would be re -starting a racing career, which included an Indycar miscreants for the year title – despite remembering the last three races, won in ’18 – a stinked 1 test as the 2011 formula Renalt 3.5 Crown.

Vikens explains, “I was trying to go back into a car and I did not know how it was going to happen,” who got the first chance to do the pre -Indycar alumni, benching Bryan Harta. “It was a rainy day in mid-ohio; Brian Harta invited me to a track day with his TCR race team. Finally, I was going to run a race car again. Honestly, I knew that I still had a second lap that I had run with hand control.”

The test led a full-season drive with Brian Harta Autosport at the Michelin Pilot Challenge in 2022, on the bill of the main IMSA series riding in a Hyundai Elementra N TCR. Vikens, along with Mark Wilkins, won the class in two races. In season two of his return, he won the TCR title with Harry Gottsacker and then finished third in the issue of the same team last year.

The next step for Vikens is to proceed in the main IMSA series with the help of a bosch. This year he is electing five sprint rounds of the series, starting as his team partner with Tommy Milner on Long Beach in April, running a cavity Z06 GT3.R.

Bosch has stepped into the plate and played an important role in the development of a new system of hand control – the Vikens intensifies gear with its left hand and gives a break on its right side. It now includes brake by wire, an electronic braking system (EBS). This means, Bosch motorsport software technical expert Jeff Blair explains, changing the electronic signal on the steering wheel into a brake pressure in the colipper.

The vendors consider the system, initially developed on their TCR car from the end of 2023, as a success. “I was introduced to everyone in the bosch, and one thing inspired the other and we got the first EBS in our Hyundai TCR car. The car had a smile on my face in my first lap. I had a braking that I wanted when I was running with hand control when I wanted me.”

It was a motivational program that was to be included, and not only for Vikan. “This is certainly one of the projects where everyone in the team in North American and Europe was, ‘Do you want anything on it?”, Bosh Motorsport Senior Systems Engineer Jordan Crell says. “It was really good to see all 200 people within the bosch motorsport around the world, actually excited about the project.”

“Racing all I know,” is called a veg, who started racing carts at the age of eight. In the early days after the Poconi accident, his question was, “How can you run with hand control?”. Now, their horizons are becoming widespread with their aspirations. ,

“Seeing where we are now and what the bosch is able to provide for me,” he is going on, “I think it’s going to create almost endless opportunities.”