IndyCar’s Hinchcliffe to swap test rides with touring car star Wickens
IndyCar’s James Hinchcliffe will test a DTM touring car in March, while DTM driver Robert Wickens will test Hinchcliffe’s open-wheel ride next week.
James Hinchcliffe won’t be behind the wheel at his team’s next Verizon IndyCar Series test as he announced Thursday that he’s swapping test rides with the German DTM touring car series.
DTM driver Robert Wickens will drive Hinchcliffe’s No. 5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda when SPM runs its team test at Sebring International Raceway next Tuesday, Feb. 28. In return, Hinchcliffe will get the opportunity to test a DTM Mercedes AMG at the Vallelunga Circuit in Italy on Friday, March 17 — just after the start of the 2017 IndyCar season.
The two drivers are longtime friends who wanted to see how the other half drives.
“We both had an interest in kind of sharing our series with each other, and we kept talking about it,” Hinchcliffe said in a press release Thursday. “We decided we were going to try and take a swing at it, talked to all parties involved and amazingly it all worked out.”
“We’ve seen some other drivers do it in the past — Formula One and NASCAR and all that — and we thought it would be a cool opportunity to do with DTM and IndyCar,” Wickens added. “It wasn’t easy planning it and making everything work, but I’m really looking forward to the opportunity of driving his car.”
You can watch the duo’s official announcement of the ride swap below:
The exchange of rides actually works out easier for Wickens. Prior to racing in the German series, he drove in the Champ Car Atlantic Series, Formula Two, GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5 so he has open-wheel driving well under his belt.
Hinchcliffe just completed his yearly sportscar race driving for Mazda Motorsports in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but added on Thursday that taking the seat in DTM presents a lot of new aspects to him.
“I’m going to a country I’ve never raced in, on a track I’ve never been to, in a type of car I’ve only seen in person, so I think it’s going to be a much bigger culture shock for me,” he admitted. “We’re just both super excited and thankful to all the parties involved for making it happen.”
If you’re an IndyCar fan this doesn’t necessarily have an impact for you, since this is just a change on two test days and not involving any race action. But fans can appreciate the cross-promotion. It’s similar to how Team Penske NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski got to take a ride in the IndyCar entry of teammate Simon Pagenaud last year.
These opportunities mean more to the drivers than to the fans, but if doing them and publicizing them sparks additional talk about or interest in IndyCar from other leagues or other fans, it’s a win-win.
Next: Which drivers stood out at IndyCar's Phoenix league test?
Hinchcliffe will certainly have a busy week with the 2017 season opener on March 12, the DTM test on March 17. At least he’ll be able to take his time getting back from Rome as the second race of the IndyCar season isn’t until April 9, at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.