Kyle Kirkwood reacts to his first IndyCar win with Robert Wickens

Former IndyCar driver Robert Wickens was seen celebrating alongside Kyle Kirkwood, who won the 50th anniversary ACURA Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday after starting from pole.

Wickens was on the timing stand for Kirkwood as his performance analyst and driving advisor after his IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race. It was the duo's first win after working together since 2023.

While in conversation with Michael Pruett from RACER.com, Kirkwood spoke about how Wickens is a big part of the Andretti team and his contribution.

“It was a huge, huge weekend for him in general. So great to see him back in a car, top-tier motorsports in IMSA, something that is absolutely taken off in recent years.

"It was really cool to see that, and to cap it off for him, to get out of the car doing his own race, then come back to help us and roll out of here with a win. … He’s a big part of our team, and things are looking up for Robert Wickens,” Kirkwood said.

Robert Wickens made his debut in the top level of motorsports seven years after the crash at Pocono Raceway in 2018, which left him paralyzed in the lower half of his body due to a spinal injury. He drove the No. 36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 for DXDT along with his teammate Tommy Milner.

The Corvette was specially developed for Wickens with hand-controlled throttle and brakes mounted on the steering wheel, which made the switch between padel-controlled brakes and hand controlled brakes simple. The DXDT teammates had a solid race, running in the top five until the contact that happened during Milner's run during the last few laps.

Overall, it was a pretty solid weekend for Roberts Wickens, with a decent debut race and a win with the Andretti team.

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Robert Wickens speaks on his return to racing.

Robert Wickens spoke about his return to racing after a horrific accident in 2018, which had put his racing career in jeopardy. The Canadian driver was injured in the accident during the Pocono Raceway IndyCar race.

The 36-year-old's car went airborne after contact with Andretti driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, leading him to suffer spinal fractures. However, seven years after the incident, Wickens is all set to make his debut at IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with teammate Tommy Milner.

While in conversation with Bob Pockrass, Wickens spoke about the feeling of returning to racing while also speaking about the way he feels the same in the car.

“Honestly, I do. And I know, like, when I was paralyzed, everyone was like, ‘Oh, how are you gonna feel the car if you can’t feel your legs?’ The first time I drove a car, in 2021, that was the first thing I noticed: I had a bit of oversteer, and I felt exactly the same, like nothing changed,” he said.

"Although I’m driving with my hands now, the feeling of understeer or oversteer, or pushing the car to the limit, that never changed.” (00:06 - 00:33)

Before his accident in 2018, Robert Wickens was a Formula One test driver with Lotus Renault GP team (currently Alpine F1 Team). He also won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the year award.