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IndyCar: Robert Wickens – Best rookie since Juan Pablo Montoya?

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 08: Robert Wickens, driver of the #6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda, prepares to practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 8, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 08: Robert Wickens, driver of the #6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda, prepares to practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 8, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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Prior to injuries that he sustained in a wreck sidelining him for the rest of the 2018 IndyCar season, Robert Wickens was having a sensational rookie season. Is he the best IndyCar rookie since Juan Pablo Montoya?

After he was involved in a colossal crash on the seventh lap of the 200-lap ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway this past Sunday, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Robert Wickens will miss the remaining three races on the 2018 IndyCar schedule.

But prior to that, the 29-year-old Canadian was having a sensational rookie season and certainly the best rookie season of any IndyCar in a long time.

In his 14 races this season, Wickens racked up 10 top 10 finishes, seven top five finishes and four podium finishes, including two career-high second place finishes in the races at ISM Raceway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In each of the four races that the driver of the #6 Honda didn’t finish in the top 10 this season, he very well could or even should have.

Wickens took the pole position for his first career IndyCar race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, and he went on to lead 69 of its first 108 laps. But with two laps to go, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi spun him out in turn one following a restart, causing the rookie to crash and be officially scored in 18th place despite the fact that he dominated the race.

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In the race on the streets of Long Beach, Wickens started in 10th place. However, mechanical issues forced him to finish 12 laps off the lead lap in 22nd.

In the race at Texas Motor Speedway, Wickens, who started in fourth place, was in a position to contend for the win if not win after leading 31 of the first 171 laps. However, on lap 172, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Carpenter made contact with him, sending the cars of the two drivers into the wall and ending both of their races. Wickens was officially scored in 19th.

Most recently, in the race at Pocono Raceway that featured Wickens’s horrific crash, he started in sixth place. On the restart following the caution flag period that took place as a result of contact between Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot, he shot his way up to fourth through the first turn of the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) triangle. He was challenging Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay for third going into turn two when the contact was made that sent him into the catch fence. He was officially scored in 19th.

Wickens is a driver who, in his rookie season, could very well have been in the mix to win the championship if not for these things going wrong. Even with three races remaining on the schedule in which he will not participate, he is pretty much a lock to be the Rookie of the Year. He sits in sixth place in the championship standings with 391 points. The next highest rookie in the standings is Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach, who sits in 16th with 239 points.

Since Juan Pablo Montoya’s sensational rookie CART season back in 1999 during which he secured seven victories, nine podium finishes, 10 top five finishes and 13 top 10 finishes in 20 races en route to being crowned the champion, has there really been anyone close to having the success that Wickens has had as a rookie IndyCar driver?

In the 18-race 2003 CART season, rookie Sebastien Bourdais secured three victories and an additional four podium finishes en route to a fourth place finish in the championship standings, although his point total was nowhere near that of champion Paul Tracy. Bourdais ended the season with nine top five finishes and 11 top 10 finishes after failing to finish in the top 10 in the each of the season’s first three races.

In the 14-race 2007 Champ Car season, Robert Doornbos secured two victories and an additional four podium finishes en route to a third place finish in the championship standings, although his point total was nowhere near that of champion Bourdais. Doornbos ended the season with seven top five finishes and nine top 10 finishes.

Other than the rookie seasons of these two drivers, no other rookie driver has really come close to matching Wickens’s success in his rookie season since Montoya won the 1999 CART championship, and Wickens was extremely successful this year even though he did not a race.

If Wickens manages to recover from his injuries and return to IndyCar in the future, expect his win total to increase at a rapid pace. Look at what Montoya went on to do in IndyCar and Formula 1. Look at what Bourdais has gone on to accomplish.

A healthy Wickens could be even better.

Next. Top 10 IndyCar drivers of all-time. dark

Did Robert Wickens have the best rookie IndyCar season since Juan Pablo Montoya’s rookie CART season back in 1999? If not, whose was better since then?