Kevin Hansen’s hopes of retaining his Nitro Rallycross title were boosted by a podium finish at ERX Motor Park, plus Timmy Hansen continues to hold the top spot in the championship with a fourth place finish for Red Bull Hansen NRX Team. Round two of the Nitro series took place at a brand new track, ERX Motor Park, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The circuit, which was entirely gravel bar the starting grid, presented a unique challenge for the team’s Peugeot 208 rallycross vehicles, with both cars coping extremely well with the huge jumps and deep gravel turns. A strong launch off the start propelled Kevin from third to second out of turn one, though ultimately Kevin wasn’t able to fend off the challenge of Travis Pastrana behind and dropped back to third after a brief battle for position. Timmy Hansen meanwhile had a much better start than fellow row three starter Steve Arpin to take fourth place. A mistake by Andreas Bakkerud out of turn two, where he clipped a barrier on the inside, allowed him to slip past the Subaru for position, though the delay dropped him behind Pastrana and left him fourth. Both drivers were able to pick up more valuable points on their way to the final, with impressive performances on the first day of action. Timmy repeated his impressive one-lap pace from Utah – where he had gone fastest in solo qualifying – to go second-fastest at ERX, beaten only by Pastrana. While Timmy was eliminated at the second round of Battle Brackets, Kevin made it all the way to outright victory in the eliminator format, adding a valuable four points to his championship total. A good run in his heat race allowed Kevin to go straight through to the finals with a second-place finish but Timmy had to go the long way, as fourth place in the same race sent him to the semi finals. But a stunning start by Timmy in the second semi put him to the lead on the run towards turn two, a position he would lock down for the rest of the four-lap race to book his row three slot for the final. After two rounds out of five Timmy remains in the lead of the NRX standings, tied with ERX final winner Scott Speed on 87 points. Kevin is also in the thick of the title fight, only two points behind the 2019 World Rallycross Champion in third overall. A five-week break now beings in the Nitro calendar but, like the start of the season, a double-header of two rounds in two weeks beckons. Red Bull Hansen NRX Team will visit Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Arizona on November 13-14, followed one week later by another new rallycross venue in Glen Helen Raceway, Southern California.

Kevin Hansen, #9 Peugeot 208

“This weekend has been really good. Our pace has been strong from the beginning and we found a good feeling after a few laps of practice. I was really happy with the car’s handling, how we approached the set-up and how we understood the way we needed to race at this track. “To get the top qualifier spot was amazing and it makes a difference overnight, giving everyone a positive feeling to the whole team working on the cars knowing we are competitive. We had some small technical issues in our heat but we still got second place anyway which is fantastic considering the circumstances. “We had some great speed in the final and challenged Speed throughout the first few laps, though we didn’t quite pick up on how much speed the inside line had gained towards the end on Sunday. That line had been much slower in the rain on Saturday. That allowed Pastrana to get past for second place and from that point, the important thing was to bring home the podium. It’s a long season and there is a fine balance between risk and reward.”

Timmy Hansen, #21 Peugeot 208

“I didn’t quite have as much speed as Kevin this weekend – his set-up was maybe a little better suited to the track than mine – but my solo qualifying lap was really good! I gave that everything I had. The problem was I couldn’t do four of those laps one after the other. But it was a good weekend regardless; fourth position is a good result here. “Subaru definitely had the car to beat this weekend. Travis was probably the absolute fastest driver and they were hard to run with but we do have a few points we can pursue to narrow that gap on this type of surface. “I’m really happy with my two outings in NRX with a win and fourth place. They’ve been two very good races and it’s quite an achievement that the car is still in one piece. With the circuits we have here in NRX that was never a given! “It’s been lots of fun coming over here and doing these races; a big thanks to the NRX crew for building and putting on these incredible races. Now it’s back to the world championship and Spa-Francorchamps, where I’m looking forward to defending my lead in the title race.”

Kenneth Hansen, Team Principal

“This was a tricky weekend for our team as we’re not used to the conditions this track presents. We’re really happy to have scored third and fourth place, given how new this track is for our team and how radically different it is from what we see elsewhere in the world.” “While we weren’t completely free of issues, we are still satisfied with how we performed. Subaru had done lots of testing at this circuit so we knew they’d be the strongest team here this weekend. Despite this, we’re still in the championship lead and Kevin is only two points off the top of the standings, so it’s been a good weekend overall.”