Reigning FIA World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen got his season back on track with third place at the first of two World RX of Finland rounds, with both Team Hansen cars in a final for the first time this year.
An epic Sweden vs Finland fight played out for the podium places as both Timmy and Kevin Hansen fought GRX duo Juha Rytkönen and Niclas Grönholm in the final. While Timmy couldn’t quite stop Rytkönen from taking second, a brilliant final two laps from Timmy secured his first podium of the year.
Timmy was one of the fastest cars from start to finish on Saturday, beginning round three of the championship with a race win and third-fastest time in Q1, the same position he would go on to qualify in.
His run in the first semi-final was a preview of what was to come in the final. Timmy stayed out until the last lap to take his joker and used his defensive skills to fend off Grönholm at the final corner, securing second in his semi-final and then doing the same thing again in the final to grab third place.
Kevin’s run to the final was less straightforward, as he was picked last in the grid draw on Friday and found himself in traffic throughout qualifying. Once he found some room in Q3 he banked the third-fastest time, and his luck continued to improve for the second semi-final, where he started fourth.
After being pushed out wide at the first turn of his semi-final, Kevin was down to fifth and was then tagged into a half-spin by Jere Kallokoski at the next corner. But that sideways moment turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Timo Scheider ahead ran slightly wide, which allowed Kevin to sneak past on the inside with his car already pointing in the right direction, and moved him from fifth to third in one move.
Third became second when Mattias Ekström pulled off with accident damage, ensuring that Kevin would start the final alongside his older brother on the second row.
Kevin’s hopes of a podium finish disappeared after a sideways landing over a jump at the back of the circuit, sending him wide at the next corner and dropping him to sixth place, where he finished.
With both cars into the final for the first time this year, Team Hansen made vital progress in both the drivers’ and teams’ championship in the first of two rounds being held at Kouvola this weekend. Timmy and Kevin are now tied for third in the drivers’ championship with 50 points each, while Team Hansen is now only 19 points off the top of the teams’ championship.
Round four of the 2020 World RX season takes place tomorrow at the same circuit, Kouvola.
After being pushed out wide at the first turn of his semi-final, Kevin was down to fifth and was then tagged into a half-spin by Jere Kallokoski at the next corner. But that sideways moment turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Timo Scheider ahead ran slightly wide, which allowed Kevin to sneak past on the inside with his car already pointing in the right direction, and moved him from fifth to third in one move.
Third became second when Mattias Ekström pulled off with accident damage, ensuring that Kevin would start the final alongside his older brother on the second row.
Kevin’s hopes of a podium finish disappeared after a sideways landing over a jump at the back of the circuit, sending him wide at the next corner and dropping him to sixth place, where he finished.
With both cars into the final for the first time this year, Team Hansen made vital progress in both the drivers’ and teams’ championship in the first of two rounds being held at Kouvola this weekend. Timmy and Kevin are now tied for third in the drivers’ championship with 50 points each, while Team Hansen is now only 19 points off the top of the teams’ championship.
Round four of the 2020 World RX season takes place tomorrow at the same circuit, Kouvola.
Quotes
“It was a great result today but my podium finish didn’t feel the same as it did the last time. It’s cool but I was missing having the fans there. Usually we’re celebrating together in front of thousands of people, so I’m missing our supporters more than ever this year.
“The whole team and our partners have done a great job. Despite having such a short amount of time between Sweden and Finland, we have figured out what was going on in Höljes and improved the car massively for this weekend. Now we are back on the pace and we put in some good lap times today.
“Johan was on another level today and it wasn’t possible to beat him but I’m happy with third. I definitely gave it everything I had in the final; it was a hard race between me and Niclas. He was also really fast, but at the end I was able to come out just in front.”
“My target for tomorrow is to win the race: anything can happen in rallycross! We’ll keep on pushing.”
“My position in the grid draw made things harder for me today. But we did everything that we could in all of our races to make up for that. Our starts weren’t great today, which doesn’t help when you’re starting from the outside either, so I definitely achieved the best I could given the circumstances.
“In my semi-final, I got stuck on the outside and got a hit from behind coming up to turn two, which spun me a bit towards the inside. Then I saw there was a gap and I went into it. I really have to look at the replay because while from inside it felt quite nice, everyone else is saying it looked absolutely mega from the outside! But it was nice to get some good luck.”
“Myself and Timmy definitely had the same speed today, there’s no question about that. The target tomorrow is to continue our general improvement, keep collecting points, and be in a position to take advantage of every opportunity that arises. Tomorrow should be good as I’m starting P2 in my Q1 race and I’m hungry to fight back.”
“We had a deep look into what happened in Höljes, learning what didn’t quite work and solving those problems. This track suits our car a little bit better than Höljes did but our improved form today is more down to the improvements we’ve made with the car rather than the differences between the two circuits.
“We knew Kristoffersson would be very strong and difficult to beat, but we’re not far away. We didn’t have a perfect car and we didn’t have a perfect run today, given we started from the outside in the beginning. But if we’re working with a tailwind and not a headwind, so to speak, and we manage to get the set-up right, we’ll be right on Kristoffersson’s tail and we’ll be able to push him to the limit. And when you are pressuring the driver ahead, mistakes can happen…
“We expect it to be wet for at least part of Sunday, which will make it a completely different race compared to today. We also struggled a bit with our starts, so we’ve worked on them all day. Towards the end we improved in that respect but we’ll need to keep doing some brainstorming tonight and see if we can improve further.
