Reigning FIA World Rallycross champion Timmy Hansen and his brother, World RX bronze medallist Kevin Hansen, begin their rallycross season this Sunday in an unusual manner. As much of the world remains on lockdown due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, Timmy and Kevin will instead line up with their Peugeot 208 WRX machines in the virtual world with Dirt Rally 2.0, competing in the first-ever World RX Esports Invitational. April 19 was scheduled to be the second day of the 2020 World RX season opener at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but with the event postponed, Team Hansen’s world championship-winning driver pairing will take on a field of familiar rivals, esports champions and YouTube stars instead. The Esports Invitational won’t count for the upcoming FIA World Rallycross Championship but is a way to keep spirits high and connect with motorsport fans around the world. s Both Timmy and Kevin have been putting in hours of practice on their recently acquired Sparco Gaming rigs in anticipation of their rallycross esports debut. They’ve been hard at work perfecting their technique on the game by practicing alongside reigning DiRT Rally 2.0 World Series Rallycross champion Killian Dall’olmo, who will also be participating in the invitational event. Team Hansen’s shift to the virtual world has been accelerated by the founding of a Twitch account by its junior operation #YellowSquad, which has been streaming live practice sessions by Timmy and Kevin ahead of the inaugural World RX esports event. Sunday might be Timmy’s esports debut but Kevin already has a head start, having competed in The Race All-Stars Cup last weekend. His mammoth schedule includes another two esports events between now and Sunday, taking part in the iRacing RX Invitational on Friday night and then another round of The Race All-Stars on Saturday ahead of his World RX Esports debut. While the on-track action may have been put on pause, Team Hansen is now charging ahead in the virtual world!

#1 Timmy Hansen

“I think starting the season with esports isn’t exactly what we hoped for. I wanted to be in Barcelona this weekend, but esports is better than no racing at all! The excitement of racing and being on the start line is nice. “When you actually race online it is very different to real racing where you only have one chance and you have to put your four laps together. I’m missing the adrenaline kick and rush that you get from driving a race car. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we can’t travel, obviously. But in motorsports we are lucky because we still get to compete in a different version of our sport, except indoors. A simulator isn’t real life, but it is much closer than other sports might be. We’ll put on some good online racing in virtual Barcelona for our fans and hopefully people enjoy watching it.”

#9 Kevin Hansen

“I’m really excited about Sunday’s race. I have been practicing in the simulator for about a week now and have really enjoyed it. My goal is to be best of the non-gamers! It’s very different from all the games I’ve played, so now I’m trying to do as many races as I can, whether that’s racing or rallycross. I’m trying to get into the sim-racing experience and the spirit of that and to be ready for Sunday. Dirt Rally 2.0 is tricky and different from real life in many ways compared to the real 208 WRX. “In the game it is really fast to have full slide and a big push and a lot of handbrake, but in reality, at least Timmy and I, we drive with a cleaner approach, staying on the racing line. It’s easier to make big mistakes in the sim as you only have the feedback from the steering wheel and your eyes and ears, but in the real race car you have also physical feedback from your back, feet and behind!”