Timmy Hansen’s lead at the top of the Nitro Rallycross standings has increased thanks to a hard-fought podium finish at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, battling through to score second place for Red Bull Hansen NRX Team. Current world championship points leader Timmy is in the thick of a title fight to regain the Nitro RX crown he last won in 2018, starting the weekend tied on points with Scott Speed. A victory in his heat race meant Timmy lined up alongside action sports legend and Speed’s Subaru team-mate Travis Pastrana for the final, though starting on the outside meant rival Steve Arpin was able to sneak through at turn one and demote Timmy to third. Not satisfied to sit back and take third, and with Speed taking an alternate strategy that would lead to him taking second place away, Timmy pushed on and swept by Arpin, pulling off a clever move down the inside of the banked second turn to nab the position. It wasn’t enough to beat Speed to the joker merge a lap later but nor did it matter, as Timmy repeated the same move on Speed that he’d pulled on Arpin a lap earlier to retake second. That podium capped a great weekend for the 2018 Nitro champion, whose early skirmishes in the final were a repeat of his excellent win in the second heat. Again facing Arpin, he had pulled off a switchback move in the joker to move from second to first and book a ticket directly to the final. Kevin Hansen did not have the same luck as his elder brother in Phoenix. The reigning Nitro champion had demonstrated great pace but suffered a number of setbacks that stopped him from scoring the same headline results as Timmy. He had finished right on the rear bumper of eventual winner Pastrana’s car during the battle brackets and had looked to be one of the fastest drivers in the field. Kevin had also been on course to finish second behind Timmy in the second heat until a technical issue slowed him on the run to the finish line. More bad luck would befall Kevin in the second semi-final. He hit a stack of tyres dragged onto the racing line by guest driver Kyle Busch and spun out, ending any hopes of direct passage to the final. A dominant run in the last-chance qualifier ensured Kevin would get a starting berth for the eight-car final and his race began very well, zipping past three rivals to lie fifth after the first lap and with an excellent late-joker strategy that meant third place was on the cards. Unfortunately an oil leak halted Kevin’s progress up the leaderboard and forced him to park, robbing him of a potential podium finish. Despite the setbacks both Hansens remain in strong positions for the Nitro RX title. Timmy tops the standings by five points from Pastrana, while Kevin is 28 points behind in fourth overall. There’s no long wait for the next round either, as the drivers head to Glen Helen Raceway in California for round four of the season next weekend.

Timmy Hansen, #21 Peugeot 208

“This weekend has been a lot of fun. I had plenty of good battles, especially in the heat race against Steve Arpin; that was super cool. “I’m super happy with the result given how much racing I had to do to get there! I had put my head down in the final to try and catch Travis but he was just a bit too far up the road. I think we had around the same pace, maybe a little more, but not enough to catch him and fight for the lead. Without those early battles maybe I’d have been able to compete with Travis for the win but I had to work hard for that second place. “I have no idea what to expect in Glen Helen. It’s a whole new experience and these tracks so far have been super challenging. I’ve still got the championship lead after three races from five but a lot can happen in the next two rounds. Second place is useful for the championship points but I want the winner’s trophy again!”

Kevin Hansen, #9 Peugeot 208

“It has been a good weekend in terms of our ultimate pace. I think we had the fastest car in the paddock all weekend, which makes this result even tougher to take. My car felt very well suited to this track and was driving really well in the final early on. We had enough pace to make it to the podium. “With the problems we had today and the engine switching off for reasons we haven’t diagnosed yet, it’s obviously disappointing. This type of fault is quite complicated to diagnose but our engineers are the best in the championship and they’ll figure it out before California next week, I’m sure. “I’ve got a long way to fight back now after dropping to fourth in the championship but we never give up. We definitely had the pace today and we can go to the next race knowing we’re still in a good position to go and fight at the front again.”

Kenneth Hansen, Team Principal

“It was quite a tricky weekend, a bit up and down. The conditions changed a bit over the course of the weekend and it can be hard to tell how that affects the balance between the normal lap and the joker. This meant calculating optimum strategies was extremely complicated from race to race!” “The racing itself was also very close and this was quite special. There were constant wheel-to-wheel battles out on the track, some proper rallycross, which was nice to see.” “The issues with Kevin’s car that stopped him from getting the result he deserved were a disappointment, obviously, but we can be happy with the potential he showed. All things considered, it was a reasonably positive weekend; we can be happy with Timmy’s result and that we are leading the championship.”