Red Bull Hansen NRX Team finished off 2021 in style as Timmy Hansen and Kevin Hansen combined to score first and second place at the Nitro Rallycross season finale at The FIRM, Florida. Despite coming into the season finale with a near-insurmountable 17-point deficit to eventual champion Travis Pastrana, Timmy finished the year only one point from a second NRX title win after a brilliant victory. Timmy’s start to the finale was strong, picking his way through the head-to-head battle brackets rounds that included a win against Kevin in round three. He finished Saturday off with a close fight with fellow title contender Scott Speed in the final battle bracket race. A dominant heat win secured Timmy a place on the outside front row for the final, with Kevin lining up directly behind him in fourth after taking a slightly longer path to the final. While Kevin couldn’t quite fend off Pastrana for victory in his heat racer, he pulled off the win when it mattered in his semi-final to secure a second-row grid slot. A cool-headed Timmy took advantage of contact between Pastrana and Speed at turn one in the final, cutting back to the inside and zipping past to take the lead. Shortly after it was Kevin’s turn to dispatch both Subarus. He’d already passed Pastrana by going to the joker on lap one and then, seeing an opportunity as Speed took a wide line through the sweeping left-hander in the joker, dived to the inside to take third. Timmy would come out just ahead of Kevin when taking his joker lap at the halfway mark, and that 3-4 became a 1-2 when Pastrana and Steve Arpin jokered on the final tour. The brothers crossed the line in formation finish to bag a fourth 1-2 finish of 2021, adding to their trio of front two lock-outs in World RX earlier this year in Spain, France and Sweden. Though Timmy finished third in the final standings it was mightily close at the final tally; he finished only one point behind both Pastrana and Speed, who ended the year tied on 219 points to Timmy’s 218. There was also great news for Kevin. His stellar pace in the finale meant he finished well ahead of Arpin on points, with whom he was battling with to secure fourth in the championship classification. It’s the end of the rallycross season for Hansen Motorsport in 2021 but it’s not the final race event for Timmy and Kevin. Both will head to the Extreme E season finale in the UK, the Jurassic X-Prix, on December 18-19 to compete for their respective teams, Andretti United and JBXE.

Timmy Hansen, #21 Peugeot 208

“It’s been a perfect weekend here in Florida scoring this 1-2 along with Kevin. We did absolutely everything we could as a team to try and get that championship. In the end, there was nothing more we could do. “This track was definitely more suited to our car. I had the best car I’ve had for the whole year in any championship this weekend; we were really fast and competitive at this track, which gave us the win in the end. “In the end, we lost the title by one point, and without that penalty in the battle bracket on Saturday we would have won the championship. But that was the story of this season for me; penalties put an end to both titles. But regardless of that, it’s been a fantastic season overall. “There’s been lots of victories and being in the battle for two championship titles – both here in NRX and in the world championship – has made this an incredible year. I’m very proud of what we’ve done this season even if I wish it had ended a little differently.”

Kevin Hansen, #9 Peugeot 208

“This has been a really nice weekend. The speed has been there from the first practice for both myself and Timmy. But Scott and Travis were also really quick which made it a proper four-way showdown. It was really fun to battle with them all the way through. It was good fun to race Timmy in the brackets too even if I had to be a bit careful at the merge! “We had a really good race in the heat on Sunday morning but a minor engine issue meant we didn’t have 100% power so unfortunately, we couldn’t beat Travis there. The first turn in the final was a big mess – so proper rallycross! – and it was fun fighting Scott, pulling off the overtake and then fighting him off for the rest of the race. “To finish off the year and our time running combustion-engined rallycross cars with a 1-2 is a fantastic feeling, I’m very proud of all the work the guys have put in to give me a fast car, and proud of the pace I was able to extract from the car. We’ve made some good progress so I’m really happy with that. “Congratulations to Travis on winning the championship, he deserves it. He put in some great drives and he is a true racer and sportsman, so a big thanks to him for a great fight all year. “This championship was lots of fun even if we had a couple of rounds with issues in the middle of the season. But it’s been an amazing year. It’s been such a fun challenge doing these five races here in the States. We’ve got no regrets, it’s been an awesome time; thanks to everyone at Nitro for a great season and I hope to be back for more!”

Kenneth Hansen, Team Principal

“It’s been an intense season! It started quite late in the calendar year but once it got underway, it was a lot to deal with; we’ve had so many races in a row. We’ve had a great fight this season with Subaru and finishing the season with a 1-2 shows our speed and performance, so we’re really happy even if we came just one point short of the title with Timmy. “Our drivers have been brilliant all season. It’s both easy and difficult to have them together in our team. They’re both winners but they know each other very well and the race so well together. They’ve become even stronger this year, especially in their mentality. They’re growing stronger every year. I’m looking forward to the future and what they can do, wherever that may be.” “Our crew has been fantastic all year. The cars have been so reliable – only once this year in Nitro did one of our cars stop and it wasn’t anything to do with the work of our mechanics. We couldn’t have asked for anything more from them, they’ve been so good with making the car run all the time. And this is really important; it earns you points and it earns you positions on track.” “Overall we’re happy with how this year has gone, especially with the type of 1-2 performances like this weekend that we’ve been able to execute. Those were magnificent.”