TRIPLE PODIUM FOR HANSEN WORLD RX TEAM IN RIGA DOUBLE-HEADER
FIA World Rallycross Championship, Latvia, 2022-09-04
Riga in Latvia hosted the second installment of the new all-electric FIA World Rallycross Championship era with a double-header at the Bikernieki circuit, where the Hansen World RX Team claimed a trio of podiums with the Peugeot 208 RX1e.
Former Euro RX Champion Kevin Hansen was the driver to beat on the opening day of the weekend, third fastest in Heat 1 followed by the fastest time of all in Heat 2 to claim top position at the Ranking stage.
He then won his semi-final from the front to take pole position for the final, and led the last race of the day from the front in the early stages, eventually finishing second overall after a close battle with winner Johan Kristoffersson.
In a strong performance from the team, 2019 World RX Drivers’ Champion Timmy Hansen was also in the fight for victory, having taken the second-best time in the SuperPole session to open the weekend, then challenged brother Kevin and Kristoffersson in the final, ultimately finishing third to add to his podium from the opening round of the year in Norway.
The Hansen World RX Team worked hard overnight to extract more pace from its new 500kW four-wheel-drive 208 RX1e machines and made improvements for round three, but the Swedish squad was greeted with a new challenge on Sunday morning, running the cars for the very first time in wet conditions in Heat 1.
Timmy Hansen went fastest in Heat 2, while Kevin Hansen fought back from being pushed into a wall in Heat 2, pausing his challenge, to win his progression race and make it to the final, where like brother Timmy, he chose an outside starting position.
Thanks to fantastic launches, in part due to a big effort from both ORECA Magny Cours for Performance Engineering and ÖHLINS on the suspension side, the pair ran first and second early on in the final, Kevin heading Timmy, the latter diving into the joker at the first opportunity. Kevin took his extra route later in the race, but when all of the joker strategies played out the result would be second (Kevin) and fourth (Timmy) for the squad.
Hansen World RX team’s focus now shifts to the next rounds of World RX that take place in two weeks, at Montalegre in Portugal (September 17-18).
“We didn’t have the speed on Saturday but managed to get a good result in the end, then we put our heads together and tried some strange things with the cars. You need to risk things sometimes to be able to win and we managed to get the cars better – both drivers had big smiles after morning warm up on Sunday.
The cars were good, we had some incidents, it’s been a really hard weekend for the team but overall we have to be pleased with three podiums.
But, it should have been so much more, especially on Sunday. We should have managed the tactics better in the final but we will learn from this. It’s been a great weekend of rallycross in Latvia overall taking this new era to a different country and promoting this increased sustainability effort to a different audience and we will continue to do that too at the coming races.”
“It’s been a very challenging here in Riga, we had a lot of ups and downs especially on day two. We had to find a lot of pace and really push ourselves as a team, almost outside our boundaries to understand where the speed we need was. We did a really good job.
– I have to really praise the mechanics because they had such a difficult weekend with the weather changing all the time and a lot of changes on the car, so a really a big thanks to them for all of the amazing work that they do.
On my side I think I had a really good two days, on Saturday especially I was in the right position in the lead of the final, but just lost out on the win in a single lap.
Sunday was a lot of up and down like I said, but we made a good start when it counted in the final to be leading, so it’s bitter sweet to finish second. We need to find more performance, but overall two second places and now second in the championship for me is a solid weekend.”
“Riga has probably been one of our most challenging tracks of the last few years, we haven’t always been good here and I think we did very well to recover a lot of pace from day one to day two.
On Saturday we didn’t have the pace to win but we did a very good job to fight at the front and both me and Kevin finish on the podium.
We did a lot of work to find more pace for Sunday, I’m really happy with the work of everyone in the team. On Sunday, even though the heats were difficult for us, especially in the wet for the first time we didn’t have the pace – we had the win in the bag in the final, but we didn’t get it right. We have to learn from what happened and to continue our hard work – but we are making progress!
I also must publicly apologise to Niclas Gronholm for the big hit in the progression race. We had to change the brake pads before the race and when I came over the jump the car just didn’t stop. I completely rammed the back of him and ended his race and mine. The brakes were also a problem for me for the rest of the day, so that’s another thing for us to work on ahead of the next races.”
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In a strong performance from the team, 2019 World RX Drivers’ Champion Timmy Hansen was also in the fight for victory, having taken the second-best time in the SuperPole session to open the weekend, then challenged brother Kevin and Kristoffersson in the final, ultimately finishing third to add to his podium from the opening round of the year in Norway.
The Hansen World RX Team worked hard overnight to extract more pace from its new 500kW four-wheel-drive 208 RX1e machines and made improvements for round three, but the Swedish squad was greeted with a new challenge on Sunday morning, running the cars for the very first time in wet conditions in Heat 1.
Timmy Hansen went fastest in Heat 2, while Kevin Hansen fought back from being pushed into a wall in Heat 2, pausing his challenge, to win his progression race and make it to the final, where like brother Timmy, he chose an outside starting position.
Thanks to fantastic launches, in part due to a big effort from both ORECA Magny Cours for Performance Engineering and ÖHLINS on the suspension side, the pair ran first and second early on in the final, Kevin heading Timmy, the latter diving into the joker at the first opportunity. Kevin took his extra route later in the race, but when all of the joker strategies played out the result would be second (Kevin) and fourth (Timmy) for the squad.
Hansen World RX team’s focus now shifts to the next rounds of World RX that take place in two weeks, at Montalegre in Portugal (September 17-18).
KENNETH HANSEN Hansen World RX Team – Team Principal
“We didn’t have the speed on Saturday but managed to get a good result in the end, then we put our heads together and tried some strange things with the cars. You need to risk things sometimes to be able to win and we managed to get the cars better – both drivers had big smiles after morning warm up on Sunday.
The cars were good, we had some incidents, it’s been a really hard weekend for the team but overall we have to be pleased with three podiums.
But, it should have been so much more, especially on Sunday. We should have managed the tactics better in the final but we will learn from this. It’s been a great weekend of rallycross in Latvia overall taking this new era to a different country and promoting this increased sustainability effort to a different audience and we will continue to do that too at the coming races.”
KEVIN HANSEN Hansen World RX Team – Driver #71
“It’s been a very challenging here in Riga, we had a lot of ups and downs especially on day two. We had to find a lot of pace and really push ourselves as a team, almost outside our boundaries to understand where the speed we need was. We did a really good job.
– I have to really praise the mechanics because they had such a difficult weekend with the weather changing all the time and a lot of changes on the car, so a really a big thanks to them for all of the amazing work that they do.
On my side I think I had a really good two days, on Saturday especially I was in the right position in the lead of the final, but just lost out on the win in a single lap.
Sunday was a lot of up and down like I said, but we made a good start when it counted in the final to be leading, so it’s bitter sweet to finish second. We need to find more performance, but overall two second places and now second in the championship for me is a solid weekend.”
TIMMY HANSEN Hansen World RX Team
“Riga has probably been one of our most challenging tracks of the last few years, we haven’t always been good here and I think we did very well to recover a lot of pace from day one to day two.
On Saturday we didn’t have the pace to win but we did a very good job to fight at the front and both me and Kevin finish on the podium.
We did a lot of work to find more pace for Sunday, I’m really happy with the work of everyone in the team. On Sunday, even though the heats were difficult for us, especially in the wet for the first time we didn’t have the pace – we had the win in the bag in the final, but we didn’t get it right. We have to learn from what happened and to continue our hard work – but we are making progress!
I also must publicly apologise to Niclas Gronholm for the big hit in the progression race. We had to change the brake pads before the race and when I came over the jump the car just didn’t stop. I completely rammed the back of him and ended his race and mine. The brakes were also a problem for me for the rest of the day, so that’s another thing for us to work on ahead of the next races.”
More free great photos, videos and other content on Red Bull Contentpool for editorial use.
Remember to ger RX+ All Live to see ALL the ACTION from the new electric FIA World Rallycross Championship. 
