Team Hansen did not have the easiest of starts when the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship season finally got underway in Sweden, with Timmy Hansen leading the team’s charge in sixth and Kevin Hansen finishing eighth.
As reigning champions hopes were high for a strong result during the return of World RX after an extended break. And while there were signs of strong pace at times, the team’s key focus this evening is finding improvements ahead of the second round of the championship this Sunday.
Ultimately circumstances conspired against either reigning world champion Timmy Hansen and his younger brother, World RX bronze medallist Kevin Hansen, from scoring a top result on Saturday. Both drivers faced a similar fate at turn two, as Kevin was pushed wide into the joker in his semi-final and Timmy spun around in the final.
Timmy and Kevin did score the second and third-fastest times in Q3 and Timmy repeated the feat in the second semi-final, beaten only by eventual round winner Johan Kristoffersson.
Kevin also picked up a race win in his Q1 heat, his switch from #71 to #9 in hope of better grid draws paying off immediately as he was able to start from pole.
The end result for both drivers weren’t ideal. Timmy finished the final in the gravel trap at turn nine, while being pushed wide left Kevin stuck behind a train of cars for much of his semi-final.
Despite those results it was still a productive day for the team. Both drivers’ points put Team Hansen second in the teams’ championship race, and Timmy is fourth in the drivers’ championship.
Unlike a normal World RX round, the team and drivers aren’t going anywhere after the chequered flag. With round two of the season happening tomorrow in a shortened double-header format – today featured only three qualifying rounds instead of the normal four – Team Hansen is back on track and aiming to convert its pace into stronger results in less than 24 hours’ time.
Kevin also picked up a race win in his Q1 heat, his switch from #71 to #9 in hope of better grid draws paying off immediately as he was able to start from pole.
The end result for both drivers weren’t ideal. Timmy finished the final in the gravel trap at turn nine, while being pushed wide left Kevin stuck behind a train of cars for much of his semi-final.
Despite those results it was still a productive day for the team. Both drivers’ points put Team Hansen second in the teams’ championship race, and Timmy is fourth in the drivers’ championship.
Unlike a normal World RX round, the team and drivers aren’t going anywhere after the chequered flag. With round two of the season happening tomorrow in a shortened double-header format – today featured only three qualifying rounds instead of the normal four – Team Hansen is back on track and aiming to convert its pace into stronger results in less than 24 hours’ time.
Quotes
“We had some technical issues on my car today during Q1 and Q2, which was strange. But we found a solution for Q3 and after that I felt at home in the car again. That put us behind at the beginning but Q3 and the semi-final were good, and then the final didn’t go so great, so it was an unusual day.
“We’re working hard to find some improvements. We’ve got some things to work on and details to solve. We missed our target a little bit today but tomorrow’s a new day so I’m looking forward to it.”
“The car wasn’t perfect. We still have some work to do. We need to understand a few things we’ve changed on the car for this season. What’s positive is that me and Timmy are running our cars a bit differently to one another, so tonight we’re excited to be sitting down together as a team and not worrying about the result today, focusing instead on what we can find for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the debrief.
“While we didn’t have the pace to win today, we’re pretty close. We need to sit down and see what improvements we can find and gain those important few hundredths of a second in every corner. We know where our weaknesses are and we have a new race at the same track tomorrow, a track we love, so we’re going out there for redemption tomorrow! We need to stay on our toes, look into the small details, leave no stone unturned and go again.”
“In certain conditions today went really well. We struggled a little bit with some issues that we didn’t quite expect but we figured those out, and after that we were back on the pace for Q3. We’d made some big changes between Q2 and Q3 and the drivers needed to adjust, so we were fully focused on our own race rather than worried about our competitors’ track position. Overall, not winning Q3 didn’t make much of a difference.
“Neither of the cars have any significant damage after today, just some small cosmetic defects. What’s taking up a lot of our time this evening is preparing the 48 new wheels and tyres for tomorrow, which is a lot! Then we’re giving the cars a normal service and debriefing with the drivers. But with the weather forecast still variable, we won’t be making any decisions on set-up today.
