Multiple World Championship winning team Hansen Motorsport is delighted to reveal its first-ever all-electric rallycross car, the Peugeot 208 RX1e, ready to compete in the opening round of the new-look FIA World Rallycross Championship this weekend in Hell, Norway (August 13 – 14). Developed in-house at the Swedish team’s Gotene workshops, exercising over 30 years’ experience of competing at the highest level in rallycross, the Peugeot 208 RX1e is the first car produced with an all-electric powertrain in the squad’s history, the next step on the team’s journey in its efforts to increase sustainability and environmental awareness, having already signed up to the United Nations Sports For Climate Action Framework last year. More photos at Red Bull Content pool.   As part of the mammoth effort by every single member of the team, two cars fitted with homologated single-specification four-wheel-drive electric powertrain kits, delivering 500kW, have been prepared by Hansen Motorsport to compete in World RX with drivers Timmy Hansen – the 2019 Drivers’ Champion – and Kevin Hansen – a former Euro RX champion and multiple World RX event-winner.                     2022 marks the first stage in a multi-year commitment by the team, as part of its biggest ever investment to rallycross, and the quest for more success on track begins this weekend at the historic Hell Circuit in Norway, a fitting location as the Nordic country is one of the world’s leading lights for automotive sustainability. The team – together with its partners displayed on the striking new liveries – enters the Norwegian round on the back of a successful “official” pre-season test at Holjes last weekend, and is targeting success from the outset in what is expected to be a hugely-competitive field this season.       The Hansen Peugeot 208 RX1e testing in Höljes August 5 2022. Key Facts | Hell RX Where: The Lankebanen (Hell) Circuit is World RX’s most Northerly venue in 2022, located 50 kilometres from the city of Trondheim and 8 kms from the closest international airport. The circuit itself, which features significant undulation, is a favourite among drivers. It is 1.019km in length and comprises of 63% asphalt and 37% gravel. When: All of the action is broadcast on the RX+ All Live platform this weekend [August 13-14] via the World RX Website. Saturday August 13 Practice: 09:35 SuperPole: 11:30 Heat 1: 13:10 Heat 2: 15:40 Sunday August 14 Warm-Up: 09:05 Heat 3: 10:10 Progression: 13:10 Semi-Final and Final: 17:00 Blast from the past: Part of the World RX schedule from 2014 – 2019, the Hell circuit returns this year, but who can forget Timmy Hansen’s win for the Hansen team in 2015, where ‘team work made the dream work’, as live on television, Timmy could be seen telling his spotter on the radio that team mate Davy Jeanney, who he was battling for the win, needed to be careful in the joker lap section as it was very slippery. The pair finished 1-2 on the podium. QUOTES KENNETH HANSEN

It has been incredible for a team of our size to build a car of this level. We are many years in rallycross and we have been very successful, so I would be lying if I would say are not looking to win, but it will be hard.

  “It has been quite a journey from pushing the button on this project to just finishing the first test last week. It has been incredible for a team of our size to build a car of this level. We are many years in rallycross and we have been very successful, so I would be lying if I would say are not looking to win, but it will be hard. We need to have reliability, to both finish all the races and to have the speed to win. It’s going to be a fight from the tent in the paddock to the finish flag. It feels really great to be part of this new era, following the route of the car manufacturers and focusing on how important it is to move to a more sustainable future for our planet. And, we are not just making electric rallycross cars here, we are making the fastest cars ever in rallycross. It was not as simple as just removing the internal combustion engine and putting in the electric powertrain – this has been a huge effort by everyone in the team, in Sweden, France and England and hopefully we pay that effort back with good results this weekend.”   TIMMY HANSEN

I’m very positively surprised by many things, mostly with how fast the car is! The speed of the launch is just incredible now – it’s something completely different. We are well ahead on 0-100kph compared to the previous cars so it’s definitely a step into the future.

“It feels super cool to finally be driving electric rallycross cars in World RX. We’ve been speaking about it for so long and anticipating this moment, building the cars to make them the best we can. So to actually be driving them now, I’m very positively surprised by many things, mostly with how fast the car is – it really is as fast as we had been hoping. The speed of the launch is just incredible now – it’s something completely different. We are well ahead on 0-100kph compared to the previous cars so it’s definitely a step into the future. We still have a lot of work to do, there are many things we still want to try, but we are going racing now so we will just dive into it and put everything together the best we can. I’m absolutely convinced that these cars will be the fastest rallycross cars that we have seen yet so that’s very exciting!”   KEVIN HANSEN

It’s a very exciting to start this new era. We have been waiting for this for the last four years and I’ve been really impressed by the work done by everyone at Hansen Motorsport and our partners to get to this point.

“We had a really successful test last week, the first time to get an understanding for the DNA of this car and we were very happy not to have any big reliability issues. In my opinion there are a lot of things we can maximise on the car, so there are some exciting times ahead. It’s going to be a long season getting the car dialled in, and I’m sure our competitors feel the same way. It’s a very exciting to start this new era. We have been waiting for this for the last four years and I’ve been really impressed by the work done by everyone at Hansen Motorsport and our partners to get to this point. It’s been a big challenge and now it’s time to get racing underway. We are hungry for success, we are aiming to be on the podium and the top step is the target, but we also know it will be a very competitive feild. I think we have a good chance – I can’t wait.”   Photos by: Jörg Mitter. More photos at Red Bull Content pool.