Hansen World RX Team endures hellish result in Norway
The Hansen World RX Team endured a weekend to forget in the second round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Hell, Norway, following incidents on track for both of the team’s drivers.
Having made steps to close the gap to the front of the order following the opening round of the season in Portugal two weeks earlier, the Hansen World RX Team and drivers Timmy and Kevin Hansen entered the weekend in Hell with high hopes.
Changes to the all-electric Peugeot 208 RX1e machines through the Norwegian encounter also improved the performance step-by-step on the hillside circuit, as round-one podium finisher Kevin Hansen set second best time in Heat 1 with team mate, 2019 World RX Champion Timmy Hansen, third overall to get qualifying underway.
Never making it to pole position and the favoured inside spot on the grid, the Hansen brothers several times tried an outside move in the opening corner and Kevin Hansen finished second in the Ranking order after Heat 4.
But for Timmy Hansen, his weekend was cut short in Heat 4. Pushed onto the grass over the finish line while trying to overtaken another car, the #21 208 RX1e leapt into the air, and when it landed, the Blue Light came one, signifying a large impact, meaning that the single-specification battery pack used by all World RX cars needed to be checked by specialists, putting Hansen out of the event. The other competitor from the incident was disqualified.
For Kevin Hansen in the #71 208 RX1e, in the semi-finals he made another good start, but contact on the way into turn one caused a front-right puncture, which ended his hopes of making the final. The team now looks ahead to its home round of World RX at Holjes in Sweden (July 1-2).
Kenneth Hansen: “It was a tough ending to a weekend where we worked and found some good things. We found speed and some surprises to us that helped us move forward, but the ending was not good, first with Timmy’s incident and then with Kevin’s puncture. It’s just one of those weekends, now we are only looking forward to try and start on a new platform at the next races that can take us closer to the top. We will continue to work with that objective.”
Kevin Hansen: “The weekend didn’t end at all like we wanted. I had a great start in the semi-final, was almost completely clear of Johan Kristoffersson into turn one but we had contact and I got a puncture directly. That was a big shame, we felt like we had a good car and we could challenge for the podium at a minimum and if we put everything together we could challenge Johan for the win – this is rallycross and anything can happen but unfortunately for us we were on the wrong side of what can happen. It’s a really big shame, overall though we qualified well and we’re making good progress, but the end result is very disappointing. We will bounce back.”
Timmy Hansen: “The big race now for the team is to get my car ready for the next race in Sweden so I can be on the start grid again. That is not going to be easy. There was a lot of good signs this weekend. What we’re working on is taking the battle to win some races and this weekend we got a lot closer to be able to do that. I never got the chance in the semi and final today to properly challenge. Hopefully we can be back for the next race to prove what we can do. It feels like the World Championship for me is out of reach at the moment, but things can change quickly and we will keep pushing. We have big motivation in the team to push forward for better results in the coming races.”
Having made steps to close the gap to the front of the order following the opening round of the season in Portugal two weeks earlier, the Hansen World RX Team and drivers Timmy and Kevin Hansen entered the weekend in Hell with high hopes.
Changes to the all-electric Peugeot 208 RX1e machines through the Norwegian encounter also improved the performance step-by-step on the hillside circuit, as round-one podium finisher Kevin Hansen set second best time in Heat 1 with team mate, 2019 World RX Champion Timmy Hansen, third overall to get qualifying underway.
Never making it to pole position and the favoured inside spot on the grid, the Hansen brothers several times tried an outside move in the opening corner and Kevin Hansen finished second in the Ranking order after Heat 4.
But for Timmy Hansen, his weekend was cut short in Heat 4. Pushed onto the grass over the finish line while trying to overtaken another car, the #21 208 RX1e leapt into the air, and when it landed, the Blue Light came one, signifying a large impact, meaning that the single-specification battery pack used by all World RX cars needed to be checked by specialists, putting Hansen out of the event. The other competitor from the incident was disqualified.
For Kevin Hansen in the #71 208 RX1e, in the semi-finals he made another good start, but contact on the way into turn one caused a front-right puncture, which ended his hopes of making the final. The team now looks ahead to its home round of World RX at Holjes in Sweden (July 1-2).
Kenneth Hansen: “It was a tough ending to a weekend where we worked and found some good things. We found speed and some surprises to us that helped us move forward, but the ending was not good, first with Timmy’s incident and then with Kevin’s puncture. It’s just one of those weekends, now we are only looking forward to try and start on a new platform at the next races that can take us closer to the top. We will continue to work with that objective.”
Kevin Hansen: “The weekend didn’t end at all like we wanted. I had a great start in the semi-final, was almost completely clear of Johan Kristoffersson into turn one but we had contact and I got a puncture directly. That was a big shame, we felt like we had a good car and we could challenge for the podium at a minimum and if we put everything together we could challenge Johan for the win – this is rallycross and anything can happen but unfortunately for us we were on the wrong side of what can happen. It’s a really big shame, overall though we qualified well and we’re making good progress, but the end result is very disappointing. We will bounce back.”
Timmy Hansen: “The big race now for the team is to get my car ready for the next race in Sweden so I can be on the start grid again. That is not going to be easy. There was a lot of good signs this weekend. What we’re working on is taking the battle to win some races and this weekend we got a lot closer to be able to do that. I never got the chance in the semi and final today to properly challenge. Hopefully we can be back for the next race to prove what we can do. It feels like the World Championship for me is out of reach at the moment, but things can change quickly and we will keep pushing. We have big motivation in the team to push forward for better results in the coming races.”
in World RX
