HANSEN WORLD RX TEAM ROBBED OF VICTORY HOPES IN PORTUGAL BUT CLAIM PODIUM FINISH
The Hansen World RX Team displayed incredible team spirit in the fourth and fifth rounds of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Montalegre in Portugal, and came away with another podium finish to add to the 2022 tally.
But, it was a weekend that could have delivered so much more for the Swedish team and it’s 500kW all-electric Peugeot 208 RX1e machines.
2019 World RX Drivers’ Champion Timmy battled with the leading contenders before having to overtake another car to climb up the order after taking his joker lap, and eventually finished third, with Kevin in fourth.
The team also started on the back foot on Sunday, but were diligent in dealing with the ever-changing track conditions which resulted in Kevin Hansen delivering one of the drives of the season so-far to twice overtake four-time Drivers’ champion Johan Kristoffersson in his progression race to move to the semi-finals.
Timmy meanwhile also won his progression race to climb to the semi-finals in pole position, but, while Timmy made it through to the final, Kevin was forced out by first corner contact, which broke his 208 RX1e’s suspension.
Timmy made the best start from the outside of the grid in the final and went around the outside of the whole pack to lead the last race of the weekend, but he was pushed off by another competitor in the first corner of lap two, ending the team’s victory hopes Timmy eventually finishing the race in fourth.
Timmy and Kevin Hansen are now P3 and P4 in the World RX Drivers’ Championship respectively, while the Hansen World RX Team is P2 in the Teams’ standings.
The next two rounds of the World RX take place at Spa in Belgium on October 8-9.
“We struggled a little on Saturday to find the speed, but we worked hard, learned a lot and managed to come out with a podium, but most importunately we saw some signs that we were moving in the correct direction.
These RX1e cars are tricky to work with, on the chassis side we improved quite a lot and we saw in the progression race we had a really good run with both drivers.
Unfortunately it changed quite dramatically in the semi-final, Kevin had a race incident which broke his rear suspension and Timmy didn’t really have the pace.
He did a magnificent start in the final but got spun off track after contact at the start of the second lap. We’re disappointed that Johan Kristoffersson felt he needed to do such a manoeuvre but more so that we didn’t get a reward for the work we did and the speed we had. But, that’s how it is sometimes.
We’ve had amazing words and support from the passionate Portuguese people here and we will try to put things together even better in the next race in Spa.”
“We made a brilliant start in the final on Sunday and got pushed off on the second lap. The race ended there. That was it.
I think we did a really good performance, especially on Sunday, but the result was out of my hands. It’s disappointing, but we had a very strong showing as a team, I’m proud of our guys for their great work.
We won the race to turn one in the final, which really matters. We had the pace several times this weekend even if not every time, and we’re fighting hard as a group.
Of course every time you finish on the podium when the competition is so tough you have to be satisfied, so the result on Saturday was good, but we had the chance, again, to take a win on Sunday and that got taken away from us which was frustrating.
Hopefully we can get our overdue first win in this electric era of World RX next time out in Spa.”
“I think this weekend really showed our team spirit. To be honest we were really slow starting off both days, but we worked incredibly well to improve and the guys did an amazing job keeping the car in perfect race condition every time and working to improve the speed.
I also worked to improve the driving on my side, everything came together step-by-step and we were even on track to improve even more. We had the chance to win and it was a shame we couldn’t follow through to the end of the weekend but I’m so proud of everyone in our team.
Sometimes you hit the post in football and the ball bounces out, sometimes it bounces in. This time it bounced out but we can take a lot of positives from this weekend.
It’s a shame for the championship it ended in the semi-final on Sunday, especially coming from a very tough day on Saturday. We will bounce back stronger.”
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.
2019 World RX Drivers’ Champion Timmy battled with the leading contenders before having to overtake another car to climb up the order after taking his joker lap, and eventually finished third, with Kevin in fourth.
The team also started on the back foot on Sunday, but were diligent in dealing with the ever-changing track conditions which resulted in Kevin Hansen delivering one of the drives of the season so-far to twice overtake four-time Drivers’ champion Johan Kristoffersson in his progression race to move to the semi-finals.
Timmy meanwhile also won his progression race to climb to the semi-finals in pole position, but, while Timmy made it through to the final, Kevin was forced out by first corner contact, which broke his 208 RX1e’s suspension.
Timmy made the best start from the outside of the grid in the final and went around the outside of the whole pack to lead the last race of the weekend, but he was pushed off by another competitor in the first corner of lap two, ending the team’s victory hopes Timmy eventually finishing the race in fourth.
Kevin and Timmy Hansen (SWE) of the Hansen World RX Team seen during the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Montalegre, Portugal on September 17, 2022.
Kenneth HANSEN Hansen World RX Team – Team Principal
“We struggled a little on Saturday to find the speed, but we worked hard, learned a lot and managed to come out with a podium, but most importunately we saw some signs that we were moving in the correct direction.
These RX1e cars are tricky to work with, on the chassis side we improved quite a lot and we saw in the progression race we had a really good run with both drivers.
Unfortunately it changed quite dramatically in the semi-final, Kevin had a race incident which broke his rear suspension and Timmy didn’t really have the pace.
He did a magnificent start in the final but got spun off track after contact at the start of the second lap. We’re disappointed that Johan Kristoffersson felt he needed to do such a manoeuvre but more so that we didn’t get a reward for the work we did and the speed we had. But, that’s how it is sometimes.
We’ve had amazing words and support from the passionate Portuguese people here and we will try to put things together even better in the next race in Spa.”
Timmy HANSEN Hansen World RX Team – Driver
“We made a brilliant start in the final on Sunday and got pushed off on the second lap. The race ended there. That was it.
I think we did a really good performance, especially on Sunday, but the result was out of my hands. It’s disappointing, but we had a very strong showing as a team, I’m proud of our guys for their great work.
We won the race to turn one in the final, which really matters. We had the pace several times this weekend even if not every time, and we’re fighting hard as a group.
Of course every time you finish on the podium when the competition is so tough you have to be satisfied, so the result on Saturday was good, but we had the chance, again, to take a win on Sunday and that got taken away from us which was frustrating.
Hopefully we can get our overdue first win in this electric era of World RX next time out in Spa.”
Kevin HANSEN Hansen World RX Team – Driver
“I think this weekend really showed our team spirit. To be honest we were really slow starting off both days, but we worked incredibly well to improve and the guys did an amazing job keeping the car in perfect race condition every time and working to improve the speed.
I also worked to improve the driving on my side, everything came together step-by-step and we were even on track to improve even more. We had the chance to win and it was a shame we couldn’t follow through to the end of the weekend but I’m so proud of everyone in our team.
Sometimes you hit the post in football and the ball bounces out, sometimes it bounces in. This time it bounced out but we can take a lot of positives from this weekend.
It’s a shame for the championship it ended in the semi-final on Sunday, especially coming from a very tough day on Saturday. We will bounce back stronger.”
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.
Timmy Hansen (SWE) of the Hansen World RX Team seen during the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Montalegre, Portugal on September 17, 2022.
