Hansen World RX Team targets fightback in Barcelona
The penultimate event in the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship takes place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend, where Swedish outfit Hansen World RX Team is targeting a fightback performance at one of its most successful venues.
The 2022 campaign so far, the very first season of the discipline’s brand-new all-electric era has been a case of what might have been for the Hansen squad. Across seven rounds so far, at more than half of the races the team’s drivers, Timmy and Kevin Hansen, have been in the thick of the fight for outright victory.
At no time more so than at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium two weeks ago, where the Hansen’s 500kW, four-wheel-drive, fully-electric Peugeot 208 RX1ewas the fastest car on the grid, and in both rounds of the double-header, the team was in contention for victory, only to lose out due to mitigating factors.
Sometimes however, things do not go the way they are planned in motor racing. The Hansen team knows that well, as despite being the most-winning team in FIA European Rallycross Championship history, and claiming four World RX crowns, with three teams’ titles (2015, 2019, 2021) and a drivers’ crown (2019), the 30-year experience of racing at the highest level in rallycross has taught the team how to fight back, as much as lead from the front.
That is the objective for this weekend. The Barcelona circuit is where the squad claimed a 1-2 finish last season and has secured nine podiums in World RX since 2015. This weekend, on the second of three Formula 1 venues in the 2022 World RX schedule, the team is targeting more rostrum finishes, as two opportunities, with a full points’ scoring round on both Saturday and Sunday, make up the Catalan weekend.
Kevin Hansen and Timmy Hansen lie second and fifth in the Drivers’ Standings respectively, while the Hansen World RX Team is second in the Teams’ Standings.
Key
“It took a couple of days after how our weekend went in Spa, but we were soon back on it – on the mission to succeed.
We had much better speed in Belgium, we were very happy with that and we have closed the gap to the front a little more. We didn’t get the results we wanted, you can speak about bad luck, but perhaps if we work harder then we will get more luck too.
We’re trying to bring more speed to the coming races and have worked hard on how we should develop these new cars further. We are focused on turning bad luck into good.
We’re not far away from a win, we need a little more speed and to give more confidence to the drivers – hopefully those things can make for a good result in Barcelona.”
“We are on a good trajectory with how we are working with the car, and also for myself learning to adapt to how these new electric powertrains need to be driven.
I’m very much looking forward to go to Barcelona, it’s perhaps my most successful track – for some reason usually it goes very well there for us, so hopefully this can be the weekend where we get that win that we’ve been chasing all year.
We’ve been so close, we were in the lead of the finals many times over the season and it just hasn’t gone our way, but we just need to keep at it, keep performing at the front.
Rallycross is unpredictable by nature, but if we have the speed then one day sooner or later it will go our way. The team is working very hard, and I hope that moment where things fall into place for us is this weekend.”
“It’s really fantastic to go back to Barcelona, it’s a great city and a great rallycross track.
Winning the European Championship title there in 2016 means that it will always be a special place for me, and also my first proper World RX win there last year makes it even more so.
We go there trying to win both races this weekend, it’s a very technical circuit where it’s all about the small details. It’s an exciting joker lap which makes strategy so important and I just can’t wait to get into the car!”
For more photos, videos and action-packed content visit Red Bull Content Pool.
At no time more so than at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium two weeks ago, where the Hansen’s 500kW, four-wheel-drive, fully-electric Peugeot 208 RX1ewas the fastest car on the grid, and in both rounds of the double-header, the team was in contention for victory, only to lose out due to mitigating factors.
Sometimes however, things do not go the way they are planned in motor racing. The Hansen team knows that well, as despite being the most-winning team in FIA European Rallycross Championship history, and claiming four World RX crowns, with three teams’ titles (2015, 2019, 2021) and a drivers’ crown (2019), the 30-year experience of racing at the highest level in rallycross has taught the team how to fight back, as much as lead from the front.
That is the objective for this weekend. The Barcelona circuit is where the squad claimed a 1-2 finish last season and has secured nine podiums in World RX since 2015. This weekend, on the second of three Formula 1 venues in the 2022 World RX schedule, the team is targeting more rostrum finishes, as two opportunities, with a full points’ scoring round on both Saturday and Sunday, make up the Catalan weekend.
Kevin Hansen and Timmy Hansen lie second and fifth in the Drivers’ Standings respectively, while the Hansen World RX Team is second in the Teams’ Standings.
Key
Facts | Catalunya RX
Where: Nestled in the final sector of the Catalan Formula 1 circuit, the World RX track is 1.135 kilometers in length, comprising of 11 corners, with a 60% tarmac / 40% gravel surface layout. In the middle of the venue, a 30-meter jump into a tight right-hand corner poses a challenge, while the joker lap strategies are critical, with the extra route located around the outside of turns five and six. Run in a stadium-like environment, fans can see almost the whole circuit from every angle. When: All of the action is broadcast on the RX+ All Live platform this weekend [October 29-30] via the World RX Website. Saturday October 29 Practice: 10:40 SuperPole: 11:30 Heat 1: 12:45 Heat 2: 14:15 Progression: 15:030 Semi-Final and Final: 17:00 Sunday October 30 Warm-up: 11:00 SuperPole: 11:20 Heat 1: 12:30 Heat 2: 14:15 Progression: 15:30 Semi-Final and Final: 17:00 Blast from the past Timmy Hansen’s 2019 World Rallycross Championship got off to an almost-perfect start with the Hansen World RX team. He dominated the early qualifications in Abu Dhabi, only to be crashed into by another competitor in Q3, damaging his car’s roll cage and putting him out. Kevin Hansen took up the fight and claimed the win, but for Timmy to join Kevin in the title-contention, the elder brother needed to fight back at round two, in Barcelona. And he did just that, winning every stage of the event to claim victory, with Kevin Hansen extending his championship lead with second place on the podium. For more photos, videos and action-packed content visit Red Bull Content Pool.Kenneth HANSEN Hansen World RX Team – Team Principal
“It took a couple of days after how our weekend went in Spa, but we were soon back on it – on the mission to succeed.
We had much better speed in Belgium, we were very happy with that and we have closed the gap to the front a little more. We didn’t get the results we wanted, you can speak about bad luck, but perhaps if we work harder then we will get more luck too.
We’re trying to bring more speed to the coming races and have worked hard on how we should develop these new cars further. We are focused on turning bad luck into good.
We’re not far away from a win, we need a little more speed and to give more confidence to the drivers – hopefully those things can make for a good result in Barcelona.”
Timmy Hansen Hansen World RX Team – Driver #21
“We are on a good trajectory with how we are working with the car, and also for myself learning to adapt to how these new electric powertrains need to be driven.
I’m very much looking forward to go to Barcelona, it’s perhaps my most successful track – for some reason usually it goes very well there for us, so hopefully this can be the weekend where we get that win that we’ve been chasing all year.
We’ve been so close, we were in the lead of the finals many times over the season and it just hasn’t gone our way, but we just need to keep at it, keep performing at the front.
Rallycross is unpredictable by nature, but if we have the speed then one day sooner or later it will go our way. The team is working very hard, and I hope that moment where things fall into place for us is this weekend.”
Kevin Hansen Hansen World RX Team – Driver #71
“It’s really fantastic to go back to Barcelona, it’s a great city and a great rallycross track.
Winning the European Championship title there in 2016 means that it will always be a special place for me, and also my first proper World RX win there last year makes it even more so.
We go there trying to win both races this weekend, it’s a very technical circuit where it’s all about the small details. It’s an exciting joker lap which makes strategy so important and I just can’t wait to get into the car!”
For more photos, videos and action-packed content visit Red Bull Content Pool.
