Timmy Hansen took third place in a dramatic Final as the rain came down at Höljes, Sweden, for Round 2 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship (5-6 July). The 2019 World RX Champion drew on his experience to survive the conditions and take his second podium in as many races, while a technical issue for Kevin Hansen took him out of contention on the last lap. Timmy and Kevin entered the ‘Magic Weekend’ second and fifth in the standings, respectively, as the championship hit a key turning point in the 2025 ‘Battle of Technologies’. With KMS switching to EV cars after just one round this season, seven out of the nine cars on the World RX of Sweden entry list were electric. As always there was the ever-changing weather of Höljes to contend with, and the wet conditions on Saturday proved difficult. The situation grew worse for the younger Hansen brother, as a red light for a battery issue after his first qualifying race put Kevin’s car into quarantine and out of Q2. The team worked through the evening to replace the battery in Kevin’s Peugeot 208 RX1e machine, and were rewarded on Sunday morning when Kevin executed a textbook overtake on Klara Andersson to take second place in his Q3 Heat. As conditions began to dry in the afternoon, a Heat win for Timmy Hansen in the last qualifying session showed promising signs for the Finals. Starting from the second row of Semi-Final 1, Kevin launched into third place, and an early joker strategy allowed him to defend his spot in the Final from OC Veiby. A strong run from Timmy in Semi-Final 2 proved enough for second place and a shot at the podium. The rain came down heavier than it had all weekend as the World RX competitors lined up for the Final. Chaos ensued from the start, as Timmy closed the door on Juha Rytkönen in the joker with Kevin close behind. All three drivers closed the gap to Patrick O’Donovan in third, before Kevin tried a lunge on the inside of Rytkönen. The Swede ended up in the grass, but recovered quickly and overtook on the second attempt. A mistake from O’Donovan handed third place to Timmy and fourth to Kevin. An amazing recovery from a full spin kept Kevin in the game as he pushed for the podium, but another red light for a technical issue brought his race to an end. Kenneth Hansen, Team Principal at Hansen World RX Team, said: “We’ve finished another ‘Magic Weekend’ in Höljes and our home event has been nice despite the weather. The only disappointing thing was that Kevin had a couple of technical failures which meant that he missed a qualifying session and had to pull over in the Final. Timmy in the end managed to be on the podium, so we are happy with that and what we achieved this weekend with the set-up of the car.” Timmy Hansen, Hansen World RX Team driver, said: “A podium here in Höljes and it was a fantastic turnaround. We had been struggling for pace all weekend and never really got everything to come together to find the grip. In the Final it was absolutely pouring down with rain which was carnage. Ten seconds a lap slower than we were doing before. For a moment I thought I had the win in sight after an early joker, but I lost a bit of time and had to hold onto third place. Super happy and we head to Hungary in a good position in the championship.” Kevin Hansen, Hansen World RX Team driver, said: “It was a crazy Final. There was so much water everywhere and I have never aquaplaned that much in my life. I managed to get into it after a couple of laps, and I managed some different lines to get the overtakes. On the last lap I was following Timmy and trying to find a gap, but then another red light brought the car to a stop. A frustrating end to the weekend, but we can bounce back from this and I will take that spirit with me into Hungary.” For more news from the paddock and deeper insights throughout the year, subscribe to the Hansen Motorsport YouTube, where Kevin and Timmy will share exclusives from behind-the-scenes, discussing the action both on-track and back in the garages! World RX returns in two weeks’ time for Round 3 of the season, as the championship heads to the ‘Red Cauldron’ at Nyirád, Hungary (19-20 July).