Kevin Hansen successfully defended his runner-up status in the 2024 FIA World Rallycross Championship in a nail-biting final round in Türkiye (10 November). Fourth place in the Round 10 Final was enough for the Swede to secure the silver medal, having handed third place to team-mate and brother Timmy Hansen to secure fourth in the championship standings and an eighth podium for the Hansen squad this year. The Swedish squad entered Round 10 off the back of a third-place finish for Kevin in Saturday’s Round 9 (9 November). This marked the Swede’s fifth podium in a row in his fight to protect his runner-up spot in the championship standings. A win in Round 9 for OC Veiby in the rival KMS combustion car, however, tightened the margins at the top of the leaderboard, giving Kevin a buffer of only seven points heading into Sunday’s racing. As the first-ever ‘Battle of Technologies’ season came to its conclusion at Istanbul Park, the electric and ICE cars wrestled against not only each other but also the wet conditions in an action-packed final day of the season. The tide seemed to be in favour of the Hansen outfit in Heat 1, as Kevin surged forward to second place in the opening corners and Veiby took the joker lap behind Timmy in fourth. A comfortable race for the younger Hansen brother resulted in a P2 finish, while Timmy weathered multiple incidents with Veiby, crossing the line fifth with a puncture. he rain began to fall for Heat 2. Despite the greater disadvantage for the electric car in the wet, Timmy was able to cross the line in second. Kevin had aced his launch to initially take the lead ahead of Johan Kristoffersson, before contact from the seven-time World RX Champion put Kevin down to fourth in the race, dealing a considerable blow to his hopes of championship silver. Rain continued to fall as the drivers lined up for Semi-Final 2, with both Hansen brothers on the back row of the four-car race. Kevin slotted into second as Timmy took an early joker lap behind Klara Andersson, but the #21 Hansen driver soon passed his fellow Swede to take third place. This allowed Kevin to joker and come out behind his team-mate. The drivers swapped, giving Kevin two extra championship points to make the gap down to Veiby – who inherited the Semi-Final 1 win from team-mate Kristoffersson – four points heading into the Final. With Veiby lining up on the front row in the Final, the Hansen team were on the back foot as the lights turned green, but the Norwegian made a mistake off the line. Kevin seized the opportunity and took the joker on his first lap ahead of his closest championship rival. Great work from the Hansens’ spotters allowed Timmy to joker and come out between Kevin and Veiby, providing his younger brother with crucial breathing room to finish ahead of Veiby. As the Hansen cars approached the closing stages of the race, the team instructed the brothers to swap places, promoting Timmy to third in Round 10 and fourth in the 2024 championship standings. The Hansen World RX Team will be returning to action in just over two months’ time, kickstarting their 2025 World RX Championship charge in Canada with a blockbuster ice race in January (24-25). Kenneth Hansen, Team Principal at Hansen World RX Team, said: “We have finished the last race of the season and, overall, we are very happy as a team. We had difficult conditions today, as we had rain and so it was extra slippery, and you could really see the difference in the technologies in these conditions – the grip was just not there for us in the electric cars. “We managed to keep Kevin in second place in the championship and we also had Timmy on the podium today, so the entire team is happy. We had hoped that Timmy could get to third place in the standings today, but we’re still pleased he managed to keep fourth. We had some new team members with us this weekend on the engineering side, so we have learnt a lot this weekend that we will take into next season.” Kevin Hansen, Hansen World RX Team driver and 2024 World RX runner-up, said: “It is great to be coming away from Türkiye as the runner-up in the World Championship, especially knowing that we began this season unable to get within half a second of the KMS combustion cars. “It has been a really challenging year, in terms of the ‘Battle of Technologies’, so to come away with second in the championship, and also to win last time out in Portugal, is really special. This weekend has been tough as the track really did not suit our electric cars, but we battled all the way through, and I think it was very entertaining to watch on TV which is fantastic for the fans.” Timmy Hansen, Hansen World RX Team driver, said: “We know that Türkiye does not have a long history of supporting rallycross but the fans were so enthusiastic here and I think we put on a great show. I also want to say congratulations to Juha [Rytkönen] for his win today. He drove fantastically in his first World Rallycross event, and it is great to have been on the podium with him today. “When you’re lining up in the final of a rallycross race you know that you must be prepared for anything and to take every gap. I knew that I had to keep OC [Veiby] behind me today, to make sure that Kevin came away with second in the championship, and I was able to do that – even when the conditions this afternoon did not favour our car. “We had some cool battles this weekend and it has been enjoyable being a part of those. I let Kevin past me in the Semi-Final, to help make sure he could get silver overall, so it was nice to see him return the favour today in the Final. We are brothers and that is what we do best as a team.”