Six rounds in five weeks for the Hansens kick off in Latvia
Timmy and Kevin Hansen are heading to Latvia for rounds four and five of the FIA World Rallycross Championship this weekend, with two title leads to defend after a trio of one-two finishes to start the season.
An arduous schedule begins this week with the most action-packed event of the season thus far, World RX of Latvia. Unlike the first three rounds of the year this one is a double-header, with a full championship round taking place on each of the two days.
Timmy Hansen is on a roll, winning the last two events in Sweden and France. But younger brother Kevin is hungry for more wins, having stood on the top step of the podium at the season opener in Spain. And Kevin’s still got the world title firmly in his sights, with only a 10-point deficit to Timmy ahead.
With World RX of Portugal’s date moved forward by a week to October 16-17, Hansen Motorsport is now facing its toughest assignment yet. The intensity is about to ramp up even further with six rounds in five weeks, as the Riga double-header is followed by two more World RX rounds and additional events in the United States.
“Preparations for this event have gone really well for me. We’re getting quite deep into the championship now, hitting the halfway mark, so it’s really important to continue our hard work and not rest on our results so far this season.
“We’ve had three good weekends but with this double-header, a quick car will be rewarded even more than normal, while mistakes will be punished twice as hard. We’ll have to be on our toes as there’s one less qualifying session to make up lost ground.
“I think this format suits me and I’m looking forward to it. Riga is a really fun track; in terms of the circuit layout it’s a little bit like Monaco, being a narrow track with lots of walls everywhere. But it’s also a track I want to step up at and do better at. I have some ideas on how to do improve here compared to years past and I hope my new way of working applies well to this style of track.”
“This is a track that I enjoy and has been good to me in the past. It’s another high-grip circuit, so taking what we learned from the last round in Lohéac into this one will be crucial. As a double-header it presents an extra challenge for myself, for the mechanics and the whole team. That’s especially true of the mechanics, who will be pushing to keep the car in top condition from start to finish.
“A double-header means a lot more time spent competing on the track than on a regular race weekend, so we have to be on it from the beginning, start in a good way and carry on from there. After that, it’s a case of learning and improving every time – but we have been really strong in this area in all three rounds so far so I’m feeling good.
“It’s great to see Mattias Ekström coming back to the championship too, even if it’s only a one-off. We all know how fast he is and it’s great to have another world champion back on the grid to compete against. We saw in Spain that the car he’s driving is capable of being at the front, so I’m looking forward to competing against another of the strongest rallycross drivers out there this weekend.”
“There’s no denying we’re on a great run right now with the one-two finishes in the first three rounds but we’re staying grounded. When we scored the first of them in Barcelona we were amazed we’d managed to repeat our result from 2019. We wondered if it would ever happen again – our sport is so competitive that such results are extremely rare. When it happened again, we were equally shocked as with the first.
“This is important – we always keep our feet on the ground, not forgetting that things don’t always go our way, and that we must start from scratch every weekend. You make your own luck; if you are well prepared and practice well, you will likely have more luck!”
Kevin Hansen, #9 Peugeot 208 WRX
“Preparations for this event have gone really well for me. We’re getting quite deep into the championship now, hitting the halfway mark, so it’s really important to continue our hard work and not rest on our results so far this season.
“We’ve had three good weekends but with this double-header, a quick car will be rewarded even more than normal, while mistakes will be punished twice as hard. We’ll have to be on our toes as there’s one less qualifying session to make up lost ground.
“I think this format suits me and I’m looking forward to it. Riga is a really fun track; in terms of the circuit layout it’s a little bit like Monaco, being a narrow track with lots of walls everywhere. But it’s also a track I want to step up at and do better at. I have some ideas on how to do improve here compared to years past and I hope my new way of working applies well to this style of track.”
Timmy Hansen, #21 Peugeot 208 WRX
“This is a track that I enjoy and has been good to me in the past. It’s another high-grip circuit, so taking what we learned from the last round in Lohéac into this one will be crucial. As a double-header it presents an extra challenge for myself, for the mechanics and the whole team. That’s especially true of the mechanics, who will be pushing to keep the car in top condition from start to finish.
“A double-header means a lot more time spent competing on the track than on a regular race weekend, so we have to be on it from the beginning, start in a good way and carry on from there. After that, it’s a case of learning and improving every time – but we have been really strong in this area in all three rounds so far so I’m feeling good.
“It’s great to see Mattias Ekström coming back to the championship too, even if it’s only a one-off. We all know how fast he is and it’s great to have another world champion back on the grid to compete against. We saw in Spain that the car he’s driving is capable of being at the front, so I’m looking forward to competing against another of the strongest rallycross drivers out there this weekend.”
Kenneth Hansen, Team Principal
“There’s no denying we’re on a great run right now with the one-two finishes in the first three rounds but we’re staying grounded. When we scored the first of them in Barcelona we were amazed we’d managed to repeat our result from 2019. We wondered if it would ever happen again – our sport is so competitive that such results are extremely rare. When it happened again, we were equally shocked as with the first.
“This is important – we always keep our feet on the ground, not forgetting that things don’t always go our way, and that we must start from scratch every weekend. You make your own luck; if you are well prepared and practice well, you will likely have more luck!” 
