Only two rounds remain in the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship calendar and, as Team HANSEN MJP heads to Latvia for the penultimate round of the season, both the drivers’ and teams’ championships remain within reach. In an extraordinary twist, both Timmy and Kevin Hansen are level on points, tied for second in the championship and only two points behind current leader Andreas Bakkerud. Thanks to both Timmy and Kevin’s consistency throughout the year, Team HANSEN MJP has a strong 33-point lead in the teams’ championship, giving the squad an outside chance of wrapping up a world championship trophy with one round to spare. Both drivers arrive in Latvia one week after strong performances in the TitansRX series. Championship leader Kevin scored a pair of podium finishes, crossing the line only 0.07 seconds behind round seven winner Topi Heikkinen in a nail-biting finish and cementing a 10 point lead in the championship. There was also a win in the round eight final for Timmy, tying him for second in the championship with Heikkinen. Coming off the back of the World RX round in France two weeks ago, where Team HANSEN MJP scored its second double podium of the year, plus more strong results in TitansRX last weekend, a repeat of the team’s 2016 win in Latvia is the primary aim this weekend.

Timmy Hansen, #21 Peugeot 208 WRX

“Riga is a high-grip track, and actually the high grip remains even if it rains, which seems very possible this weekend, but of course you never really know with the weather forecast. The track is mainly asphalt but strangely it actually feels like there’s more grip on the gravel than on the asphalt: the gravel contains concrete, and that helps to bind it together, which gives the grip. “There are lots of corners in Riga, which is the main thing, and you also have two jumps, which are quite significant so you can expect a heavy landing. It’s interesting actually: the cars are so advanced now that you jump to the limit of the human body rather than the car. These days the cars can take a lot more than you can, which was never the case in the past. “It’s a close fight for the championship but there’s no point being too strategic: I’m just going to try and win as always, taking every race one at a time.”

Kevin Hansen, #9 Peugeot 208 WRX

“Riga is a tight and technical track, which is quite fun and complex: you could call it our Monaco Grand Prix! It’s important to take a very precise line and look after the tyres carefully: in other words not too much sliding with the throttle wide open. The main thing is to make sure that you’re spending more time moving forwards than moving sideways! “What’s going to make it particularly complicated this weekend is that we’re expecting quite a lot of rain, so it’s going to be even more important than usual to keep everything clean and tidy. It’s a nice day today, so it seems quite hard to believe, but it’s fairly common in Riga to have mixed conditions, so we need to be prepared for everything. “Latvia has been on the championship calendar since 2016 and I’ve done every single one, so it’s a place I’m reasonably familiar with. I think it’s going to be an adventurous weekend, so it’s hard to make any particular predictions right now.”

Susann Hansen, Team Manager

“I’ve got a lot on my plate this weekend as for the first time we don’t have Kenneth with us: he’s off filming a reality TV show somewhere in Greece called ‘champion of champions’, where retired champions from different sports compete together to win a prize. Unfortunately, this was arranged before we knew the World RX calendar, so he’s missing Riga, but we’re all sending him luck to his secret location! Operationally it doesn’t affect the team too much as our structure means that all responsibilities are shared, so we can fill in the gaps. “This looks set to be a very unpredictable weekend, but that doesn’t change our mission: we’re here for the best result possible. When you have these changing conditions it really helps to have experience as a team and also the experience of working together in the same direction. I think that’s one of our biggest strengths, and we’ll be looking to make the most of every opportunity this weekend here in Latvia.”