Timmy and Kevin Hansen say they are fired-up to ‘fight for wins right from the start’ of
the 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship campaign, after unveiling the striking new
liveries that will adorn their Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars this year.
Timmy and Kevin Hansen say they are fired-up to ‘fight for wins right from the start’ of the 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship campaign, after unveiling the striking new liveries that will adorn their Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars this year.
The name Hansen is synonymous not only with rallycross, but indeed with spectacular success in the discipline. Team Principal Kenneth Hansen is a 14-time FIA European Rallycross Champion, elder son Timmy clinched the World Championship crown in dramatic fashion in 2019 and younger brother Kevin has raced to glory in FIA Euro RX’s headlining Supercar (now RX1) class, RX Lites and the Junior Rallycross Cup.
With the new electric RX1e era on the horizon in 2022, the siblings are eager to give a fond farewell to their current combustion-engined cars, not to mention the history they represent for the entire family.
Timmy has a second Drivers’ trophy firmly on his radar, and the 29-year-old Swede will be drawing upon all of his experience in his efforts to reclaim the title, as one of only two competitors in the field to have contested every World RX event since the World Championship’s inception back in 2014.
“This is the last World Rallycross season running combustion engines before we move into electric rallycross,” he reflected. “It is massively exciting to be part of something brand new, but first we will enjoy our final season with the old cars that have given us so much joy over the years.
“I’m super excited to get going! I hope that the work we are putting in now will pay off and we can fight for wins right from the start. If we can do that throughout the campaign, then we’ll be there to fight for the championship. The calendar is very compact with a lot of races in a short time, so it’s going to be a very tough season. That’s why everyone is working so hard leaving nothing to chance.”
Like his elder brother, Kevin has increasingly established himself as a key player at the pinnacle of the discipline in recent years, winning his first World RX event in Abu Dhabi in 2019 and tallying seven podium finishes. The 23-year-old makes it clear that he has more silverware in his sights over the following months.
“We’re coming into the last season of the petrol era, and I really want to take the championship this time,” he asserted. “Of course, it’s going to be a big challenge, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“We’ve been testing much more than before and we’re leaving no stone unturned. I’m so, so ready to go out there and battle. We have been the most successful outfit in this sport’s history and with the team we have behind us, I think that realistically we should be aiming for a one-two finish in the championship.”
The new World RX campaign will get underway with a Friday/Saturday evening showdown at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya next weekend (23-24 July), before subsequent events in Germany, Sweden, France, Latvia, Belgium and Portugal complete an eight-round schedule. In addition to the comprehensive new RX+ broadcast platform, the live hour action including the all-important finals will be aired on Red Bull TV.