From elation to disqualification - Kenneth Hansen explains.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Kevin Hansen was disqualified from the World RX of Germany final on Sunday afternoon due to a technical infringement on the "lower wishbone".

The younger of the two Hansen brothers had a pretty solid weekend at the Nurburgring, despite Johan Kristoffersson's dominant drive, but after great drive to second place in the final, and almost a guaranteed third-place in the drivers' championship. The Swede was stripped of the result, which promoted Niclas Gronholm to third in the championship. 

So, what happened? Well, after post-race inspections, the Stewards determined that "the lower wishbone from the left side of the car did not comply with the declaration form" meaning it was overweight. 

Kenneth Hansen explained: "I was really surprised because I am the one who checks the parts and weights – we had one front wishbone that was 90 grams too heavy. The wishbone had been repaired, it shouldn’t have been on the car and it was only on one side, but still it was too heavy."

The Hansen World RX team principal clarified that there was no performance gain from the technical infringement, however, they accept and took the penalty. 

"There was no performance gain but it should conform and we took the penalty," Hansen said. "It’s a hard punishment, but we just have to take it. It’s my responsibility and it was purely a mistake. Overall, our 2023 season already starting this weekend and it’s a very positive feeling."

Kenneth Hansen - "We expect to be at the front and in the running for victory."

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Hansen World RX team principal Kenneth Hansen expects to be front runners and potential race winners at this weekend's World RX of Sweden at Höljes. 

The Swedish outfit is yet to achieve a victory on home soil despite Kevin Hansen stepping onto the podium in recent years with two second-place finishes, but this year the team is aiming higher... a race (event) victory! 

Kenneth hopes that the time and effort put in during the off-season will help the team make solid progress on classic gravel circuits. 

"One of the areas we spent the most time and effort working on during the off-season was improving our car performance on more traditional-style rallycross circuits," Hansen said.

Last month, the team achieved a one-two finish at the opening round of the season with Kevin Hansen on the top step of the podium ahead of elder brother Timmy Hansen. 

"The result in Spain was a great validation of the work we’d put in, especially by ORECA on our engine, but now some other areas we’ve worked on will come into greater focus," he said.

Hansen believes that his squad can do better this season, and anticipates that the GRX-SET (Hyundai) team will be a lot faster this weekend 

"We didn’t get the result we wanted at Höljes last year and we want to make up for it this time around. We had one podium finish here with Kevin during the double-header in 2020 but we believe we can do better this time," he adds. "While the Audi is a fast car around Höljes – and we anticipate that the Hyundai will be faster than at the last round too – we still expect to be at the front and in the running for victory."

Reading the race was key for Barcelona 1-2 finish.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool.

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has proven to be a happy hunting ground for the Hansen World RX Team in years past, with Kevin Hansen leading home team-mate Timmy Hansen in a 1-2 finish in the 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship season-opener.

Having finished second and third behind Johan Kristoffersson on Friday (day one) in the first and second qualifiers, news soon came that Johan was disqualified from Q1 due to a disconnected FIA data logger, which meant the Hansen brothers were promoted to 1-2 overnight. 

Whilst Kristoffersson launched a fightback on day 2 in the Catalunya heat, Timmy Hansen was right behind the defending World Champion in the third and fourth qualifiers, with the older Hansen brother coming out as the top qualifier with younger brother Kevin in second in the intermediate rankings sealing a front row start in their respective semi-finals. 

Timmy Hansen explaining the movement of his car, whilst Kenneth Hansen listens behind.
PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

14-time European Rallycross Champion and team principal, Kenneth Hansen admits that his team did not quite have the ultimate place over the weekend, but they focussed on tyre saving hoping to gain maximum performance. 

"We didn't quite have the ultimate pace during the whole weekend – Kristoffersson was extremely quick in the Saturday qualifying sessions," Kenneth Hansen said. "But we had good tyres for the semi-finals and very good tyres for the finals – we had decided to put our eggs in a single basket strategy-wise early on, taking a gamble aimed squarely at winning the later races."

"We had to take additional risks to win those races too, especially with the joker lap. We did a really good job in that area, it couldn't have gone better."

Pulling out all the stops in the final, with a front-row lockout for Hansen brothers. With a clear strategy in mind, they covered off the immediate challenge behind, but the race for victory was not over from there. 

Kristoffersson kept them very honest, as he opted for clean air and took his joker on lap two posting the fastest time of the weekend - 43.536s. The fight was on! Fending off the chasing Kristoffersson, Timmy took the joker a lap later and cleared the three-time World Champion, but unfortunately got held up by Krisztian Szabo handing Kevin Hansen a few tenths to play with, and ultimately coming out alongside his older brother and sweeping into the lead where he would remain to claim his first-ever win on the road.

"The situation we faced in the opening laps of the final was Kevin potentially dropping to third, but we were able to read the race and ensure we took a 1-2 and maximum points for the championship," Hansen explains.

Kenneth Hansen credits his technical team, and engine partner ORECA for the work they have done not only in Barcelona but in preparation for the 2021 campaign.

"Our technical team has done a fantastic job all weekend, and we especially need to thank ORECA for their hard work on engine upgrades," he said. "Our starts were consistently strong this week, which is a great reward for all the work that's been put in since last year's season finale."

Kenneth Hansen encouraged by initial talks with new World RX promoter.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool.

14-time European Rallycross Champion and Team Principal of Team Hansen, Kenneth Hansen has been left encouraged after initial talks with the new FIA World Rallycross Championship promoter, WRC Promoter. 

WRC Promoter has assumed the responsibilities for managing the World Rallycross Championship from 2021, replacing outgoing promoter IMG, and is set to oversee the championships transition to electric-powered vehicles in 2022. 

Team Hansen who have competed in the FIA World Rallycross Championship since the series inception in 2014 has welcomed WRC Promoter to the championship and they are looking forward to working together as rallycross moves into a pioneering new era. 

"We are happy that WRC Promoter has been chosen as the new promoter of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Having seen the work WRC Promoter has done since taking over the World Rally Championship, we are confident the championship has a good future ahead of it," Kenneth Hansen said. 

Having had initial discussions with WRC Promoter, Hansen believes that the new promoter will steer the action-packed series in a positive direction in the coming years.

"They are planning a long-term commitment to our sport and, from our initial conversations, we are encouraged they will take the series in a positive direction."

"By remaining on track introduce to electric vehicles in 2022, we believe the championship is going in the right direction to become bigger and more successful in the future," he concludes. Motorsport has always been closely aligned with the car industry, and by adopting an electric formula, World RX will remain relevant for years to come."

World RX race-winner Kevin Hansen has also been left impressed by how WRC Promoter added value to the World Rally Championship, and he believes that they can take the sport to new heights. 

"WRC Promoter has created huge value for rallying the last few years, so having them onboard is the best news for rallycross in a long time," Kevin Hansen said.

Hansen adds that WRC Promoter will be able to give himself and his rivals the international recognition that they deserve. 

"I’m young, eager, and hungry to win a world championship, and going for the title now with WRC Promoter in charge should give myself and my rivals the opportunity to become stars worldwide while trying to win it."

"I’m really looking forward to the electric revolution coming in our championship and what the future holds."

The 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship is set to get underway on 22-23 May at Spa-Francorchamps.

Written By - Junaid Samodien

Team Hansen hails 'big step' after win and double podium in Catalunya.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull/Hansen Motorsport

Reigning team champions Team Hansen has taken a big step in Barcelona having claimed their first win and first double podium of the season. 

The 2020 season has ebbed and flowed for the Swedish team, and in the early stages of the season they struggled to find traction on low grip circuits, but despite that their drivers claimed three podium finishes before heading to the World RX of Barcelona (double-header). 

With no wins to there record after a strong championship winning 2019 season, returning to winning ways was there ultimate objective, and following extensive testing prior to the final double-header of the season. The Team Hansen brought some valuable knowledge and updates with them, which provided to work on the 1.133 km track

The Hansen brothers were in the mix all weekend, and on Saturday afternoon reigning champion Timmy Hansen "beat the unbeatable" to register his first win of the season ahead of Johan Kristoffersson and Kevin Hansen. The 'brodium' was on!

Whilst some cynics might have thought it would be a one-off for the Hansen's on Saturday. They were wrong, the Hansen's were back and just as strong on Sunday for round 8 of the World RX championship, but this time with Kevin Hansen ahead of Timmy in the intermediate rankings in third and fourth respectively. 

Sunday saw Timmy claim his second piece of silverware, having finished second in round eight of the World RX season finishing behind Johan Kristoffersson this time around after beating him a day before. 

"It's been a fantastic weekend with a massive step-up in performance for both me and Kevin. We are fighting for wins now which feels great. Yesterday [Saturday] we got it, today [Sunday] not quite, but it's still been a great weekend and I'm happy that the work that we've done in the lead-up to this weekend has paid off," Timmy Hansen said.

"We had great pace today but the race didn't quite go in our favour. I wasn't lucky enough to have any pole position starts today which wasn't ideal so qualified fourth, though I was hoping to beat Bakkerud in the semi-final, even with older tyres, to get myself that all-important front row grid slot."

"The final was carnage. I came up behind Johan and it was the same battle again from Saturday but this time around I couldn't quite manage it," he adds. "The only way to win was to put in a perfect run and I didn't quite put together a string of perfect laps in the final; I wasn't quite able to find that perfect rhythm from the day before."

After a third-place finish a day before, Kevin continued his strong form edging older brother in the intermediate rankings having claimed two second-place finish in Q2 and 3. Whilst his pace was quite promising all weekend, his day would end in the semi-finals. 

The semi-finals saw a very crowded first corner which meant Kevin was shuffled back to fifth place at the start, though he quickly recovered to fourth at turn three, sneaking past Timo Scheider on the inside of the long right-hander.

An early joker to find clear air didn't quite pan out as he caught Tamás Kárai a lap later and, while a brilliant overtake exiting turn six put him into fourth place, too much time was lost to Robin Larsson who held the last spot for the final.

"Today was a very promising day. The car performance was amazing in all three qualifying sessions and I was feeling really comfortable with the adjustments the team had made overnight. My speed was much better today so I was very happy with everything in that respect," Kevin Hansen said.

"We had a bit of a bad start in the semi-final but I felt we were in a good position by jokering first. That's a good place to be, first into the joker, so it was looking promising. Unfortunately, Karai had gone for the complete opposite strategy to us so getting past him lost us the time we needed to make the final."

"Overall this was a very strong weekend, a great return to form, and I feel like I'm getting better every weekend," he adds. "For the first time this year, I was within sight of a victory, and I don't plan to let it out of my sight again for the rest of the year. I'm even more excited to be heading to Spa now with the momentum we've built here, with the team back to winning ways."

With a win and two podium finishes in two days, Team Hansen's quest to retain the teams' championship is back on track. Heading to Barcelona with a 43-point deficit to KYB Team JC, Timmy and Kevin's efforts has narrowed that gap to only 16 points, with two rounds in Belgium and Germany still to go.

Timmy has also leap-frogged Niclas Grönholm to third in the drivers' championship having been six points behind heading into Barcelona. The Swede now has a 16 point advantage over Niclas with two rounds to go, meanwhile Kevin has inched closer to Grönholm and is just 12 points behind sitting fifth in the championship standings. 

"What was most impressive on Sunday was Kevin's level of performance increasing further," Kenneth Hansen, team boss said. "In past years he was slightly behind Timmy's pace but now he's at exactly the same level; sometimes even quicker. So we have two really quick drivers and cars. Today he found the level he's normally capable of delivering."

"Our win yesterday seems to have made Johan even hungrier to make sure he didn't get beaten to victory! He was clearly very determined to make sure Timmy didn't win in the final again today. But having one race like yesterday's final, where Timmy put in an absolutely perfect drive, is still a fantastic performance. My voice is almost gone from pushing Timmy so much on the radio!"

After a challenging start to the season, Kenneth Hansen says his team is back in the game to defend their teams' title, and they will continue to push with an aim to leap-frog KYB Team JC in the standings.

"We're back in the game for the teams' world championship now and we'll be doing everything we can to catch the Audis in the title race," Kenneth warns. "I believe with the direction we're going in and what we've learned this weekend will also help us in Spa. Now we've made a big step for this weekend, finding the next bit of pace will be even harder, as the rate of return on testing gets smaller and we're also quite late into the season now. Plus we need good weather! But we'll do some more testing and see what we find. We never stop pushing!"

Written By - Junaid Samodien