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Wednesday, 15 September 2021

"A quick car will be rewarded, whilst mistakes will be punished" in Riga double-header.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hansen Motorsport
The Hansen brothers' are heading to Latvia for rounds four and five of the FIA World Rallycross Championship this weekend, with the drivers' and teams' titles to defend after a trio of one-two finishes.

A strenuous schedule begins this week with the World RX of Latvia. Unlike the first three rounds of the season, this one is a double-header, with a full championship round taking place on each of the two days.

Having claimed two wins in the last two events in Sweden and France, Timmy has some good memories at the Biķernieki trase (track) has taken a victory in 2019 and a few other podium finishes.

"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," Timmy Hansen said. "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."

The 2019 World Champion is thrilled by the prospects of Mattias Ekström's one-off return with All-Inkl Munnich Motorsport this weekend. 

"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," he said. "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."

His younger brother Kevin is hungry for more wins, having stood on the top step of the podium at the season opener in Spain earlier this season. The 23-year-old Swede still has the world title firmly in his sights, with only a 10-point deficit to Timmy.

"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," Kevin Hansen said.

"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."

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