'We should have good pace straight out of the box' - Timmy Hansen.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has proven to be a happy hunting ground for Timmy Hansen having taken wins for the last two years running.

Timmy’s 2019 performance was especially dominant, winning every session on his way to victory ahead of younger brother Kevin, who secured a historic 1-2 finish for the team. 

Having ended the curtailed 2020 season at the same circuit with a victory, the 2019 World Champion is confident he will be similarly competitive at the beginning of the 2021 season.

"It's been a really long break leading up to this round of the championship, so I hope I can get up to speed quickly now that we're back! But our preparations for this season have gone really well and I'm confident we should have some good pace straight out of the box," Hansen said.

The Barcelona rallycross track is 1,125m in length with competitors tackling a sweeping left-hand Turn One (which saw tons of action in 2020 involving Johan Kristoffersson). Before a quick run uphill to the transition to dirt/gravel at turn 2 before a quick right into turn 3 followed by a left, which marks the entrance to the Joker lap, followed by a long, sweeping left-hand turn incorporating the back straight. The second of the two gravel sections then has an intricate entry before running through a fast downhill right kink, with a tight left-handed turn leading to the finish line.

"Barcelona is a high-grip circuit, which has always worked well for us and our car," he said. "There's one exception to that though – the last corner, which is my favorite. It's usually super slippery on entry and all the grip is on the exit, so the driving style through there is really different." 

"You end up almost backing the car into the final corner and wait for the grip to arrive on the exit. Anyone who's played DiRT Rally will know this style very well!"

"The joker lap on this track – where the exit speed is so high – introduces some unusual strategy and makes it very open, so while our car is fast, we will need to be clever and make sure we are getting everything right to perform well."

Whilst its yet to be determined who wins at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona this weekend, but there is no doubt that the Hansen brothers will be ready to fight for glory! 

'My goal.... is simple – to win!' - Kevin Hansen

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

The long wait is nearly over. After 287 days since the FIA World Rallycross Championship last raced at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, there is one man-hungry for victory, and it's none other than Kevin Hansen. 

Throughout his career, Hansen has shown rapid progression, which is key in the world of motorsport. He won almost every championship entered on course to a full-time seat in the World Championship in 2017. 

In 2019, Hansen won the World RX of Abu Dhabi on course to third overall in the championship standings, behind his older brother Timmy who won the championship on countback. 

The 2020 season was ultra-competitive with the return of Johan Kristoffersson and Mattias Ekstrom, with the Hansen's battling for race wins and podium finishes. Kevin claimed two podium finishes - a second place in Sweden (round 2), and a third place in Barcelona (round 7). 

2021 will mark the end of the combustion-engine(d) era, with Kevin hungrier than ever to start the season with a victory that the World RX of Catalunya this weekend.

"My goal at the first round is simple – to win! We have had a very positive off-season and I've been counting down the days to this event," Hansen said. "Our car has been improved over the winter in these types of corners so we're really proud of our effort and excited to show what it can do."

The Catalunya circuit is highly familiar to all the top drivers in the championship, as Barcelona has been a permanent fixture on the calendar since 2015. Utilizing the final sector of the Formula 1 circuit, sections of high-grip asphalt are punctuated by two dirt sections, the first of which features a spectacular jump. 

"Most of the corners are pretty much medium to low-speed corners, and it's very much about hitting your marks around the tyre barriers," the Swede explains. "There are no kerbs anywhere, so you have to be really precise and get your lines right. Generally, it's quite slippery but the grip builds up over the weekend, which should suit our [Peugeot] 208 well."

“Barcelona has historically been a track that suits our car really well. It's a track that changes character during the weekend – it always beings quite green and slippery, then builds up during the weekend, so you need to be on your toes constantly with car set-up."

The Hansen brothers aim high in final combustion-engined season.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Heading into the final season in the combustion-engine era, Timmy and Kevin Hansen are aiming high in 2021, after unveiling a striking new livery on their Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars. 

The closely-knit family team has achieved a lot of success in rallycross, with the most successful driver in rallycross history, Kenneth Hansen leading the team (father), having clinched 14 European RX titles. Whilst, Susann Hansen (their mother) is the only female driver to have won a European title in rallycross. 

Their eldest son, Timmy clinched the World Championship crown in dramatic fashion in 2019 with younger brother Kevin racing to glory in FIA Euro RX, RX Lites, and the Junior Rallycross Cup.

This season, the Hansen brothers are hoping to continue their momentum into 2021, targeting more victories and competing for both the drivers’ and teams’ world championship titles.

"I’m super excited to start this season. I hope now the work we are putting in will pay off, that in the beginning we can be there and fight for wins right from the start, and if we keep doing that through the season hopefully, we’re thereabouts to fight for the championship," Timmy Hansen said. 

"We’ve got a short season again. It’s very different from 2020 because then it was all very unexpected. Now for 2021, we know we’re coming into this very compact calendar, with a lot of races in a short time."

The 2019 Champion is under no illusions that the 2021 season will be smooth sailing, and admits they need to be at their best to beat their rivals. 

"It’s going to be a very tough season; everyone’s working very hard and no one is leaving anything to chance. Kevin is strong, he’s growing year by year. Johan Kristoffersson is strong – he was the champion last year. I know Niclas Grönholm is super fast and his car is a weapon," he said. "I really hope this car will be competitive against both of them – they have really strong cars, and we need to be at our best to beat them."

Like his older brother, Kevin has increasingly established himself as a key player in recent years, claiming his first World RX win in Abu Dhabi in 2019 and collecting 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 world championship title," he said. "Going into this season we didn't want to repeat any of our mistakes from last year. We want to enter the season well prepared, and I think that's what we're doing this year. We're testing a lot more and we're thinking about small details all the time, leaving no stone unturned. With this team behind us, we can aim for 1-2 in the championship."

"We've been the most successful team in rallycross history so far and we plan to close this chapter by winning both titles."

With the new electric RX1e era on the horizon, the Swedish siblings are excited about the electric future. 

"In 2022 we’re moving to electric rallycross, going to faster cars, more technically advanced cars, and stepping into the future," Timmy Hansen said. "It’s massively exciting to be part of something new like that." 

Kevin Hansen admits that there will be challenges incorporating the Kreisel electric kit, but his sure the team can solve any issue quickly.

"To incorporate this kit into the current cars will be a challenge for everybody, but I believe Hansen World RX Team is not an inexperienced company. We know what we need to do, we'll get our heads down and figure it out quickly," Hansen said.

The 2021 World RX season will get underway with a Friday/Saturday evening showdown at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya next weekend (23-24 July), before rounds in Germany, Sweden, France, Latvia, Belgium, and Portugal completing an eight-round schedule.

Timmy Hansen determined to 'write a new story' in World RX

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Former World Champion Timmy Hansen has confirmed his return to World RX in 2021 with the family-run Hansen World RX Team and is determined to 'write a new story this year.'  

The 29-year-old has had a successful career having competed in World RX since its inception in 2014, and he is one of only three drivers' to have entered every round, achieving ten wins and 32 podium finishes at the wheel of a Peugeot 208. 

His 2019 campaign was his most accomplished to-date having claimed four wins from ten starts on course to secure both the drivers' and teams' titles for Team Hansen MJP alongside younger brother and team-mate Kevin Hansen, in a dramatic finale in South Africa, which saw Hansen and Andreas Bakkerud end the season on level points.  

A year later, it was a bit more challenging for Team Hansen, but after some thorough testing, they were able to find some improvements which resulted in a win and three podium finishes.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media

After Kevin's [Hansen] return was announced earlier this week, it was just a matter of time before we'd find out about Timmy's future, and his return to the World Championship is truly great news.

The Swede acknowledges all the challenges that his family-run team has had making it to the grid each season, and is very grateful to once have the opportunity to compete in 2021. 

"In the last few years since we've become a fully independent family team, being on the grid has never been a given each season. I'm very grateful I have the opportunity to come back and compete again this year," Timmy Hansen said.

"I love rallycross and it's always been part of my life, and it still is in a very big way. We run the family team every day and our involvement with rallycross goes back decades. It's in my blood since I was born so I'll always want to compete here."

Having recorded ten World Rallycross career victories, the Swede is more motivated to write another successful championship story in 2021. 

"Even though this will be my eighth consecutive season in World RX now, I'm as motivated as ever to write a new story this year: will we compete for the title, who will be fast this year, and how will we stack up?" Hansen adds. 

Could the Hansen's clinch the World RX title in the final season of the internal combustion engine? They certainly could, and Timmy believes that his team is better prepared this season than they were last year. 

"We've been working really hard ourselves and the car feels much better starting in 2021 than it did in 2020. All the great ideas and talented people working with us have made a big difference, even as a small team that's improving step-by-step," he said. "We might have a good shot at competing for the title this year, but let's see how it goes!"

“It's my time to shine!” - Kevin Hansen.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Nitro Rallycross and European Rallycross champion Kevin Hansen has confirmed that he will participate in the 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship, with the Hansen World RX Team in the final internal combustion-engined season, which kicks off next month in Barcelona. 

The 23-year-old Swede is already an established force in World Rallycross and has won in almost every series that he has entered to date. 

This season, he will enter his sixth consecutive season with the 2019 World RX Teams' Champions, Hansen World RX Team.

Yes, a new team name, but the same old fire to succeed in top-level rallycross!

Kevin challenged for the world championship up until the last race in 2019 coming out in third place behind his older brother Timmy (2019 champion) and Andreas Bakkerud. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

The shortened 2020 season, was a challenging one for the Swedish outfit, but despite all of that Kevin went on to claim two podiums, and he is now ready to compete for the ultimate prize in rallycross once more. 

"I’ve been looking at all areas of my development in order to put myself in a better position ahead of the season," Kevin Hansen said. "I know where I’ve been weak, and where I’ve been strong, and it’s time to put it all together in the final year of the petrol era."

"I’m capable of winning championships – I think my junior career showed that! This is no different and I hope the changes around me will showcase the progress we've made together."

Whilst last season provided to be a Kristoffersson vs. Ekstrom show. The Hansen's weren't too far away, and as the season progressed, the team slowly began to find some improvements with their Peugeot 208 WRX supercars to an extent that they claimed five podiums and one victory. 

Car development is key to finding improvements, hence why, testing is always a useful tool. This season (2021), Kevin feels that his family team has taken a step in the right direction.

"Our car development has moved towards a direction I feel more comfortable with, and the car did fit me much better last season than in 2019," the Swede says. "I believe since then we've progressed even more in that direction and I can’t wait to extract all of it on track."

The 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship will mark the end of internal combustion-engined Supercars, an era that Kevin hopes to end on top. 

"To close World RX's petrol chapter with the Hansen name on top would be a beautiful story, given the team's rich history and the upcoming shift to full electric rallycross," he said.

“It's my time to shine!”

Hansen World RX Team has indicated that the second driver will be announced at a later date.