Team Peugeot-Hansen are looking forward to this weekend’s World Rallycross race in Trois-Rivières, Canada: team boss Kenneth Hansen is confident about a possible third win in a row for the French-Swedish team on Canadian soil, and their three drivers, brothers Timmy and Kevin Hansen and French nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb are certainly committed to make it come true.
In the four-week break between the last World RX round in Höljes, Sweden, the team has conducted some mid-season testing in Riga, Latvia, where Timmy was in charge of testing and evaluating a series of technical updates that will be fitted to the team’s Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars from Canada onwards; in addition to that, he also took part in a 10-hour endurance race at Magny-Cours, France, co-driving alongside his father and younger brother.
As far as the Canadian race is concerned, Hansen fondly remembers last year’s edition, when he finished fourth in his semi-final, only to be later called as the reserve driver for the final, after his former team-mate, Russian Timur Timerzyanov, got disqualified for reckless driving. Despite the disadvantage of starting from the back of the grid, a good joker lap strategy eventually paid off, as he closed the race in front of Hoonigan Racing Division‘s Norwegian driver, Andreas Bakkerud.
On the previous edition, Timmy was forced to miss out on the final, after heavy contact with Petter Solberg in the early stages of their semi-final immediately put him out of the race. The weekend still went Peugeot-Hansen’s way, though, as his then-team-mate Davy Jeanney claimed his second win of the season in Trois-Rivières.
So far, the 2017-spec Peugeot 208 WRX has shown blistering pace, with multiple podium finishes, although a last-lap puncture robbed Timmy of an almost certain overall win in Belgium, where he finished second, between the two Volkswagen Polos of Johan Kristoffersson and Petter Solberg.
“I love Trois Rivières. It’s not a permanent track but the organisers do a tremendous job to create a venue that produces some great racing, Timmy says.
“The dirt and asphalt portions flow nicely and the jump is fun, so they’ve put together a good combination. Two years ago, I was pretty competitive but the victory went to my then team-mate. Last year, I was less on the pace but I ended up winning! I can’t wait to see what this year’s meeting has in store for me.”
Racing action in Canada starts on Saturday, 5 August, with the first free practice session at 09:15 local time.