Team Peugeot-Hansen extended their points advantage in the Teams’ Trophy after taking a double points finish at round ten of the FIA World Rallycross Championship held in Spain.
Timmy Hansen continued his strong recent form by setting the fastest time in heat one in his Peugeot 208 WRX Supercar and then followed this up by going quick enough in heat two to lead the overnight standings. After setting the fastest time in heat four, Hansen qualified for the Semi-Finals as did Davy Jeanney who finished four overall after the heats.
Both Hansen and Jeanney qualified from their respective Semi-Finals for the Final where the young Swedish driver fell back at the start after a tangle with Johan Kristoffersson which handed Championship leader Petter Solberg the lead of the race. Hansen would take his joker lap and cone home to take third place on the podium with Jeanney just holding off Tanner Foust to finish in fourth place.
This points haul means that Team Peugeot-Hansen now leads Ford OMSE by 77 points in the Teams’ Trophy as the series moves on to Turkey for Round Eleven.
Team Principal Kenneth Hansen praised the drivers efforts over the weekend: “The organisers of the championship’s first visit to Barcelona clearly worked very hard. The facilities at the F1 track were superb and we would love to come back here. Once again, we were very competitive, the proof being the fact that we got both our cars into the final.
“Unfortunately, we failed to benefit from our speed during every phase of the meeting, but that’s life. Sometimes the first corner can be very tricky and, when things don’t go perfectly for you, you have to try to make up for lost ground. The final didn’t go as well as we might have hoped but we still leave Spain with a big points haul which has given us a healthy lead in the Teams’ standings.”
Timmy Hansen was happy to score a podium finish but hoped for more after the first day’s performance. “The weekend started really well for us and I managed to earn a pole-position start for my semi-final despite taking a penalty. I decided to try to take care of my tyres and I felt confident for the final which I also started from pole position. When the light went green, I was surprised to see Petter Solberg pass on the inside of Turn 1.
“Given that the track had been sprayed with water just before the start, I made a small mistake and made contact with the tyre wall. I managed to hold on to second, though, and I wasn’t far behind Petter. I did what I could to close the gap but I ended up making two or three small mistakes which actually made it bigger. I tried everything in the last laps but it wasn’t enough. Finishing on the podium still allowed me to score two more points than Petter.”
Davy Jeanney took positives from his 4th place finish in the Final.
“I scored more championship points for myself as well as for the team which is important as we get close to the end of the season. I’ve even moved up a place in the Drivers’ standings by passing Andreas Bakkerud, which is the big positive of the weekend. I perhaps lacked a little confidence at one point in my semi-final and that cost me some time. I still succeeded in qualifying for the final during which I think my driving was better.”
