Team Peugeot-Hansen secured the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Teams Championship at the penultimate round of the series, held at the Franciacorta International Circuit in Italy last weekend, amidst difficult and changing conditions during the event.
Despite the fact that both Timmy Hansen and Davy Jeanney failed to make it out of the Semi-Finals stages, the team managed to score enough points to give them the 79 point lead that they required to sew up the title, which was won in 2014 by rivals Ford OMSE.
Whilst Andreas Bakkerud would go on to take the win in the Supercar Final, the fact that Hansen and Jeanney scored five victories between them during the season against Ford’s one win taken in Italy shows the rapid rate of development that the Franco-Swedish team has thrown at the Peugeot 208 WRX has proven to be the key in winning the teams title.
Team Principal Kenneth Hansen was overjoyed at the team taking its first championship title during its second season of WorldRX competition: “It’s a fantastic feeling to have won the title. We have functioned so well as a team this year, especially our two drivers, and today’s success is the fruit of that effort. I really feel we are the strongest team, and that’s because we have been working together all in the same direction.
“This project got off to a tardy start last year and we fought very hard to become competitive. This season, we were better prepared. To begin with, we didn’t score as many points as we had hoped but we soon showed the other teams that they would have to reckon with us. Timmy and Davy proved as much by winning five rounds.”
Timmy Hansen, who has won three WorldRX events this year was happy for the teams victory, but not as happy regarding the outcome of his own chances of taking the fight for the Drivers Championship to Petter Solberg: “It’s fantastic: we are the champions of the world! The team thoroughly deserved to win the title; they are the best. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for me today. We were strong in terms of top speed but we were slow off the line. In the semi-final, I found myself door-to-door with another driver who pushed me into the wall. That put an end to my day and my chances of winning the Drivers’ title now look very slim.”
Davy Jeanney took the positives about the Teams victory against his own performance during the weekend in Italy: “I’m a little disappointed with the way the weekend unfolded but that’s nothing compared with the joy of winning the championship. This title speaks volumes for the strength of our team. We will be sure to celebrate in style!”
The team and its drivers will now prepare for the final event of the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship which takes place at the Rosario circuit in Argentina on 27-29 November.
