Mixed feelings for Kevin Hansen at the Lankebanen in Hell, Norway, home of the FIA World Rallycross Championship‘s round six: the 19-year-old Swede, competing as Team Peugeot-Hansen‘s third-car entry alongside his older brother, Timmy, and French rally ace Sébastien Loeb, started his Norwegian weekend just three days after completing his end-of-school exams.
In the qualifying heats, the reigning FIA European Rallycross Supercar champion, at the wheel of a 2016-spec Peugeot 208 WRX, showed promising pace, sixth fastest in Q1 and even third in Q4, equalling his best result to date (last year in Lohéac, France).
Being seventh overall at the end of the qualifiers meant that, of course, Kevin would be granted a spot in the semi-finals. However, a much-criticised, action-packed first lap ultimately deprived Kevin of any chances to reach the final, as he finished sixth. Loeb finished second in the same semi-final, while Timmy was third in the other one.
“It was a weekend of ups and downs for me at Hell,” he said. “I started well by coming sixth in Q1 but the change in the conditions for Q2 didn’t play out well for me. Things went better as the track dried today and I managed to bag third in Q4!
“That’s my best result of the year so far and it earned me a place in the semi-finals.”
“Unfortunately, the eventful first lap of my race prevented me from joining Timmy and Sébastien in the final as I had been hoping.”
The next round of the Championship, at Höljes in Sweden, is expected to gift Kevin with better luck than the previous events. On his home track, Hansen Jr. clinched his third EuroRX Supercar win in a row last year, as well as second place in RX Lites (now called the RX2 International Series, the official support category to WorldRX) in both 2014 and 2015.
