Round eight of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Canada proved less than ideal for Timmy Hansen as Peugeot-Hansen‘s second driver suffered a series of problems throughout left him rather disappointed with the way the weekend finished.
After a fairly good Qualifying 1, transmission problems in his Qualifying 2 run brought him to a halt. Qualifying 3 wasn’t much better, but an astonishing run in the last of four qualifying rounds finally granted him a top-12 place in the intermediate standings and a spot in the semi-finals, where he finished second, gaining a spot in the middle row of the final grid.
When the final started, the Swede immediately appeared to be on his rivals’ pace, and for some time, he even led the seemingly unstoppable PSRX Volkswagen Sweden squad of Petter Solberg and Johan Kristoffersson, until an engine problem on lap five prematurely put him out of the race, handing third place to French team-mate Sébastien Loeb.
“It’s so frustrating! I was leading the final when an engine problem prevented me from reaching the finish, says a clearly disappointed Hansen.
“It was a huge shame. I really feel we closed the gap to Volkswagen a little this weekend. We also made some very good starts and we had good top speed down the straight, so that is all encouraging.
The young Swede returns to action on 2-3 September, when the Championship returns to Europe after the summer break, at the World RX of France in Lohéac. On Peugeot’s home soil, Timmy scored a win back in 2015.
