A great weekend for the Hansen brothers at the Estering, home of this year’s eleventh and penultimate round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
While older brother Timmy has returned to the podium after a lengthy absence, 19-year-old Kevin Hansen turned his hopes of bringing his 2016-spec Peugeot 208 WRX, which he drives as Team Peugeot-Hansen‘s third-car entry, all the way to the final. An impressive result, not just because of Kevin’s young age, but also in consideration of his older-specification car.
His sixth-overall qualifying position quickly turned into a second place in his semi-final, where his team-mate, as well as Peugeot-Hansen’s lead driver, Sébastien Loeb, managed no better than fourth. After his second-row start in the final, the youngest of the Hansens even looked set for an overall podium finish, together with Timmy, until suspension failure hit him hard, but he nevertheless finished sixth overall.
“I was delighted when I came second in my semi-final. I felt really fast and lining up for the final in a 2016-spec car was a good performance.”, Kevin says.
“I managed to exit the first turn in third place then pass Petter Solberg next time round. There was contact, though, and my suspension suffered damage. That’s such a shame because everything had been working like magic up until then!
“I didn’t realise at once that second place was on the cards. When I found out, I was a bit disappointed but I prefer to take away the positives. I showed that I can be competitive and I really feel I have stepped up to a new level in the past few rounds.”
The whole World RX field is now on a month-long break, until the season finale in Cape Town, South Africa, 10-12 November on an all-new racetrack.
