Brothers Timmy and Kevin Hansen are currently working to try and reach a deal to drive for the Peugeot World Rallycross team in 2018.
Timmy has been a member of the team since the inception of World Rallycross in 2014 along with nine-time World Rally champion, Sebastien Loeb, who currently is the only driver to have been announced as driving for the squad in the upcoming season.
Kevin made the full time step up to the championship in 2017 driving the previous-spec car. The brothers finished fifth and eighth in the standings respectively.
Up until this year, Peugeot had been running the team in conjunction with Hansen Motorsport, owned by Timmy and Kevin’s father, fourteen-time European Rallycross Champion, Kenneth Hansen. But as of this year, Peugeot is taking the programme ‘in-house’, utilising the added resources it now has after stopping their Dakar scheme.
Loeb was announced to be driving for the team last November, but there was no confirmation from either of the Hansen brothers that they would be taking part in the 2018 season and beyond. But now they are both working hard to get a deal finalised before testing and then the first round of the championship in Barcelona in 53 days time.
For Timmy, there were several times last year where he felt like he would not have a seat with the team going forward.
“The fear last year was that I would be without a seat and I was very worried for a long time actually,” he said, speaking to Motorsport.com
“It was great news when Peugeot actually announced that they’re continuing and then I’ve worked super-hard on trying to get that seat. I think there are three teams that are able to win and you want to be in one of those places. Seb is already done for one of the seats and obviously, the second seat is a very good one.
“Peugeot is putting in a big effort and we have a good relationship, but as I said, things will be announced soon.”
Timmy and Kevin Hansen – Credit: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
Kevin felt in a similar predicament, commenting that he found it tough to prove himself at times last year, given that he was driving a car a year older than the rest of the field.
“It’s really difficult to get things done when you were eighth in the world championship [last season]. Peugeot is growing as a team and I’ve worked hard to get a seat with them.
Going from Peugeot-Hansen to more Peugeot shows they are putting more effort into it and that means it’s probably going to be a faster car. Hopefully, it will be announced soon what I can do. It’s not long until testing for everybody begins, so it would be very nice to have things sorted before then.”
