Timmy Hansen once again showed he has the pace to run at the front of the FIA World Rallycross Championship after winning a heat race and his semi final race at Montalegre for the second race of the 2018 season.
After collecting the sixth spot in the first heat, Hansen lead home a Team Peugeot total 1-2 at the top of the timesheets in the second heat on Saturday, heading in to the second day in second place. A fourth and sixth place finish would follow on the Sunday before heading up teammate Sébastien Loeb in the semi final to take the win.
Unfortunately his luck would run out in the finals after clipping a barrier, dropping him to the back of the field where he would finish.
“In the final, I was going well but Kristoffersson was faster, and I made a mistake when I was trying to keep up.” said Hansen.
With mixed weather conditions once again playing a part of the weekend, the field were up against it as the snow came down in the final race of the weekend.
“The weather changed for the final and we didn’t have time to adapt the car to the slippery conditions: we still had the set up from the dry run before. So, I think that was part of it, but it was also my mistake.
“I went too fast into the corner, hit the rail and spun round. That’s racing sometimes, mistakes can happen.
Credit: Peugeot Sport
While sixth place wasn’t the ideal finish, Hansen remains in contention for the championship as he sits in joint fifth place alongside EKS Audi Sport’s Mattias Ekstrom.
“At least we had a good weekend, a good qualifying and a win in the semi-final, with very tricky conditions.” he added. “It’s a shame we can’t celebrate on the podium now, but I think the pace is there every time we’re on track; there’s no reason to feel negative.”
