Team Hansen head into 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship as defending Team and Drivers champions and the two brothers appear to be usins attack as the best form of defence going into the season opener this weekend.
Last year saw Timmy win his first world title by the narrowest of margins and in controversial circumstances in South Africa. We all know what happened there.
Going into 2020, he’s ready to go again and has admitted over the off season that he’s always looking to improve. He talks about focusing a lot and most of the time he is able to keep his head and perform at his best when it matters most. This is what makes him so dangerous.
Last year’s extraordinary battle against Andreas Bakkerud will serve him well and if there is something the two-time returning champion Johan Kristoffersson has not yet experienced in the sport, it is a season-long battle with the intensity that we saw last year.
Hansen and Kristoffersson will undoubtedly go head to head numerous times this year which is bound to be brilliant viewing.
Timmy won four events in 2019, each of them showing his mental strength. He bounced back from a nightmare start in Abu Dhabi to become just the third driver to do the clean sweep at the next round in Barcelona, before going on to come out on top in a fantastic final at Silverstone two rounds later.
A major setback in Canada which saw him disastrously not qualify for the semi-finals piled on the pressure, but he resisted it all to win in France and Latvia before becoming champion in Cape Town in dramatic fashion.
Leading much of the way whilst Timmy was on a rollercoaster ride was brother Kevin. Many forget that Kevin is just 21-years-old and last year he stepped things up when some of the biggest names left the series at the end of 2018.
Kevin was very consistent but did not quite have the outright speed of brother Timmy or rival Bakkerud. With experience and time, Kevin should come good and there is almost no doubt he will win a World RX title in the near future. Could 2020 be his year?
The Swede has a wise head on young shoulders and his conservative, calm approach means he stays out of trouble which is pivotal in rallycross because things can go wrong so quickly, so easily.
There is now an expectation for Kevin to be competitive and battling at the front throughout the season when those expectations were not there last year. Kevin has to be going into the season with the championship in mind and it will be interesting to see whether that has a positive or negative effect on him.
Team Hansen will continue to run their ex-Peugeot Sport built Peugeot 208 Supercars whilst running their operations entirely from their home base in Götene, Sweden.
For me, Timmy and Kevin will have to work together again to defeat the opposition and withstand the inevitable challenge from the returning Kristoffersson.
Prediction
Timmy Hansen – 2nd
Kevin Hansen – 5th