Hansen predicts electric era will play to his strengths

Kevin Hansen is heading into the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship campaign in bullish mood, confident that the greater similarity of the cars – all underpinned by the cutting-edge new Kreisel Electric powertrain – will allow him to truly shine.

Hansen has been a consistent front-runner at the international pinnacle of the dual-surface discipline since 2019, tallying a brace of victories and 12 further podiums over the past three seasons.

Seven of those were achieved last year, as the Swede came out-of-the-blocks punching in the Catalunya curtain-raiser to pip brother Timmy Hansen and multiple world champion Johan Kristoffersson to the chequered flag – his first ‘on-the-road’ triumph in World RX.

Thereafter, Hansen remained firmly in the hunt, reaching the rostrum on home soil in Sweden, in France, Latvia, Belgium, Portugal and Germany – making him the only driver to secure a top three finish at every circuit the championship visited in 2021.

Those results earned the 23-year-old fourth position in the final title table, and as he prepares now to embark upon his sixth full season of competition at the highest level behind the wheel of Hansen Motorsport’s proven Peugeot 208, he does so with a real spring in his step.

“It only feels like yesterday that I made my World RX debut in Argentina in 2015,” he reflected. “It’s been a long journey, and every year has just got better and better. I couldn’t be prouder to be able to race for a team of this calibre. It’s a family team, but we have such great team spirit and so many great engineers and mechanics who do everything so well.

“It’s an incredible bunch of people and I’m so proud to be part of the team again. I don’t have a guaranteed seat here – this is a world championship-winning team and everybody needs to perform – so I’m super-excited to be back.

“As a team, we’ve been here for over 30 years in this championship and racing combustion engines all that time. To be part of this fresh start is truly historical for us and we want to continue our success. When we start the car up for the first time, that’s going to be really exciting – I’m super ready to get on top of this new technology.

“In my career, it’s always suited me very well when everybody has had similar technology underneath them – the more similar the cars, the faster I have been. I took my first proper win last year, which was really nice, but now I want more and I’m super hungry for my first world title. I think it’s about time...”