World RX #GOAT Top Ten Countdown: Timmy Hansen (7th)

7th: Timmy Hansen

World RX Titles: 1
World RX Wins: 12
World RX Podiums: 38
Best Championship Finish: 1st (2019)

The eldest son of Kenneth Hansen – the most successful rallycross driver in history, with 14 European Championship titles to his name – Timmy Hansen has gone on to establish himself as a master of the discipline in his own right, clinching the coveted World Championship Drivers’ trophy in dramatic fashion in the 2019 season finale in South Africa.

After reaching the final on his international rallycross debut in 2012 and placing third overall in his maiden full campaign of Euro RX competition in 2013, Hansen stepped up to the FIA World Rallycross Championship at the wheel of a Peugeot 208 WRX the following season. He duly registered his and the car’s maiden triumph at World RX of Italy, with three further podium finishes propelling him to fourth in the title table. 

A successful 2015 yielded three more wins and the runner-up spot in the standings, before the Swede sped to victory in Canada in 2016 as he reached the rostrum in half of the events he contested, going on to add another four podiums to his tally in 2017.

Having finished fifth in the championship that season and sixth a year later, 2019 would prove to be Hansen’s most accomplished campaign to-date, triumphing four times from ten starts to secure both the Drivers’ laurels as well as the Teams’ trophy for Team Hansen MJP alongside his younger brother and team-mate, Kevin.

The 2020 season resulted in another four rostrum appearances, including a win in Barcelona, en route to third in the final classification, before the second-generation racer fought tooth-and-nail for glory with countryman Johan Kristoffersson last year. After leading the way for the majority of the campaign following wins at Höljes and Lohéac, he ultimately missed out on a second career crown on countback at the end of a tense Nürburgring finale.