Hansens ready to ‘put everything on the table’ for 2023 title challenge

Hansen World RX Team says it has left no stone unturned in its preparations for the 2023 FIA World Rallycross Championship campaign, as the Swedish squad promises to be ‘stronger and faster than before’ with an unchanged driver line-up of Timmy and Kevin Hansen and the potent Peugeot 208 RX1e.

The most successful outfit in rallycross history – with multiple European Championship titles for founder Kenneth Hansen, the 2019 Drivers’ World Championship crown for Timmy Hansen and three Teams’ World Championship triumphs – Hansen World RX Team was a front-runner again at the highest level last year, tallying no fewer than nine podium finishes including victory in Catalunya.

Those results yielded second place in the Teams’ World Championship standings and the same position for Timmy Hansen in the Drivers’ table, as the Swede once more proved to be Johan Kristoffersson’s closest competitor. Younger brother and 2016 European Rallycross Champion Kevin Hansen wound up just 13 points behind in fifth, and the pair will remain on-board as team-mates for an eighth consecutive season in 2023.

The driver and car combination might be familiar, but bolstered by the experience gained and lessons learned during the course of World RX’s inaugural electric campaign last year, Hansen World RX Team is taking a fresh approach into its 2023 title tilt.

Following an intense winter of analysis and development at its Götene workshop, the squad is firmly focussed on channelling its new visions, ideas, inspiration and motivation into a concerted championship challenge.

The second season of World RX’s electric era will get underway at Montalegre in Portugal on 3-4 June, before travelling through Europe and concluding with flyaway races in Cape Town and Hong Kong in the autumn.

Kevin Hansen, Driver, Hansen World RX Team, said:

“It’s really great to be confirmed for another season in World RX. Our team is the strongest and most historic in rallycross history, so to continue our journey together is fantastic. Last season was a massive step forward for World Rallycross with the important switch to electric technology, and there has been a lot of hard work by the team back at the factory all winter to improve on what we achieved. With the analysis we have done, we hope to make a good step forward.

“You never know how far that will take you, but with the brand new calendar and the second year of this new electric era, 2023 promises to be absolutely incredible. I’m more than excited to kick off and I feel like I’m in a great place for a title challenge. We’ll put everything on the table and do everything we can to end up as world champions by the end of the final round in Hong Kong.”

Timmy Hansen, Driver, Hansen World RX Team, said:

“I expect this year to look quite different. Last year was all about finishing the cars in time to get them out on-track to start the season, and a lot of things in all the teams were a bit rushed. Now we have more stability, being able to look properly into the year we have already done with these cars and trying to improve.

“I think all the cars in the championship will be faster, and we’re right on-board that train pushing flat-out to have the best possible package for this season – a fast car, strong team and Kevin and I being ready to tackle the season as team-mates again. There’s still loads of work to do, but I’m excited to get going and see where we are at the first event in Portugal.”

Kenneth Hansen, Team Principal, Hansen World RX Team, said:

“This season feels different. We are grateful to have Timmy and Kevin on-board as drivers; many people think this is just how it is because we are family, but it is not granted that they will drive for us, so we are grateful that we have two very strong drivers in the team to try and fight for both titles this season.

“We have tried to be clever, to lift different stones to find small things here and there that can help us move forward in 2023. We have done many things; we don’t know if it will be enough but definitely, we will be stronger and faster than before. For sure our competitors will be stronger also, but we have done our homework as well as we believe we can with the resources we have. It will be really interesting to see what will happen this year.”