Hansen focussed on ‘playing the game right’ in quest for more wins

The three-time world championship-winning outfit endured difficult weekends at Höljes and Nyirád, yielding consistent final appearances but no podium places, as the team struggled to get to grips with the new Hoosier Tires used in World RX this year.

While the Swedish squad was still not able to challenge KMS - HORSE Powertrain on outright pace at Mettet, Timmy and Kevin Hansen produced a tactical masterclass to return to the top step of the rostrum at rallycross’ highest level.

By winning their respective semi-finals on the Saturday, the pair locked out the front row of the grid for the final in their electric Peugeot 208 RX1e cars, thereafter working together as Kevin Hansen held back the chasing pack to enable elder brother Timmy to make good his escape at the front of the field.

The 2019 world champion’s 14th career triumph at the international pinnacle of the sport – allied to a fifth-place finish the next day, less than three-quarters-of-a-second shy of the runner-up spoils – has elevated Hansen to fourth in the title standings with four rounds remaining, and he is keen to maintain the team’s current momentum in Portugal and China.

“It’s been a tricky start to the year, but we have been working so hard to turn it around,” acknowledged the 32-year-old Götene native. “It’s been tough for us to understand the new tyre. It has changed a lot, and we have had to re-think a lot of things that we are doing, but the car felt much better in Belgium and was very easy to drive.

“Pace-wise, we’re still not able to follow the KMS guys due to the weight difference [between electric and ICE]. In that regard, it shouldn’t have been possible to win at Mettet, but the stars aligned and in Saturday’s final we played the team game and came away with a double podium. It was a huge team effort all-round, and it felt great to pay everybody back with a victory.

“It was a positive weekend overall. We have made a huge improvement; the car is very different now and is working a lot better. If we want to compete with KMS on pace alone, we know we will lose, but we are still in the fight, the team is feeling good and we are putting everything into this. If we can play the game right, maybe we can steal some more wins...”

“For the moment, we don’t have the top speed or the quickest lap times, but as we all know, that doesn’t always get you the win in rallycross,” echoed Team Principal, 14-time European champion Kenneth Hansen. “We knew we had a fantastic possibility in Saturday’s final in Belgium and we managed it very well as a team.

“We have found some more pace and we feel we are more involved in the game now. We need to play that game the best we can, but we’ve seen that if we do play our cards right, it is possible to win.”