Historic one-two for Hansen brothers in Barcelona
Team Hansen MJP recorded a sensational FIA World Rallycross Championship result, with Timmy Hansen winning every single qualifying session, his semi-final and the final, while championship leader Kevin Hansen made it a Hansen family 1-2 in the final for a unprecedented result in FIA World Rallycross history.
Timmy Hansen claimed his first 2019 WRX victory – the sixth of his career – with younger brother and Abu Dhabi winner Kevin Hansen finishing second. The Hansen name topped every session from the start of qualifying as they dominated in Barcelona. The incredible performances from Timmy and Kevin are reflected in the championship standings, with Team Hansen MJP leading the 2019 WRX Team Standings by 18 points, while Kevin remains on top of the 2019 WRX Driver Standings and Timmy climbs to third with his victory.
After a devastating first round in Abu Dhabi for Timmy, which required a complete rebuild of his Peugeot 208 WRX after a collision with Andreas Bakkerud, he proved himself as the driver to beat from the start of Q1 in Barcelona. Timmy won the opening qualifying session and every one after that, seizing a maximum allocation of qualifying points, while Kevin emerged second after the qualifying heats with impressive and consistent speed.
Their qualifying performances meant that the brothers were seeded separately for the semi-finals, as Timmy and Kevin lined up for semi-final 1 and semi-final 2 respectively. Both drivers took dominant victories in their semi-finals, with healthy leads of 2.148s and 2.525s for Timmy and Kevin respectively.
Timmy produced a faultless performance in the final to claim an untroubled victory, taking his mandatory joker visit on the last lap. Rounding off the Hansen one-two finish, Kevin put on a brilliant display of driving while employing some fine race craft to hold off his rivals. Kevin took his joker while running second on the fifth lap, passing Niclas Gronholm afterwards to take third with one lap remaining. On the final lap, Andreas Bakkerud took his joker, handing Kevin the opportunity to close in and pounce, claiming second in the closing stages of a nail-biting final.
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1st
Timmy Hansen
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2nd
Kevin Hansen
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| Qualifying 1 1st Qualifying 2 1st Qualifying 3 1st Qualifying 4 1st Semi-Final 1st Final 1st |
Qualifying 1 2nd Qualifying 2 2nd Qualifying 3 5th Qualifying 4 4th Semi-Final 1st Final 2nd |
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21
Timmy Hansen:
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71
Kevin Hansen:
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“I think this has been the best weekend of my career so far. We got off to the best possible start on Saturday, winning the qualifying heats, and then we won the semi-final too. For the final I lined up against Kevin, and we played a good team game as we agreed that we would give each other plenty of room. The final was perfect as well, and when I saw in my mirror that Kevin was behind me to finish second, that was a really special moment as well. I was actually feeling very emotional: this was the perfect revenge after everything that happened in Abu Dhabi. Now I’m just going to enjoy the moment and head to Spa with even more confidence.” |
“We had a really good Q1 and Q2; then I had to get my elbows out a bit more in Q3 and Q4, but I really enjoyed it. I got the fastest lap of the weekend too, which made me really happy, as the ultimate pace compared to Timmy is perhaps the area where I’ve been lacking before, but now we’re getting there. Timmy did an amazing job this weekend; he really deserved to win. I wouldn’t say that he was completely uncatchable as there were times that I was close to him, but we drive each other on, which is perfect as it’s all about the team. Now I’ve extended my championship lead but this is not something that I’ve been thinking about much: we’re only on round two out of 10 so there’s a really long way to go.” |
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THE BOSS:
Kenneth Hansen:
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"I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of success in my career as a driver, winning many races and championships, but actually I think this feeling right now is even better. I can’t actually believe that it’s happened, so it’s going to take a while to sink in. There’s no way that we could have done better – so the expectation is even higher now, as the very best we could do from now on is equal what we have achieved now. And I think that will be very difficult to do, but of course we will try. |
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