World RX – Hansen: “It’s like a dream”

Timmy Hansen scored an incredible victory in Trois-Rivières (Canada) by winning the final contested in the rain after being drafted following the exclusion of Timur Timerzyanov (Ford Fiesta) for his contact with Toomas Heikkinen (Audi S1) in the semi-finals. -final.

" It's like a dream !, rejoiced the Scandinavian. Until this final and this victory, the weekend had sometimes been complicated for me. We also lacked top speed while the Championship is extremely close with several drivers capable of winning. I was only starting to realize that I wouldn't make the final when I realized that I would be at the start. With the storm, we put the tires on for the rain and the finale went perfectly. It's just fantastic! »

Kenneth Hansen, the Team Principal of the team of the same name and the father of the young winner, admitted that the start of the weekend had been more difficult for the Peugeot 208.

“We have just had a truly very special weekend! It was very special to go from the disappointment of not being in the final to the joy of winning! We experienced some difficulties in the very fast part of the circuit, but our drivers were able to manage the more technical parts”, admitted Team Peugeot boss Hansen.

“With the disqualification of a competitor, we benefited from a bonus. The rain that started to fall before the start opened up new perspectives, since we knew that the Peugeot 208 WRX works very well in the wet and that Timmy appreciates these conditions. He actually had the perfect round and we developed a tactic that worked very well. We are all really happy with this victory, because we worked a lot to achieve it,” added Kenneth Hansen.

Timmy Hansen's victory allowed him to move up to sixth position in the Championship, 16 points behind his teammate Sébastien. Loeb who failed at the gates of the final after losing places at the start of his semi-final.

“This is obviously not the result we were hoping for, admitted the nine-time world champion WRC. The weekend started off rough and ended the same way. After a bit of trial and error, we made progress and managed to find adjustments which allowed us to take good places in Q2 and Q3. A collision in Q4 sent me to the 2nd row for the semi-final. During the latter, I found myself locked in the peloton, drowned in dust and I did not manage to reach the final. »

Results of the World RX in Trois-Rivières

Discover the report of the World RX in Trois-Rivières in issue 2075 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms, and on newsstands from Wednesday.