Hansen going for World RX gold at Silverstone

The fourth stop on the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship tour takes Team Hansen MJP to Silverstone, where it will defend the lead in both the drivers‘ and teams‘ championships. Kevin Hansen leads elder brother Timmy by 11 points heading to Britain, while the team has a single point in hand over its nearest team rival.

Last year’s event at Silverstone, the first since Great Britain’s slot was switched from Lydden Hill, resulted in mixed feelings for Team Hansen MJP. All of the team’s cars had the speed to make the Final in 2018, with Timmy setting the fastest lap of the weekend, although unfortunately a car problem forced him to retire from the Semi-Final.

Kevin made it through to the Final on that occasion, however, so the team is confident that another successful weekend with a strong points haul may be on the cards.

Silverstone’s World RX track made its series debut last season to much fanfare, acting as the centrepiece of the SpeedMachine festival.

This track is a rarity on the calendar due to being more gravel than sealed surface. But it’s flat and quite smooth, with more than one straight, so it’s still quite a quick circuit.

It gets slower as the lap goes on, with the final section containing the joker section. Not that the ‚fast‘ route is particularly fast, with drivers threading their cars through the final chicane before blasting back towards the start/finish line.

What to look out for

The joker lap at Silverstone is tricky thanks to two surface changes in quick succession. Gravel becomes asphalt as drivers barrel towards the braking zone for the joker’s hairpin, only to switch back to gravel again on exit.

All eyes are likely to be on the massive man-made jump between turns four and five, given the stratospheric heights the cars hit. Thankfully, the Öhlins dampers fitted to the Peugeot 208 WRX are more than up to the challenge of absorbing the landing impact.

Silverstone is one of the few World RX circuits that’s more gravel than asphalt. It’s also low-grip with lots of slow, technical bends, so a softer set-up will help. But go too soft and problems arise when landing after the big jump between turns four and five. It’s a tricky balance to find.

The fastest set-up for Q1 probably won’t be so quick come the Semi-Finals and Final. The forecast is for rain on Friday but none on Saturday or Sunday, so expect the track to dry out as the first day of action progresses and set-ups becoming a little firmer.