Timmy Hansen scores World RX of Great Britain win in thrilling fashion

Timmy Hansen took a thrilling World RX of Great Britain victory at Silverstone, defeating Andreas Bakkerud thanks to a great strategy with a perfectly timed joker lap. Team HANSEN MJP team-mate and younger brother Kevin showed great speed all weekend but a small mistake cost him a chance to make the Final.

Saturday began in the best possible way, with Timmy and Kevin going fastest and second fastest respectively in Qualifying 1. It was a close fight, with Kevin sticking a stunning move around the outside to take the lead, only for Timmy to claw back time and resume the lead after joker laps had been taken. There was another formation finish in Qualifying 2, where both Timmy and Kevin were in the same heat once again, the former scoring Q2 victory and the latter going third fastest in the aggregate Q2 times.

Rain had fallen on Silverstone overnight, which meant both drivers being in the first heat would be a disadvantage. Timmy and Kevin were still 1-2 in their heat for a third consecutive time but ultimately would only place second and fourth in the session. Their positions then switched in Q4, which put both on the front row for Semi Final 1.

All appeared well in the Semi Final, with both Hansens running 1-2 yet again. Timmy and Kevin pulled away out front and both took their jokers on the last lap but a small mistake from Kevin when entering the hairpin, turning in slightly too early, put him nose-first into the tyre barrier and cost him 10 seconds. A second place had become sixth at the penultimate corner of the race.

Despite the setback, Team HANSEN MJP turned its focus straight to the final, in which Timmy was starting on the front row. His race was nearly over at the first turn when Timmy’s Peugeot 208 WRX was squeezed into the inside tyre barrier by Andreas Bakkerud, which inflicted minor damage to his car and dropped him to second place.

But a focused, determined Timmy regrouped and, with the help of a clever strategy from the team, jokered early and set the fastest lap of the weekend, taking the lead with one lap to go and delivering a stunning comeback victory.

A great weekend for Timmy put him straight into the lead of the World RX drivers’ championship, with Team HANSEN MJP still first and second, Kevin only four points behind Timmy in the standings. It was also a strong weekend in the teams’ championship, extending the lead to 25 points over GRX Taneco. After the disappointment of Sweden losing to Finland on Thursday in the IIHF World Championship ice hockey tournament, it was a nice bonus for the Swedish World RX team to beat the Finns three days later.