Timmy Hansen claimed a second successive World Rallycross Championship win of the 2021 season at Lohéac, with team-mate Kevin Hansen finishing second to give the brothers a third 1-2 at the start of the campaign.
Niclas Grönholm finished third in his GRX Hyundai i20 at the French circuit, while reigning world champion Johan Kristoffersson missed out on the final for a second round in a row.
Event winner Hansen, who also won at Höljes in Sweden a fortnight ago, won his semifinal to progress to the final, with his brother winning the second semi to ensure the two Hansen World RX Team Peugeot 208s locked out the top-two starting positions for the final.
Little separated the pair in the final and they crossed the line separated by 0.652 seconds to maintain their record of intra-sibling 1-2 finishes in all rounds so far in 2021. Grönholm finished 2.235s down on the winner to secure his first podium of the season.
Kristoffersson might otherwise have been the Hansens’ closest challenger, having finished qualifying on top after two second places and two wins in the heats. He also led the first semifinal but then suffered a broken driveshaft that also damaged the gearbox, dropping to third at the finish.
That still gave him a starting place for the final, on account of having beaten Kevin Abbring by 0.063s over the line, but a fix could not be found in time by his EKS JC Audi squad – meaning Kristoffersson’s sixth place on the grid went instead to Abbring.
Former World Rally Championship driver Abbring made up ground from that starting position to claim fourth in the final in his Renault Mégane, despite suffering clutch problems in both the semifinal and the final.
He edged out the second GRX Hyundai of Krisztián Szabó, with Timo Scheider completing the top six in his Münnich Motorsport Seat Ibiza.
Following his second win of the season, Hansen now leads the standings on 85 points, 10 ahead of brother Kevin. Szabó is a further 17 points back – one ahead of Kristofferson.
