You might think that it doesn’t get any better than winning a World Rallycross title, but Timmy Hansen doesn’t think that way. In fact, he’s going into the 2020 season expecting it to be his best yet.
After years of promise, Hansen finally delivered in 2019, winning more races than any other driver and triumphing in a titanic title fight against brother and team-mate Kevin and RX Cartel’s Andreas Bakkerud. Having achieved his lifelong dream, the pressure’s now off, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be taking his foot off the gas.
“I think I’ll be more relaxed, having done that and having reached my big dream I don’t have to chase that hard anymore,” Hansen told DirtFish. “I’m feeling much more comfortable like that and I think it’s going to be in my favour, so I know myself that I’m driving the best when I’m most relaxed.
“This has all made me very motivated, looking at myself, not in the sense that I have relaxed over the winter, it’s more in the sense that I don’t have anything to prove outside so I’m able to look at only myself and trying to improve myself which I think will lead to an even better year.
“Personally I’m looking and hoping towards my best season ever in 2020. That’s my goal. What that’s going to mean in results, we’ll see. It’s tough in rallycross, there’s a lot of things happening and I’m going to stay focussed, I’m going to do my best and we’ll see at the end of the year.”
Team Hansen will have a big shift this year, with its pair of Peugeot 208 RXs being relocated to the team’s own shop in Sweden as opposed to being kept in France, as was the case last year. The change, although a big one, was one that Hansen said the team was keen to make in order for it to keep on progressing in World RX.
“It’s a big difference for us but it’s the way to move forward,” he said. “We’ve pushed hard to improve on every area as best we can, and that was one of the bits that we wanted [to do] to continue to move forward.
“Over the race weekend it will not be a big difference but for us in the daily job it will be a big difference. “
Another key part of Hansen’s run to the 2019 title was his partnership with Kevin. The pair have a relationship unlike any other between team-mates within the World RX paddock, naturally, and although one of them now has a world title to their name, Timmy isn’t expecting things to change between the two.
“I hope it’s going to be the same,” he said. “That’s a major part of our success, that we have such a close relationship on and off track. But it’s not easy, it takes work, any relationship in your life takes work and you need to balance everything.
“Kevin’s my best friend and I love to hang out with him on and off the track and if we can do what we did last year on track, I think that’s going to be a big help in reaching good results for both of us.
“Last year I won but it might turn out that he has the better weekends this year. It’s ten races and whoever has the best day, times 10, is the champion.”
