Peugeot confirmed that will leave the FIA World Rallycross Championship after a single year as a full factory team and many years supporting Hansen Motorsport, citing the focus on electric production vehicles and the postponement of the electric World RX, set for 2021.
Peugeot was with the Hansen family team since the start of the World RX and even before it offering support to their machinery, which meant the signature Peugeot 208 WRX model kept being updated, and this year the French manufacturer decided to step in and offer full factory support in the competition. Along with many wins from Timmy Hansen, Sébastien Loeb and Davy Jeanney, the Peugeot-Hansen combo also conquered the World RX teams championship in 2015, and Kevin Hansen’s Euro RX title in 2016 before he moved permanently to the world stage.
The currently seats in fifth in the drivers standings with Sébastien Loeb, while Timmy Hansen is sixth and Kevin Hansen is eighth and the only one of them to not score a podium this year, and the team itself is third in the standings, too distant from EKS Audi to fight for second.
The plans for Peugeot are focused totally on a range of electric cars, and they intend to use Peugeot Sport as a platform to develop their electric machinery, and the postponement of the E-World RX to 2021, citing that this would give time for more manufacturers to join in, was enough of a reason for the French marque to pull out their rallycross support, as they were between the parts that pushed for rallycross electrification.
The last World RX event with Peugeot as a factory team will be the Cape Town RX on November 24th, and Hansen Motorsport’s future in the competition is still to be confirmed. Audi is set to drop factory backing to EKS too once the current season ends.
PHOTO: Peugeot
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