The first event of the FIA World Rallycross Championship weekend at Mettet, in Belgium, saw the Hansen World RX Team overcoming the massive weaknesses that the RX1e cars had to the internal combustion supercars, as reliability and strategy paid off to Timmy Hansen to get his first win in the 2024 season with some help from Kevin Hansen.
Johan Kristoffersson led the Heats with textbook performances as he took advantage that the rift between internal combustion and electric power, as the RX1es were suffering with the technical nature of the Circuit Jules Tacheny by not being able to dial the acceleration for every occasion, and the bumpy nature of the first corners did more than just make the cars slip out of the ideal line, with many punctures and a mix of mechanical and electrical failures plaguing most of the grid, with only Kristoffersson, Ole Christian Veiby and Klara Andersson staying in one piece across the two session.
The most critical part of the Heats was that Niclas Grönholm was simply incapable to launch his PWR RX1e as he also had failures in the practice, and with the sessions being pretty much one after another until the Semifinal, he only qualified becuase the grid doesn’t have any more cars as he didn’t move an inch from the start line.
Semifinal 1 has the electrics starting well as usual as Kevin Hansen was leading Klara Andersson, with Kristoffersson and Ole Christian Veiby going to the Joker to get clean air and amass some fast laps to undercut them, which worked against Andersson but not against Hansen. Despite not needing to press Hansen, Kristoffersson stays at the back of the Peugeot 208 RX1e as he has more pace, backing off in the end to just get the result.
Semifinal 2 had Anthony Pelfrene in a rare lead by shutting the door on Timmy Hansen, but it only lasted a lap as the older Hansen took the position when mechanical issues appeared in Pelfrene’s Peugeot 208 WRX, with René Münnich and Grönholm taking second and third places right after and the positions staying as they were with the cars scattered around the track.
The Final had the Hansens in the front, and in standard Hansen WRXT fashion, they created a wall in the first corners to then let Timmy Hansen go while Kevin Hansen had Kristoffersson covered while Veiby and Andersson went for early Jokers to aim for the undercut. On Lap 3, Kristoffersson does the Joker and on Lap 4 it was both Hansen Peugeots there, with Timmy staying in the lead while Veiby passed Kristoffersson as the No. 1 Volkswagen Polo KMS 601 RX had a puncture, relegating Kristoffersson to a defensive role, which he did well Veiby saw Timmy win from the second spot while Kevin Hansen stole Kristoffersson’s third place right at the line.
Mettet RX I - Event results
PHOTO: FIA World Rallycross Chmapionship
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