As a way to fight back the KMS Horse domination in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, the Hansen World RX Team had their best performance of the season in the second leg at Montalegre, in Portugal, which culminated in the first win in 2024 for Kevin Hansen as their usual tactics were combined with great performance from the Peugeor 208 RX1es of the team.
Timmy Hansen had the control of the Heats by a tiny margin as tactics played against Johan Kristoffersson in Heat 2, with Kevin Hansen appearing right behind, which showed that the Hansen WRXT Peugeots were finally on the groove while the CEDT PWRs were good on the launch but going backwards in the rest.
Semifinal 1 had the Hansen WRXT Peugeot in the front row, and they used the tactics as they saw fit by creating a wall to deny any ground to Klara Andersson and Anthony Pelfrene. With the Hansens secure in first and second, the fight was for third place, and Pelfrene was closing down on Andersson with the Joker already done, executing the pass in the final lap and holding the third place despite the rear right puncture that appeared on Lap 4.
On Semifinal 2 the KMS Horse Polos had the same sort of advantage of the Hansens, but Niclas Grönholm jumped ahead of both Kristoffersson and Ole Christian Veiby to try to spoil that party, finding himself in the same situation of the second Heat, but it became clear that the plan benefited Veiby, who jumped in the lead in the final lap to win the race, with Kristoffersson right behind him and Grönholm relegated to third.
Before the Final, Pelfrene was taken off as a result of track limit infringement in the Semifinal, so Klara Andersson stepped up to give CEDT the same two cars in the grid as Hansen WRXT and KMS Horse. Veiby had the pole position, but the Hansen did a pincer move on him before the first corner, only for Veiby to counter on Timmy Hansen at the end of Lap 1 and Timmy Hansen to brage on the inside on Lap 2. The fight was actually doing favors for Kevin Hansen and Kristoffersson, who were with the Joker Lap done, and once Timmy and Veiby went to the Joker in the Final Lap, Kevin just had the massive job of protecting the lead from Kristoffersson until the finish line to confirm the win, and behind those two, Timmy Hansen won the battle with Veiby to complete the podium.
Montalegre RX II - Event results
The championship is still in favor of Kristoffersson, who has 206 points against the 160 of Kevin Hansen, while Veiby went backwards to third with 149 points while having Timmy Hansen right behind him with 147. Depending on how thiings will go in China on 19 and 20 October, Kristoffersson might conquer the seventh title before the second leg of the weekend or even before that.
PHOTO: FIA World Rallycross Championship
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.