Hansen WRXT confirms absence from KymiRing round

Since the return of the FIA World Rallycross Championship under the direct management from the FIA, one problem that remains to be tackled is the diminishing grid, considering it is an FIA sanctioned World championship, and the problems just got worse as one of the competition’s stalwarts, Hansen World RX Team, confirmed absence from the Finnish round at KymiRing.
 
In a statement released in the early Friday (15) afternoon, the family team mentioned that they are battling a difficult position with a major partner, and that after trying to find a solution to the situation in good faith or to conclude a new deal for 2025, the discussions had no progress. While Hansen WRXT has always been an advocate of the World RX, they had to deal more than once with difficult situations where they would have to hurry to secure partners to compete in the season.
 
While Hansen WRXT has still to make a convincing performance to establish themselves as frontrunners in the title race, Timmy Hansen was keeping the team on the run as he currently sits in third in the standings with 55 points, 10 points behind second placed Niclas Grönholm and 17 behind the leader Johan Kristoffersson. Kevin Hansen had a bigger battle in his hands as he is in a joint sixth place with Klara Andersson with 39 points, a stark contrast of his runner-up seasons in 2023 and 2024.
 
The team also stated that for the moment the plans to compete in the Istanbul RX double header are still not entirely scrapped, if it is to compete there, it would be in the same fashion as PGRX in 2024, to test the waters in preparation for the next season, as they admit their main focus is to prepare the 2026 campaign and long term sustainability of their World RX program, as their current partnerships will be negotiated while they look for new ones.
 
Along with Hansen WRXT, Team RX Racing, and consequently Patrick O’Donovan, also pull out from the KymiRing round. While the Hansen use EVs and O’Donovan uses a combustion machine, both used Peugeot 208 models. This leaves only five World RX cars for the event on 24 August, and while it needs confirmation, the latest entry list announcement from the championship suggests that the World championship cars will be mixed with the Euro RX1 entries while counting for their own standings.
 
PHOTO: FIA World Rallycross Championship