What was set to be one of the poorest outcomes for the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2025 ended being reverted just before the weekend starts at KymiRing, as Hansen World RX Team was given a lifeline to stay in competition, with the help coming from the competition next door.
The three time World RX teams champion and 2019 World drivers champion organization stated that after a breakdown in talks with their main sponsor, they wouldn’t be able to compete in Finland, and while not considering a travel to Türkiye as out of question for the season ending double header, it was clearly stated that the family team was focusing on getting things ready for the 2026 season. While 2019 champion Timmy Hansen was sitting in third in the standings, his 55 points still allow him to stay in contention for the drivers title against the 65 of Niclas Grönholm and the 72 of leader Johan Kristoffersson, but the repercussions on the standings were the tiniest of the problems.
With Hansen WRXT’s withdrawal, the World RX grid for KymiRing would hit its lowest point of competition’s 11 years old history, with only five entries and no wildcards, which led to the entry list being released with World RX drivers along with the Euro RX1 ones, suggesting that the grid would be mixed again for the first time since 2015, although counting points for their respective championships. Although the Euro RX1 grid has been in the low side recently, it will still be featuring double digit figures for the Finnish round with 12 drivers.
The saving grace appeared in a brief statement released this Thursday (21), when the Construction Equipment Dealer Team, Volvo CE and the PWR Group stepped in to support Hansen WRXT, in what sees the cars from Timmy and Kevin Hansen realigned to the grid, putting the car count up to seven. KymiRing is the home race for CEDT, with Niclas Grönholm being one of the drivers and SET Promotion running the team in partnership with PWR, which means they have everything at disposal to help immediately.
While sparse examples of camaraderie between the World RX teams appeared over the years, like when Andreas Bakkerud lost his equipment and had to race with a mix of what he could gather in the paddock, it does reinforce that the rallycross community is indeed more united that the usual, being compared to how club level racing usually works.
At this point, it is still unclear if World RX and Euro RX1 will have separated or mixed grids for the KymiRing RX, or if it will only have an effect in the final phases of the event.
PHOTO: CE Dealer Team
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