“I definitely had to work very hard” – Timmy Hansen

Timmy Hansen insists he had to work ‘very hard’ to become the first repeat winner of the 2019 World Rallycross season at Silverstone.

The Swede dominated the first day of the event, but had to play second fiddle to Andreas Bakkerud for much of Sunday, with overnight rain proving to be the perfect leveller between the Hansen MJP Peugeot squad, and the RX Cartel Audi team.

After sweeping the second half of qualifying, Bakkerud began the final with an advantage over Hansen, beating him off the line and leading much of the race. However, a decision to take the joker early proved pivotal, with Bakkerud not reacting immediately, and loosing out to Hansen when he merged onto the main track after taking the joker himself two laps later.

“I was absolutely on his bumper when I jokered, then I did a perfect joker and a perfect lap after that. It was exactly what I wanted to do and when I saw he didn’t go in I thought okay this must mean it’s very close,” said Hansen. “I kept on pushing, he went in the lap after and seeing him on my right when I had more speed was a great moment, but I definitely had to work very hard today to get this result.”

Hansen has been the pacesetter for much of the season, leading the way in Abu Dhabi – before a qualifying clash with Bakkerud too him out of contention – and winning in Barcelona. A slight lull in form in at Spa-Francorchamps proved to be nothing but a minor blip before his return to the top at Silverstone. Despite the strong run – Hansen could have easily won three of the first four events – he insists that his season hasn’t been an easy one.

“We had to put everything together to be here.,” he insisted. “I think we have to start the work now. In the beginning of the season everything was about being there and just making sure we were fast, then we were and everything worked. Now I think this weekend we missed a bit of traction, we need a bit more grip on the gravel.”

“Ohlins are a great partner of ours and we’ll sit down together and see what we can do for Norway because it’s time to start pushing between the events as well.”