How Timmy Hansen Has Kept Loeb Honest In World Rallycross

Hal Ridge looks at how Peugeot’s pairing have been closely matched this season.

- Hal Ridge

The first measure of performance for any driver in motorsport is against their team-mate.

In February 2016, Team Peugeot-Hansen announced that the most successful rally driver of all time, Sebastien Loeb, would line up alongside former circuit racer Timmy Hansen in the squad’s Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars.

While Hansen had switched to rallycross for 2013 and had three full campaigns under his belt (with four World RX wins to his name) by the time Loeb arrived, the Frenchman’s status as one of the world’s best drivers meant he was labelled as a title favourite in his first year, before he had even raced the 208 WRX.

Twenty-three events on, as the pair reach the conclusion of their second full World RX assault as team-mates, there has been little to choose between them.

Hansen admits that despite having talented and competitive colleagues prior to 2016, there was always the pondering question of what would happen if the one of the world’s best was inserted into his car, to see what they could do.

“It’s surprisingly normal to have Sebastien as my team-mate,” he says. “I sort of expected the world to turn upside down, but he is just a driver, if I can say that, and he is very fast. But, he has no secret, he is just very good. Of course I had some thoughts about how fast could this car go if the best driver would drive it [before Loeb switched disciplines to rallycross]. Sebastien is a very good benchmark.”

Despite his family heritage in the sport [ his father Kenneth is a 14-time European Rallycross champion], Hansen initially made his name in circuit racing, up to Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 level. He now considers himself a rallycross driver through and through, and has spent the last two years being measured against legend Loeb.