Hansen set for Junior debut
by Tim Whittington |
Kevin Hansen, the youngest son of Kenneth Hansen the most successful Rallycross driver ever, will make his debut in Rallycross this weekend when he takes part in the third and fourth rounds of the MSA British Junior Rallycross Championship at Nutts Corner in Northern Ireland.
Kevin Hansen begins his Rallycross career this weekend. © Tim Whittington/RallycrossWorld.com
The youngest of Hansen’s two sons, Kevin has had to sit out the first two rounds of the championship waiting until his 14th birthday to be eligible to compete. With that milestone now reached, the young Swede is to complete his switch from karting to Rallycross and follow in the wheeltracks of his parents; father Kenneth has 14 European championship titles to his name while mum Susann ranks as probably the most successful female driver in Rallycross and was European champion in the 1400 Cup class in 1994.
Although unable to race so far this year, Hansen Jnr has had his 1300cc Suzuki Swift in Sweden and has been able to test the car. “I’ve done some testing so I’m used to the car. Timmy [his older brother] went with me and he set some lap times so I had to something to aim for, I have been just half-a-second a lap slower than him, but I want to be faster!” said Hansen recently.
Although his older brother Timmy has concentrated on circuit racing since graduating from karts, he has dabbled in Rallycross and raced in the Swift Sport Championship (big brother of the Junior championship) at Pembrey in Wales in October 2010, and made a star appearance in a French championship event at Dreux last year.
There are two events running at Nutts Corner this weekend, one on Sunday and one on Monday of what is the Diamond Jubillee Bank Holiday weekend in the UK. They form the third and fourth rounds of the Clubmans Rallycross Championship, as well as qualifying rounds of the MSA British Junior Championship and the Swift Sport Championship. The events also mark the return to Nutts Corner of Rallycross a break of several years. If the events are successfully completed, it is likely that the Motorsport Ireland Rallycross Championship will include at least one round at Nutts Corner next year.