Timmy Hansen completes round two sweep in Essay

Timmy Hansen claimed a dominant victory in the final of the second round of the 2019 TitansRX season at Essay, France.

After topping qualifying, the young Swede won his semi-final. He then took an early lead in the final, passing Craig Breen at the start of the race as he and his brother Kevin Hansen put a squeeze on the World Rally Championship regular going into turn one.

From then on he never looked back, leading every lap of the race, just as he did in the semi-final.

Kevin Hansen finished second, more than five seconds back, but comfortably ahead of third-placed Topi Heikkinen. Heikkinen claimed the final podium spot late in the final, edging his way past a charging Craig Breen, who had impressed with his speed throughout the day.

Breen spent much of the first half of the final pressuring Kevin Hansen for second, but in the later stages fell into the clutches of Topi, who hounded him during the final three laps.

The Irishman finished fourth on the road, but was moved to last place post-race after an incident with CsuCsu ont he opening lap. Breen forced his way up the inside in turn two, pitching CsuCsu into a spin.

With Breen’s penalty, Jerome Grosset-Janin was classified fourth, ahead of CsuCsu.

While the final provided plenty of entertainment, the semi-final provided some of the wildest action ever seen in rallycross.

In the second semi, after a race-long battle with Antoine Masse, Hayden Paddon pitched the Frenchman into a spin in turn three. Masse made contact with barrier and broke the suspension on his Pantera RX6, and then caused a red flag by not leaving the circuit quickly enough after getting out of his car.

Paddon was disqualified from the round for the incident, but classified seventh overall in the event standings, while Masse took 11th, behind, Ronny C’Rock, Tamara Molinaro, and Reini Sampl, with Nelson Piquet Jr. taking the final spot in the overall classification after a trying event.

 

TitansRX round two final results

1. Timmy Hansen 03:29.083
2. Kevin Hansen 03:34.211
3. Toomas Heikkinen 03:36.352
4. Jerome G-J 03:39.479
5. ‚CsuCsu‘ 03:49.628
6. Craig Breen 03:41.061*

 

* Craig Breen was handed a 2.3 second penalty and moved to to last place due to on-track infractions