Timmy Hansen wins round eight in Austria

Timmy Hansen escaped a first corner coming together to take a dominant win in the eighth round of the 2019 TitansRX season at the MJP Arena in Austria.

The Swede started the final in pole position after topping qualifying and winning his semi-final, and made a clean getaway while the rest of the field concertinaed into the first corner.

In the skirmish Kevin Hansen moved up from this to second, getting by round seven winner Topi Heikkinen, while Jerome Grosst-Janin also took advantage to move into podium contention; Craig Breen also had a look but couldn’t find a way past over the first jump. The Frenchman however quickly fell back as the field went into the reprofiled dirt drift section beginning after the jump.

Behind the Timmy Hansen, who had a clear advantage, Timmy Hansen and Heikkinen were squabbling over second place. On lap two Heikkinen made a bold move up the inside of the sweeping dirt turn – a move that had become something of a trademark for the Finn over the weekend – and snatched second.

From there Heikkinen began to chase down Timmy Hansen, but the race leader’s younger brother remained hot on his tail.

Although Heikkinen had closed the gap up to just under 1.9 seconds by the race end he couldn’t find his way to the front to become the first driver to sweep a weekend. It was a similar story for Kevin Hansen who like Heikkinen, had his day compromised by a tricky run in qualifying.

Breen finished a distant fourth after being in the mix on the opening lap, he beat Tamara Molinaro who kept on his tail throughout the race, while his run wide on the opening lap meant that Grosset-Janin finished down in sixth.

Ahead of the final, Andreas Steffen, Hatyden Paddon, and Andrew Jordan all failed to advance from the first semi-final. Both Paddon and Jordan got caught in a first lap pileup, in which Paddon was briefly sent airborne. Jordan retired at the end of the first lap while Paddon dropped out three laps later.

Steffen was able to escape the carnage but finished in fourth, outside the transfer spots.

In the second semi-final Abbie Eaton just missed out after Grosset-Janin’s car went into limp mode. Eaton closed up to the Frenchman as the pair headed to the line but missed out by the narrowest of margins.

Oliver Webb and Perry McCarthy also failed to advance after the pair made contact which dropped them way behind the pack.

Although he failed to win a main event all weekend, Kevin Hansen once again ends an event atop of the points standings, holding a slender five-point lead over Heikkinen. Timmy Hansen’s win keeps him very much in the title fight; he sits third, 11 points adrift of the top spot.

Another strong weekend for Molinaro means the she moves up to fourth in the points, holding the ‚best of the rest‘ spot, two points ahead of Grosset-Janin.

TitansRX round eight final results

TitansRX series standings (top 15)