Timmy Hansen took the win at the Logitech G World RX of Pirineus-Barcelona 2030.
The defending champion put in some flying laps in the closing stages of the final of round seven of the FIA World Rallycross Championship to take his first win of the 2020 season.
Hansen became the fourth different winner of the year after beating Johan Kristoffersson in the final of the World RX of Spain.
Kristoffersson was Top Qualifier and started the final on pole position. He held onto the lead despite being squeezed into the wall at turn one by Hansen.
Hansen took his joker on lap three and then put in consistently fast laps to close the gap down to Kristoffersson. Kristoffersson jokered on the last lap. Hansen was able to get the jump on him with the two-time champion joining the standard lap behind. There was contact again in the closing stages with Kristoffersson running into the back of Hansen whilst trying to find a way past.
Hansen held on to take the win by just 0.417 seconds.
Both the turn one and final lap incidents between the two drivers were under investigation after the race. Both drivers were reprimanded but no penalties were received.
Kevin Hansen finished in the final podium position. The second of the Hansen brothers ran in second place from the start, but after taking his joker on lap five he dropped behind Timmy Hansen.
There was a battle further back between Mattias Ekstrom, Niclas Gronholm and Andreas Bakkerud with the three cars running in a train.
The three drivers took their jokers over the first two laps. Ekstrom led with Gronholm and Bakkerud close behind. A mistake by Ekstrom coming out of the final hairpin on lap four allowed Gronholm to move up a position.
Gronholm took fourth ahead of Ekstrom and Bakkerud.
Timur Timerzyanov dropped to the back at turn one of the first semi-final and finished fourth, just missing out on a place in the final. Oliver Bennett finished fifth whilst Timo Scheider retired from the race.
Anton Marklund ran on the tail of Gronholm in semi-final two but was unable to make a pass for a place in the final. Robin Larsson was promoted into the semi-finals after a non-finish in Q2 meant he finished qualifying in 13th. Enzo Ide held the final qualifying spot but withdrew which promoted Larsson. Larsson was unable to make the final, with Liam Doran a non-finish for the race.
Kristoffersson leads the drivers’ championship by 25 points from Ekstrom and Timmy Hansen. KYB Team JC lead the teams championship from Team Hansen by 17 points.
Round eight of the FIA World Rallycross Championship takes place tomorrow (Sunday 18 October) in the final double-header of the season.
Feature image credit: FIAWorldRallycross.com
