In the span of just six days, Timmy Hansen and Hansen Motorsport went from suffering the scariest accident of the RallyX Americas season at Crandon to standing on top of the podium at Eldora

CRUNCH. It’s a sound no racing driver ever wants to hear, because it means something has gone wrong. It’s worse when it’s followed by a series of further CRUNCHes, each of which usually means a lot more damage. But it was a noise that former rallycross World Champion Timmy Hansen found himself quite familiar with in the second set of RallyX Americas semifinals from Crandon International Raceway.

While following Kevin Eriksson into the Skybox Straight early in the race, Hansen’s left front struck a tractor tire marking the inside of the track. His First Corner FC1 Hypercar flew crooked through the air before landing hard and sideways, barrel rolling multiple times before settling upside down.

A hush fell over the tens of thousands of fans, but it quickly gave way to cheers and sighs of relief as Hansen crawled from the cockpit uninjured.

The car, of course, was a different story.

When it was finally returned to the paddock after the race. All four corners were destroyed, but the chassis and battery remained intact enough for it to be raceable the following weekend at Eldora Speedway—if repairs could be made in time. With a haul from Wisconsin down to Ohio on Monday and a practice session planned for Friday morning, it’d be a busy week for the Hansen Motorsport squad.

“We first had to start off by stripping down all of the damaged parts, and that we began with already in Crandon,” Hansen said. “(We had) to take the car apart, kind of get it back on its wheels. And then we continued stripping the whole car to get the roll cage out. That was a big job to start. That took like a day altogether when we worked together.

“From there, it was also a long job to get the car back together. That’s really the critical part, to make sure that all the bolts are tight and all that.”

If rallycross teams are known for anything, though, it’s their ability to finish a big job in a small timeframe. And a team like Hansen Motorsport wouldn’t have won dozens of European and World drivers’ and teams’ championships without that ability. So it was no shock that, come Friday morning, not only was the car ready to roll, but Hansen would also find himself on top of the first practice charts before the rain washed out Friday’s race program.

“You always wonder if you miss tightening a bolt or something, and I was helping too—I’m most worried about my own work!” he joked shortly after practice wrapped. “But no, it was awesome. I love this track, the oval part is so cool!”

The speed would carry into Saturday night, as Hansen posted the fastest time in the first round of qualifying heats and ranked fourth in the intermediate standings. Starting second in his semifinal, he’d take the lead by Jokering a lap before Oliver Eriksson to earn the inside front row spot for the final; thanks to a mega start, he’d take the lead from the get-go and never look back.

The win marked Hansen’s first in top-level rallycross since a victory at Mettet in Belgium in August 2024. And considering how quickly his fortunes changed from week to week, it was especially sweet.

“(There was) so much more meaning to that win than if it all goes smooth,” Hansen admitted. “I mean, all wins are fantastic and unique in their own way, but this one, maybe even more because of all the effort and because of how we had to fight back from that crash.

“We went out and after fixing the car, immediately, we were fastest in free practice. It’s not easy as a driver. I was working a lot on the car to help the guys, but then I also had to remember to try to walk the track and do all of the normal driver stuff before the event. But it did work out!

“That win is definitely super special. It meant a lot to me and to all of us.”

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