How Hansen and Rodemark have learned to speak the same language to achieve rallycross success
Rodemark’s feelings about the working relationship with Hansen are reciprocated by the young Swede, who attributes a large proportion of his success to the team around him.
“I think me and Graham have something that nobody else has in this paddock,” says Hansen, who won the prestigious FIA Rookie of the Year award last year. “We’ve been together since the first round I ever did in rallycross. Together we have learnt the language of how speak to each other.
“He understands me so well and I know how he works. I think it would be very difficult to get the same feeling with someone else, even as a professional driver with a very good engineer.
“Together with mum, dad and Timmy, he has taught me how to drive rallycross in the fastest way, and much of what I do on track is thanks to Graham. I also have so much confidence in Kieran, he knows what I need to feel ready for a race, so I feel really safe when he and Toby are there. They are really good.”
On the back of emulating his father’s success by securing the European Rallycross crown, Hansen also credits racing in the Junior category in British RX with being instrumental in his career.
“I’m still young, but I’m actually quite experienced at rallycross now,” Hansen adds. “The Junior Swift is a very basic car which you cannot do anything to really, you just need to go out there to drive and experience the feeling of what the car is doing. Also, to get the first corner experience – situations happen all the time in the first corner in rallycross and during the races, so I think it was really useful to do a couple of years there and get a feeling for how rallycross works.”