Kevin Hansen hopes to build on Senegal success in Greenland

Hansen made his series debut alongside compatriot Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky at the Ocean X Prix in Senegal where the pair impressed by qualifying fourth, reaching the final and claiming a maiden podium for the Jenson Button-owned team.

Although it was a late call up for the 22-year-old to the squad, as one of the many professional drivers to have tested the ODYSSEY 21 E-SUV through its intense development, the car wasn’t all new for the Swede, but testing and competing can be two totally difference endeavours.

As Extreme E embarks on its third ever event this weekend, Hansen is looking forward to continuing where he and Ahlin-Kottulinsky left off in Senegal. “It’s really nice to be back in the car, I think after the good result in Senegal everybody’s hope was that we could do another race because it felt like we had a shot at the win there. Now we have another shot of being on the podium, this time in Greenland and I’m really excited to go there. It’s super nice to get the trust from Jenson and all the other guys in team to do another race, this is a big project for them and I’m happy that we can continue what we have started together.”

The team currently sits third in the series standings, a position Hansen believes the squad can build on, now able to draw experience from working together for the first time in Senegal. “It was a full new team for me last time and I’d never raced in sand properly before. I think what we did, the development of the setup changes in the car was really good and we really deserved to get the opportunity we had in the final. With that little preparation I’m very pleased with what we did, now for this next race, I know how it feels to step in the car, to do the driver changes – it’s a bit easier when you don’t have to think about everything, so hopefully this time around we can work on the most important things to continue improving.”

Although as experienced international drivers Hansen and Ahlin-Kottulinsky are both fluent English speakers, Hansen says that being able to converse in their native language has benefits too. “I believe that me and Mikaela worked really well together in the first event and we have some more time for this race to prepare. It’s a big positive that we speak Swedish, she is very talented in English too so everything we speak about can also be discussed with the team in a good way, but it gives us a little extra that we can talk in our first language. We also trust each other a lot, we feel really safe and we know each other well that’s something I believe none of the other teams have.”

Another benefit for Hansen is his experience of working closely with his brother, Andretti United Extreme E’s Timmy Hansen as team mates in the World Rallycross Championship. Widley renowned for their close relationship on and off track that has helped them achieve individual success, Hansen thinks that strength is carried into his relationship with Ahlin-Kottulinsky. “Me and Timmy work in a good way together and that gives us a good philosophy we can take anywhere. Especially here in Extreme E where you need to have that good relationship because you share everything; the team, the car, the success and the difficult moments too. For everybody else in the championship it’s just not that natural to them to give that much to another driver. I don’t think the others have done that to this extent before and it really helps to share my experience with Mikalea and learn from her too.”