JBXE announces driver swap for Senegal
JBXE Racing has today confirmed that rallycross racer Kevin Hansen will drive for the team in the upcoming Extreme E Ocean X Prix at Lac Rose in Dakar, Senegal, with Jenson Button concentrating on his role as Team Principal for this race.
Kevin Hansen is no stranger to the series having joined the Drivers’ Programme in 2019 and has been instrumental in the testing process alongside teammate Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky, and his brother, and Andretti United driver, Timmy Hansen. The trio were the first to drive the ODYSSEY 21 back in 2019 at Chataeu de Lastours in France.
Kevin has been a fixture in the FIA World Rallycross Championship for a number of years, securing event wins and multiple podiums for Team Peugeot-Hansen. He has a strong rallycross pedigree in his family from his father Kenneth Hansen - so it is no surprise he has had so much success.
Earlier in his career, the 22-year-old Swedish racer secured the 2015 RX2 title and won the 2016 FIA Rookie of the Year award for best up-and-coming driver across the governing body’s championships following his FIA European Rallycross Championship win that year – the youngest driver ever to do so.
Jenson Button, Founder of JBXE said: “I’m delighted to announce that an opportunity has arisen for Kevin Hansen to compete for JBXE in Senegal. I’m obviously wearing two hats with JBXE as both a driver, but also team owner, and it’s the latter which means having the opportunity to put Kevin in the car for this race was one I didn’t want to pass up. Brother of course to Timmy Hansen and son to Rallycross legend, Kenneth Hansen, Kevin has a fantastic pedigree and has already achieved so much in the world of rallycross at such a young age. He’s an exciting driver and I can’t wait to see him representing JBXE in Senegal and I look forward to being back behind the wheel in Greenland.”
Kevin Hansen, JBXE driver said: “I’m really excited to join Formula One World Champion Jenson Button and his JBXE team for the Extreme E X Prix - it's a huge opportunity.
“I've been so involved in the series and developing the car since the beginning, from the early testing programme right to Aragon last year, so to get this opportunity now with Jenson is so nice and I'm super excited to get to Senegal and see what I can do.
“I’m so happy to be joining Mikaela also. I hope together we can be strong as I believe she is one of the strongest drivers in the championship and I've known her for a very long time. She's very talented so this is a huge opportunity for us to be working together, and we have so much history in sharing the car together so it is going to be nice to be with her in this event, and I think we can do a good job together.”
His teammate for Senegal, Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky, added: “I’m so excited to be racing with Kevin in the Ocean X Prix, he is super eager to have some good results so I think this will be a great collaboration. We are actually doing some driving practice in Sweden in the coming days.
“I’ve known Kevin since we were around 10 years old as we have raced together in the Swedish National Team and worked together in developing the Extreme E car over the last couple of years. We’ve actually raced against each other too in Rallycross so I’m looking forward to getting some good results with Kevin.”
The all-Swedish driver line-up is set to take on the Ocean X Prix next weekend (29-30 May) in Dakar, Senegal. JBXE currently sits sixth in the overall standings following the inaugural X Prix in Saudi Arabia in April.
