Kenneth Hansen (rallycross)
Svend Kenneth Hansen is a Swedish rallycross driver with Danish roots. His late father, Svend Hansen, can be regarded as the inventor of the so-called Joker Lap for rallycross. Hansen has been part of the European rallycross elite since the late 1980s and has won an FIA European Championships for Rallycross Drivers title no less than 14 times up until the year 2008. He holds most of the records for rallycross, including the amount (249) of attended European rounds.
Kenneth Hansen in 2009
Rallycross is a form of sprint style automobile racing, held on a closed mixed-surface racing circuit, with modified production or specially built road cars, similar to the World Rally Cars. It is mainly popular in the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Great Britain. An inexpensive, entry level type of rallycross is the Swedish folkrace or its Norwegian counterpart, the so-called bilcross. The folkrace is most popular in Finland where it was founded back in the late 1960s. In Europe, rallycross can also refer to racing 1:8 scale off-road radio-controlled buggies.
14 times European champion Kenneth Hansen (Citroën Xsara) leading a qualifying heat in 2004
Rallycross was born on 4 February 1967 at Lydden Circuit
Dutch rallycross ace Jan de Rooy (1979)
These two drivers wrote rallycross history: Martin Schanche (left; 6 ERC titles) and archrival Kenneth Hansen (14 ERC titles)