Patrick Hansen will be one of two newcomers in the Speedway Euro Championship 2021. The Dane promoted to this year's series thanks to his victory in the extra heat at the SEC Challenge, in which he defeated Timo Lahti.
For the Dane it will be the first time when he will fight for the title of Individual European Champion. In Pardubice, Hansen scored 10 points - the same as Timo Lahti. The promotion to SEC 2021 was decided by an extra heat, in which the 23-year-old from Kalundborg won.
The SEC debutant emphasizes that he enjoyed the track in Pardubice, but the number of appearances there was not a significant advantage during the SEC Challenge last Saturday.
- I have been in Pardubice more than 10 times in my career and it's a really fun track to race. I don’t feel I have any advantage because everyone can be fast there. I just enjoyed it.
The last days were extremely successful for the Dane. Apart from the promotion to the Speedway Euro Championship series, he is doing great in the Polish eWinner 1. Liga, where with an average of 2,174 points per heat, he is on the ninth place in the best riders classification. Hansen stresses that he doesn't set himself any specific goals for the upcoming series but he is aware that he can beat any rival he encounters.
- I have won races in the past with pretty much everyone in the lineup, so I know I can beat them this time too. I’m not going to state a specific position as a goal, but I do have really high ambitions and plans that probably nobody else would believe if I said it out in public.
This year's SEC rounds will take place on tracks in Bydgoszcz, Güstrow, Gdańsk and Rybnik. As he says, each of them will be something new for him, because he didn't have many opportunities to get to know the surface on those tracks.
- I haven’t been racing a lot on those tracks. This year I was in Bydgoszcz and made some mistakes that - I think - I got eliminated now. Gdańsk and maybe also Rybnik I’ll get occasion to try in a league meeting before the finals. So I’m staying positive.
Speedway Euro Championship 2021 is a four-round series of competitions for the title of Individual European Champion. The riders will compete on the tracks in Bydgoszcz (12 June), Güstrow (26 June), Gdańsk (3 July) and Rybnik (10 July). Tickets for the rounds to be held in Poland are available at www.bit.ly/SEC_Tickets_2021 and www.bilety.wybrzezegdansk.pl.
SEC 2021 lineup:
1. Robert Lambert (Great Britain)
2. Leon Madsen (Denmark)
3. Nicki Pedersen (Denmark)
4. Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark)
5. Bartosz Smektala (Poland)
6. Patryk Dudek (Poland)
7. Daniel Bewley (Great Britain)
8. Sergey Logachev (Russia)
9. Andzejs Lebedevs (Latvia)
10. Patrick Hansen (Denmark)
11. Timo Lahti (Finland)
12. Kai Huckenbeck (Germany)
13. Piotr Pawlicki (Poland)
14. David Bellego (France)
15. Vaclav Milik (Czech Republic)
