Peugeot Sport announced the full details of its works 2018 World RX line-up on Monday, including the introduction of a new 208 WRX Supercar for Loeb and Timmy Hansen, which will be updated throughout the season.

The new car, which is being fully developed in-house in France, moving away from a joint venue with Swedish team Hansen Motorsport, features extensive changes to the aerodynamics, suspension, transmission and chassis.

“This marks the start of an exciting year for us, as the FIA World Rallycross Championship will be Peugeot’s key motorsport engagement in a factory capacity, with new rivals and a new environment,” said Peugeot Sport Director, Bruno Famin, who says expectations have to be managed this year while also looking to an involvement in electric rallycross in the future.

World RX is expected to switch to electric cars for the 2020 season.

“Even though we have some past knowledge of the sport, we have to be realistic as our competitors are very experienced while we will have to train our team for this new discipline from scratch,” Famin said.

“Despite this big challenge, we are aiming for some wins this season, then something more in the seasons beyond.”

“We decided to participate in world rallycross because we firmly believe in the future of this sport: the sporting format, is short, intense and exciting, the audience is younger than in other categories and is still growing, and furthermore we also believe in the electric future of the championship.”

For Timmy Hansen, it will be the Swede’s fifth consecutive year racing a 208 WRX in the series. He finished second to Petter Solberg in the 2015 drivers’ standings.

“I’ve never competed at such a high level before with a factory team, so it's an honour to be chosen to represent Peugeot at such an important time,” he said.

“We’re expecting the car to be better than ever with all the evolutions implemented by the Peugeot Sport engineers, so this certainly increases our opportunity to do well.”

Former European Rallycross Champion Kevin Hansen will race an upgraded 2017-specification 208, having driven year-old cars with Team Peugeot-Hansen in the previous two campaigns.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me. Maybe it’s come as a surprise to some people because my season last year wasn’t great, but I’ve learned a lot and I’m sure I can come back stronger,” said 14-time European Rallycross Champion Kenneth Hansen’s youngest son.

“My aim is to be in the finals more often this year: if I achieve that, then we can maximise our chances.

"It's so fantastic to have Peugeot in the sport as a factory team, and a sign of the big manufacturer interest in the future of this series, especially with the move to eventually becoming an electric championship. This is all positive.”