Former Leeds half-back Jack Sinfield, son of Rhinos great Kevin, was outstanding against the club that released him at the end of last year, providing the assist for two of Wakefield's three tries in eight first-half minutes to put the hosts 16-0 ahead.
Sinfield then went over after half-time to put Wakefield 22-6 ahead and give Trinity hope of moving level on points with Leeds, but the league leaders impressively went up a gear in the final half hour.
- Super League fixtures & results | Super League table
- Get Sky Sports or stream contract-free on NOW
- Choose the Sky Sports notifications you want
James McDonnell and Cameron Smith struck with Sinfield off the pitch but even with the 21-year-old back on, the momentum was with Leeds and Hankinson sprung into action from a low kick from Jake Connor, who added his fourth conversion in the 78th minute to give his side the win.
Leeds are now four points clear of their West Yorkshire rivals at the top of the table after ending Wakefield's seven-match winning streak.
It was Leeds who started stronger as Wakefield were initially hemmed in early on, with three goal-line drop-outs following Connor's 40-20 but Sinfield was one of three defenders to drive returning Leeds captain Ash Handley into touch which released the building pressure.
Given the opportunity to break upfield themselves, Wakefield showed much more of a cutting edge as Sinfield's dink over the top bounced and spun cruelly past covering defender Lachie Miller, allowing Isaiah Vagana to open the scoring.
Powerful prop Caius Faatili made a near-instant impact from the bench, bulldozing through Leeds' defence before passing inside for Caleb Hamlin-Uele to go under the posts, while Sinfield's dummy and offload saw Jayden Myers dot down in the corner as Wakefield established a 16-0 lead after 29 minutes.
Sinfield blotted his copybook by missing his third conversion and Wakefield then switched off before half-time as Brodie Croft cruised through a yawning gap to get Leeds on the board.
Wakefield were quickest out of the traps after the break, Sinfield collecting a return pass from Faatili and feigning to go out wide before muscling through two defenders, with the try given by the video referee despite suspicions the ball had not been cleanly grounded.
Sinfield added the extras but then headed for the tunnel soon after and Leeds pounced. Although Alfie Edgell's foot was dragged into touch after touching down and Jarrod O'Connor was held up over the line, McDonnell made no mistake with half an hour to go.
Wakefield-bound Smith showed what his new side will be getting from next year by wriggling free of his future team-mates and exploiting a gap to score, with Jake Connor's third conversion bringing Leeds to within four points.
After Sinfield came back on, Cameron Scott had an opportunity to extend Wakefield's lead but his foot was clawed into touch before he got the ball down in the corner and from then on, it was one-way traffic from then on as Leeds came on strong in the final quarter.
Handley was denied a try following a high ball from Croft because of a knock-on but Leeds would not be denied as Hankinson dotted down following a clever grubber from Connor, who split the posts with his conversion kick to put the visitors ahead for the first time with three minutes left.
KR inflict another loss on Castleford
Hull KR inflicted more woe on Castleford with an eight-try thrashing of the crisis club in the Betfred Super League.
Castleford were without head coach Ryan Carr due to "personal reasons" for the clash at the OneBore Stadium, but entered the fixture after five defeats in six matches.
Any hope of an upturn in fortunes quickly went out the window with play-off chasing Rovers able to run in six second-half scores with Tom Davies and Tyrone May going over twice for a brace each in a 44-0 victory.
It took 12 minutes for the deadlock to be broken when Jez Litten latched on to his own grubber kick to jot down.
Davies added a second before the break, but Castleford were firmly in the contest at half-time with the score at 10-0.
However, May's 45th-minute effort opened the floodgates and sparked a spell of four tries in 11 minutes.
Joe Burgess grabbed another for Rovers before Peta Hiku went over, which was backed up by a second for May.
Davies completed his brace with 15 minutes left and Rhyse Martin rounded off the scoring in the 73rd minute to cap a fine 14-point individual display for the Papua New Guinea forward.
Leigh boost play-off hopes with win over York
Leigh Leopards provided a welcome boost to their play-off hopes with a 22-14 win over York Knights.
The Leopards had a slender 12-10 half-time lead thanks to tries from Josh Charnley and Joe Ofahengaue, Jon Bennison touching down twice for the Knights.
In the second half, Leigh seemingly took control again and with tries from Andy Badrock and David Armstrong, they stretched their lead to 22-10.
York did hit back once again as Bennison went over for his hat-trick with eight minutes left on the clock but it was not enough to stop Leigh picking up the victory.
Adrian Lam's side now sit on 28 points in sixth spot, four points ahead of St Helens in seventh.
Sky Sports will show every game of the Super League live this season, including two matches each round exclusively live. The remaining five matches will be broadcast on Sky Sports+.
