Park City, Utah, March 25th. It looks like 2015 is set to be another exciting, action-packed and diverse race season for Ken Block as he once again has one of the most varying calendars in racing, traveling around the world and participating in everything from stage rally to X Games to rallycross to a handful of international Gymkhana demos.
The biggest part of 2015 will see Block competing once again in the Global Rallycross Championship. Having been the top average qualifier—as well as having won the most heats—winning two events and taking 2nd overall in the championship last year (and missing out on 1st by only 5 points), Block will be back again in the 12-round series looking to bring home the overall championship.
Block will also be participating in X Games this summer, returning to the heat of Texas in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas while looking to add to his 5 previous X Games medals.
For stage rally action, Block will be heading down to New Zealand to compete in the first two rounds of the highly competitive New Zealand National Championship, which takes place on some of the greatest rally stages the planet has to offer.
In addition to that, Block will be participating in two rounds of the Rally America Championship: New England Forest Rally and the Lake Superior Performance Rally.
For NEFR, Block will also be working with U.K.-based M-Sport (the race team that runs the Ford Fiesta racecars in the World Rally Championship) to bring out two separate cars for the first time ever in America: M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta R5+ and their new Ford Fiesta R2 (featuring the 1.0 liter, 3-cylinder, turbocharged engine). Both cars are designed to be affordable rally racecar options for competitors and the goal of the joint venture is to demonstrate to the U.S. rally community how these cars perform on an actual rally. The cars will be raced by yet-to-be-determined guest drivers at NEFR.
“I’m getting to do some fun stage rally events this season, with two in America and two down in New Zealand on some of the greatest roads on the planet,” said Block. “While rallycross is more of my focus these days, I come from stage rally, so to be able to still do a few events for fun each year is hugely important to me.”
Rounding out 2015, Block will be participating in some Gymkhana-style events and running his 1965 Ford Mustang Hoonicorn RTR in public demos for the first time ever.
He’ll also be taking part in Monster Energy’s Gymkhana GRID European Finale and working on the next Gymkhana video in the hugely successful viral video series, Gymkhana EIGHT.
“I’m really excited about my race calendar for 2015,” said Block. “Just like last year, I feel really lucky to be able to have such a diverse race calendar. I’m looking forward to competing in the full GRC season again and going after that title.
I only missed it by 5 points last season, so I’m confident that I’m the best contender for the title this year and I’ve been working my butt off with my team in the offseason so that we can have the best possible chances of taking it. I’m also going to get to run my 1965 Ford Mustang Hoonicorn RTR a few times as well for fans around the globe. Overall it’s going to be a great season, I can’t wait for it to get started.
