Team O'Neil Ford Focus RS Rally Car First Drive and Testing at Club Motorsport

Ken Block Doesn’t often Go To Missouri, But When he Does, Locals Ask Him for Directions!

 February 18th, 2014, Park City, UT:  After their horrific wreck at final round of the 2013 Rally America Championship, Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino are back in the rally car  this morning for two days of testing in preparation for The 100 Acre Wood Rally, one of the two rounds that the team will compete in this year. The car has been fully rebuilt and the Hoonigan Racing team are also debuting their new  2014 livery, the team also 

announced Blocks full race schedule for the year, making him one of the busiest drivers in Rally..

 “I’m stoked with how the new liveries for my Ford Fiestas have turned out, as well as the race schedule we’ve been able to put together for 2014,” said Block. “Once again I’ve been fortunate enough to put together a highly diverse schedule that has me going around the world. I’m competing in the full Global RallyCross Championship, doing a handful of Rally America events, competing in a WRC round in Spain, doing the Monza Rally Sprint for the first time ever with Valentino Rossi as a teammate, returning to the Monster Energy Gymkhana GRID finale in Madrid, heading back to Japan to do more Gymkhana demos and, most interestingly, racing in three of the World RallyCross Championship rounds for the first time ever. I’m pretty sure nobody has a better job than me this year!”

 

 

In addition to having an action-packed year planned, Block has once again reinvented his race look for the 2014 season with a graphics package that will be incorporated across a full line of signature product including apparel from Hoonigan, sunglasses from SPY and RC cars from HPI.

“Every year I’m challenged with outdoing my livery from the season before,” said Block. “Luckily, I think we were able to do it once again. This year’s livery mixes animal pattern and 8-bit, which I love. We’ve come up with a sort of digital zebra graphic that I think is awesome and also brings me back into that familiar black and white color scheme I had starting back in 2010. I think the fans are going to enjoy this look.”

 

To catch Block and his all-new livery in action, be sure to follow along this coming weekend as he takes part in Rally America’s Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, where Block will be looking to reignite his winning streak for that event.

Block’s 2014 schedule:

 

Global RallyCross Championship:

• -    GRC Barbados: 5/18/14
• -    GRC X Games Austin: 6/17/14
• -    GRC Washington D.C.: 6/22/14
• -    GRC New York: 7/20/14
• -    GRC Charlotte: 7/26/14
• -    GRC Detroit: 8/3/14
• -    GRC Daytona: 8/23/14
• -    GRC Los Angeles: 9/20/14
• -    GRC Seattle: 9/27/14
• -    GRC Las Vegas: 11/5/14

 

Stage Rally:

• -    Rally America Rally in the 100 Acre Wood: 2/21-22
• -    Rally America Suesquehannock Trail Performance Rally: 5/30-31
• -    WRC Spain: 10/24-26
• -    Monza Rally Show: 11/22-24

 

World RallyCross Championship:

• -    WRxC Norway: 6/14-15
• -    WRxC France: 9/6-7
• -    WRxC Turkey: 10/11-12

 

Gymkhana demos:

• -    Japan: 7/5-6
• -    Gymkhana GRID, Madrid: 11/1-2

Source: Hoonigan Racing

Ken Block "The Fastest, The Biggest Wreck That I've Ever Had In My Career"

February 17th, 2014 Park City, UT: 2013 was a hugely successful race season for Hoonigan Racing Division’s Ken Block, a driver who happened to have the most diverse and interesting racing schedule of last year.
Now, in preparation for the start of his 2014 race season, Block has released a video that shows and explains how he ended up 2nd overall in the Rally America Championship, after his chase at the title came to an abrupt, and brutal, end back in October at the final event, the Lake Superior Performance Rally.

Due to two simple letters (“in”) missing in his pace notes on one of the final stages of the event, Block and Gelsomino ended up cart wheeling down one of the final stages of the season, end over end, before coming to a stop against a tree.

The missing “in” allowed Block to go slightly wide around a very safe looking corner where his rear wheel went into the weeds and got caught up on a small clump of dirt, sending the Ford Fiesta HFHV into the air. While the crash was violent, the pair were fortunate to walk away from the championship-ending incident with minimal injury.

“This video is a tough one for me to watch,” said Block. “On the one hand, I’m proud of the fact that even after going through such a brutal crash, my first instinct was to try and get the car started again and press on. On the other, I’m still bummed that we were so close to winning the championship and that we lost it in such a spectacular fashion.

At the end of the day though, I’m grateful that the car did the job it was supposed to do and that I get to continue racing.” Block and Gelsomino’s run at the Rally America championship will have to wait another year however.

While the duo will be making their first competitive appearance of 2014 together at Rally in the 100 Acre Wood in Salem, Missouri—an event they’ve won six times previously—they’re unable to contest the entire season due to schedule conflicts with other race events. For details on Block’s race schedule for 2014, as well as seeing the debut of his all-new livery, stay tuned, as he’ll be dropping both on February 17th.

Source ; Hoonigan Racing

KEN BLOCK WINS OJIBWE FORESTS RALLY, UNSWEETENED, NO SALT

 

 

Detroit Lakes, MN (August 25, 2013) -- Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino selected the winning ticket in the seeded draw; they proceeded to select first on the road and never looked back. Blocks victory at the Ojibwe Forests Rally makes it three in a row for his Hoonigan racing team, thus setting up an epic showdown with David Higgins and Subaru USA for all the marbles at LSPR in October.

In the weeks and days leading up to the rally temps were in the high eighties and low nineties, leaving the stages rather dusty for competition.  As always in Rally America the top three drivers in overall classification would draw a number from a hat to determine their road position. 

Ken Block who has the highest speed factor in the USA got to pick first, and for a change it was Block's lucky day,  he got the winning #1 ticket and he promptly selected  first on the road.  Although the forecast called for a 30% of rain on Friday night and a 40% chance on Saturday, Block was taking no chances with the dust.

Antoine L’Estage who moved to a Subaru for the final two rounds of the 2013 season got ticket #2 and selected the second road position.

There was nothing else left for the defending Rally America Champion David Higgins other than to settle for third on the road. As someone aptly noted before the start, everyone seemed to have an opinion on road selection,  so did we.

Yes without question running first on the road in these tough dusty conditions was the best selection,  but with any rain or wind, Block would be at a disadvantage to Higgins and L’Estage while sweeping the loose gravel running first.

Unfortunately for everyone starting behind Block the rains never came, Ken Block and co driver Alex Gelsomino quickly vanished into a cloud of dust.  Without “officially hearing” – “official confirmation” of fact, we maintain little or no doubt that the appearance of Antoine L’Estage in a "Subaru supported" car was a tactical move on the part of Subaru Rally Team in a bid to secure the Championship for Higgins.

With little or no testing of the car prior the rally, it was a lot to expect from L’Estage to be on attack, nor be on the pace right out of the gate.

Higgins was considerable faster than L’Estage on the first stage, and evidence of Antoine’s “unofficial” role in the team quickly because evident. Antoine would give up his road position in an effort to lessoning the dust impact on Higgins, David moved to second on the road heading into SS2.  

At the end of day-one with a total of six stages completed, running off the front in a dust free world of their own, Block and Gelsomino were able to open a gap of over a minute on Higgins and Drew.

Antoine L’Estage clearly off the pace continued to come to grips with the Subaru while holding down third overall.

Back in Two wheel drive the hotly contested battle for the 2013 2WD Championship between Australian, new comer Brendan Reeves in the Fiesta R2 and Canadian [ACP] Andrew Comrie-Picard in the Scion XD, was back on.

Reeves has dominated 2WD since he jumped into the fray at Oregon Trail Rally earlier in the year, he has taken the overall 2WD victory  in all of the three events he has entered in the USA to date.  With nearly a  three minute advantage over ACP at the end of day-one,  it was looking like victory number four was in the cards for Brendan and his co-driving sister Rhianon Smyth.

Into day-two, again the overnight rains that every team with the exception of Hoonigan Racing were hoping/praying for, never happened, but the winds had significantly increased from day-one.

Competitors would open on day two with two short spectator specials around a local dirt track; it quickly became apparent that the stiff wind coming off the lakes was making short work of clearing the dust, therefor opening the window for Higgins to close the gap on Block.  

Onto the first proper stage of day two,  SS9 “Anchor Mattson” with little or no dust in Blocks wake and Ken still on gravel sweeping duties, David Higgins and Craig Drew were on full  attack in the Subaru. Over the 9.97 mile stage somehow Block and Higgins would set the exact same time!, resulting in a tie. 

As the saying goes, “he [Antoine L’Estage] would have no luck at all if he did not have bad luck”; the 2013 Rally America Championship has gone for the highest of highs to the lowest of lows for Antoine and Nathalie Richard.

 

Coming into the Ojibwe Forests Rally there was a positive felling in the Rockstar Energy Sponsored team of L'Estage and Richard that their year was ending on a high point with the newly acquired Subaru. But it was short lived, Antoine’s  Subaru would refuse to start at the beginning of SS9, electrical gremlins had worked their into the cars system and their rally was over..

Block's good luck took a little left turn on SS9, when he had to bring the Fiesta to a crawl when it would not fit through one of the chicanes on the stage, Block and nine other competitors were giving a 30 second penalty for touching the very tight chicane on SS9. Had the events that unfolded on SS10 not happened , that Chicane infraction could have been a big issue for Block on the closing stages.

 

Onto SS10, the rally would slowly and painfully unravel for David Higgins and Craig Drew in the Team Subaru STI. At some point during the stage, Higgins would experience power steering failure in the Subaru, as David battled to stay on the pace, he connected with a rock that violently snapped the steering wheel from his hand fractured his wrist.

To add insult to injury while David was looking under the car at the end of the stage the medical sweep SUV ran over his ankle.  David would struggle though SS11 loosing valuable time to Block before receiving some much needed medical attention in service.

David could have opted to throw in the towel at that point, but with the Championship in such a tight battle he had to continue.  Heading into the final loop of 4 stages with a 3 minute gap over the injured Higgins, Block would back off his charge and focus on getting the his H.F.H.V. Fiesta to the podium.

David Higgins would win his only outright stage victory of the rally on the last stage ss15, “Anchor 3” with a 6 second victory on Block who was now in cruise mode.

Ken Block had won the 2013 Ojibwe Forests Rally, this event has bitten Block hard in the past, but on this night he climbed to the top step of the podium, and promptly shook the “Ojibwe Monkey” off his back.

“I’m really stoked with how this rally went for us this weekend,” said Block. “Historically, I’ve had some really bad outings here at Ojibwe. This is the first time I’ve actually finished the event, so it feels awesome to not only beat the competition, but to sort of beat the rally itself as well! Plus, with this win, we stay in the hunt for the overall 2013 championship. It all comes down to LSPR now in October and I can’t wait.”

Despite Team Subaru’s best laid plans by “unofficially” pulling L’Estage into their folds, in what was without question an effort to secure the Championship for Higgins at the penultimate round, had  all unraveled for SRT/USA due to mechanical problems.  

We have seen on several occasions in the past few years where David Higgins has comeback from some seemly impossible odds, and clawed his way back to the podium. Again we witnessed the grit of the Manxman, as he pushed on through the pain over the last loop of stages to join his co driver Craig Drew on the podium in second.

 

 "We knew after the seeded draw and pre-event shakedown that we were in deep trouble this weekend with the dust, especially in the night stages on day one," explained Higgins. "The plan was to try and stay in touch with Ken [Block] and keep the pressure there for day two, hoping he would hit trouble. It started off well enough but then things took a bizarre turn, It was all unbelievable. At least we won the final stage of the rally, which I drove one-handed. It was clear that it was not meant to be though."

Rounding out the overall podium was one Brendan Reeves in his 2WD Team O’Neil Ford Fiesta R2, yes a 2wd car on the overall podium!!.

Yes, this was a tough rally for the top cars behind Block fighting dust, but this is the way it’s been since ever I recall, you draw your straw and you battle on, dust, unexpected snow and ice are all part of the challenge that makes this sport so special and unpredictable.  

When conditions are like this past weekend, drivers running outside of the seeded draw don’t get the chance to run dust free, therefore making the achievement of Brendan Reeve and Rhianon Smyth all the more remarkable. Reeves, who originally started 8^th on the road, finished in front of the entire AWD SP class, and numerous open class cars.

After celebrating on the overall podium, Brendan and Rhianon moved to their familiar place on top of the 2WD podium. “We came here to win, we don’t want to settle for second best,” said Reeves, “Rhianon has been great on the pace notes and the car has performed admirably”

They were joined in second by Chris Greenhouse and Peter Watt in the Dodge Neon, ACP and Jeremy Wimpey managed to claw back from a roll in the Scion on day two to grab the last spot on the podium, which helped preserve their overall point position in 2WD. 

With Chris Greenhouse finishing 2^nd on the podium ahead of ACP he has now opened the door for Brendan Reeves to win the 2wd Drivers Championship and also the 2WD Manufactures Title, if he can keep the streak alive at LSPR in October that is.

In the Super Production (SP) Class, local Minnesota resident Nick Roberts took his first ever class win in his rookie season while using a new co-driver, Steve Quin.  Roberts is a candidate for Rally America’s Rookie of the Year and this class win strengthens his bid. 

“It’s pretty cool and surreal to win Super Production,” added Robert, “I went into the rally only expecting to battle for third place. But the team kept me going and I just hung in there. I keep pinching myself.”

Longtime 2WD driver Dillon Van Way with co-driver Andrew Edwards switched to the SP Class at Ojibwe for the first time and finished only 19.7 seconds behind Roberts. Rally America’s youngest driver, Mason Moyle with co-driver Ryan Scott, took SP third place for his fourth podium finish this season, and keeps his second place position in the SP standings.

The stage is not set for an all out battle in all classes at The Lake Superior Performance Rally - the seventh and final round of the Rally America National Championship- takes place on October 18-19^th in Houghton, Michigan.

In the Manufacturers' Championship Ken Block's overall victory helped Ford close the gap to Subaru who leads the standings. After Ojibwe Subaru leads with 112 points and Ford has 94 points. Each manufacturer must drop one event.  

Before LSPR Ken Block has the final rounds of the 2013 GRC to deal with, and hopefully he can carry some momentum from Ojibwe with him..

Stay tuned, we will always  bring you “the unsweetened, no salt, version of events”… Pass the Fries!

 

Photo: Hoonigan racing:

 

 

 

Heikkinen Takes Gold to Clinch The 2013 GRC Championship for Ford at Summer XGAMES .

Fans come to their feet for the start of the Supercar final  at the House of Drift, this was the first time back to Irwindale for the GRC since 2012.

 Los Angeles, August 4, 2013. The dominance of Toomas Heikkinen in the 2013 Global RallyCross [GRC] continued this weekend at the 2013 Summer XGames. Despite getting momentarily caught up in the first turn mayhem, Topi basically checked out with his #57 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST  and drove a flawless race to his forth consecutive GRC victory while also collecting a forth XGAMES medal in 2013.

GRC is finally looking a lot like real RallyCross, the track layout at Irwindale speedway was less focused on a big jump but more on a track that tightened in all the right places, creating some great door to door racing and passing in the dirt sections.

The Final got off to a roaring start with an overzealous Sverre Isachsen jumping the start, for which he was black flagged for, but the jump start seen Isachsen leading into the first turn, and he was out in front avoiding the mayhem that unraveled behind him. All hell broke loose behind Isachsen, watching it live it was and still is hard to cast blame on any one driver.  You can decide for yourself with the unlimited rewinds available on YouTube.


 How we see it, Ken Block gets into a big drift around turn one, Ken and Topi come together for a few seconds, Ken then comes down the track and collides with fellow Monster Energy driver Liam Doran in the Mini, who was coming up on the inside line. At this point there seems to be little if any damage to the cars, just some tight racing and rubbing.

 It seemed like Liam Doran then turned right into Block, retaliation for the earlier contact? well things just unraveled from there. Block spins in front of Doran, Heikkinen barges into Block helping to spin him around.  Brain Deegan also gets caught up in the pileup and retires. Patrik Sandell tries to slip up the inside and ends up going crashing into the water barriers.  

Somehow Toomas Heikkinen slips through virtually unharmed into the first hairpin, Tanner Foust is alongside his door, with Travis Pastrana kissing his rear bumper. Block gets the RX43 re fired but has a rear flat and some heavy rear suspension damage. Always the showman, Block does a few laps burning the tires off the car for the fans before pulling off the track, thus ending a very disappointing XGAMES for HooniganRacing.

Subaru’s Sverre Isachsen went all out on the first lap, knowing full well he had to open a gap to negate the impact of his stop and go penalty. Sverre is passed by Heikkinen, Foust and Travis Pastrana while he sits in the penalty box.

Tanner sets his sights on Heikkinen while Sverre went to work on chasing down Pastrana for third, or more important, the XGames bronze medal.

It may have taken Vermont Sports Car a few races to get their car up to speed, but they definitely had Isachen’s STI dialed in for XGAMES. It only took Sverre one lap to reel in the Red Bull Dodge of Pastrana, his Puma sponsored Subaru sailed past Travis in the dirt section on the 3^rd lap.

Subaru is not alone in their frustration in tracking down the Ford Mafia in 2013, Travis Pastranan’s Dodge team has yet to podium in 2013. Bryce Menzies did not make the final after putting his Dodge in the wall in the LCQ. The Dodge Dart seems big and cumbersome compared to the high energy Fiesta’s, , , Travis also seemed to have no answer for the Subaru as it sailed past, Pastrana’s hopes for a podium and a medal faded to grey in the early laps.

Scott Speed would also put his Fiesta into the wall in the final allowing Rhys Millen to move into 5^th behind Pastrana, this was Millen only showing in GRC in 2013 as Hyundai pulled out of rallycross at the end of 2012.

Off the front it was all Heikkinen, the Flying Finn barely put a tire wrong as the laps clicked down, Tanner Foust closed the gap on several occasions, but it was like Heikkinen was just toying with Foust as he seemed to be able to pull away at will.

Tomas Heikkinen  center flanked by Tanner Foust, [left] and Sverre Isachsen as they celebrate their victories at Summer XGAMES 2013.

 In the end it was all Heikkinen in the BlueBeam/ Fordracing Fiesta ST, Tanner Foust who’s Fiesta is also prepared in the same OlsbergsMSE shop in CA, slides through in second for the Silver.” It’s cool! It’s cool to have a lot of points” proclaimed Heikkinen as he stood on the roof of his Fiesta at the finish line, “Still we’re leading, and now we have a little bit less pressure, but the next race is in six days, and we have work to do. I think the gap opened a little bit, because Tanner didn’t win his heat and I got the one extra point, plus three points more in the final. (Since last year) I just made my own work, what I had to do. I exercised at home and the gym to get myself ready for this season. Everything is good right now, and I’m not doing anything else than smiling”. With the podium finish by Heikkinen and Fousts  at XGAMES, they clinched the 2013 GRC Championship for Ford Racing.  With 39 point lead over Tanner Foust in second; the championship is Heikkinen's  barring a disaster. I would also hate to see Topi, easing back and letting someone else win for the sake of the sport, he should go for the win and let the chips fall where they will.

 Subaru’s front man in the GRC,   Sverre “The Viking Warrior” Isachsen finally, finally got the monkey off the teams back by holding Pastrana at bay, to bring his Subaru STI home and third. This is the first XGames medal and GRC podium for Subaru in 2013. “It was awesome! I had a good start. They said it was a jump start” proclaimed Sverre after the final “but anyway, we sat in the penalty box, took our punishment, and then went back in the race. It was a perfect race the whole way. Third place today is like winning for us at Subaru. Of course we’ll go for it in Atlanta as well. We’re taking the car small steps at a time and hopefully can try to get to the top”.

Without question the carnage that is happening in the GRC is unlike anything in any other form of professional motorsport around the world.

But if the goal of the organizers was to create excitement, check that box already, it sure is exciting for the fans. We also need to remember that is a made for TV series, and is directed in the background by a TV schedule.  Despite the frustration of drivers that are left licking their wounds after getting taken out in the first turn, the racing “seems” to continue to gain momentum, there is talk of Chevy and others planning to campaigning cars in 2014.  

As for the remaining rounds of the GRC in 2014, with the Championship in the bag for Ford we expect to see a reduced field over the final two races, which will be held in Atlanta and Charlotte. We also expect to see organizers tweaking the rule book, or should I say begin to write a rulebook. Either way, stay tuned this is by far the most exciting new form of racing happening the USA at this time.  

Photo/ FordRacing   / Matt Kalish -GRC

.

 

Brendan Reeves takes the Victory for Ford over International podium at New England Forest Rally

 

Brendan Reeves and Co-driver Rhianon Smyth [center] celebrate victory over fellow Australians  Will Orders and co-driver Toni Feaver  [left] who finished second, with Canadian driver Andrew Comrie-Picard  and his American co-driver Jeremy Wimpey rounding  out the podium in third. Photo: Neil McDaid / RallyWorldNews

 

Newry, Maine, July 27th: Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Smyth have won the two-wheel drive category of the New England Forest Rally in Maine, USA, taking an incredible fifth outright in the process.

Driving their Team O'Neil Ford Fiesta R2, it is the Australian pairing's third consecutive category win from the three events they have contested in the Rally America series.
Heading into the second day, Reeves was second in two-wheel drive, trailing fellow Australian, Will Orders, but ahead of all the Rally America title contenders.

With a consistent run over the second day's stages, he was able to move into the lead, and jumped from an overnight 10th outright, to finish fifth."I'm really stoked to get another win," Reeves said at the finish of the event."The day was kind to us. We had a great drive through SS8 in the roughest road of the event, pulling lots of time back, and then Will had some issues and penalties later on.

"We bent a rear beam and damaged our exhaust, but the car kept pushing on and came out on top once again.
"Rhi did and awesome job and Team O'Neil were fantastic to work with."
Reeves and Smyth have now closed the gap to two-wheel drive championship leader, Andrew Comrie-Picard, with two events still to run in the series.

The next round of the Rally America series is the Ojibwe Forests Rally in Michigan on August 23 and 24.

Final 2WD standings - New England Forest Rally
1. Brendan Reeves / Rhianon Smyth, Ford Fiesta R2, 1h48m26.2s
2. Will Orders / Toni Feaver, Toyota GT86, +1h50m46.6s
3. Andrew Comrie-Picard / Jeremy Wimpey, Scion xD, 1h52m40.3s

Rally America: Ken Block keeps Championship hopes alive with his victory at the 2013 New England Forest Rally

Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino power through the last stage to take victory by a narrow margin. Photo Neil McDaid/RallyWorldNews

Newry, ME (July 28, 2013) --Hoonigan Racing's Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino won their first New England Forest Rally (NEFR), round 5 of the Rally America National Championship, on July 26-27^th headquartered in Newry, Maine after a closely fought battle with Subaru Rally Team USA's David Higgins and Craig Drew. The margins between the two teams were incredibly thin and either could have snatched victory. Subaru Rally Team USA drove a nearly flawless event and pushed the Hoonigan camp hard all weekend, but Block and Gelsomino persevered with a 6.5 second buffer at the end.

 

Block and Gelsomino's NEFR nearly came to an end when their Ford Fiesta H.F.H.V. experienced electrical problems on stage 11. They had no intercom communications for nearly 13 miles before the alternator quit on the transit back to service. Open Class rivals Rifat Sungkar and Steve Lancaster, who were in fourth place overall at the time, graciously towed the Hoonigan Racing Team back to the service area so Hoonigan Racing Team could complete repairs and continue their race.

"It took a bit of good luck, it was a great battle with Subaru," said Block, "I know a couple of these stages, so I put the hammer down and built a bit of a lead. I had some small problems and then a big problem with the alternator going out. What a struggle, I put everything into it, and drove my heart out."

Subaru Rally Team Driver David Higgins piled on the pressure to try and close the gap on Ken Block, he would come up just a little short, nonetheless Higgins still holds a firm grip on the championship points lead. Photo Neil McDaid / RallyWorldNews

 

 

The New England Forest Rally marks Ken Block's second consecutive Rally America National Championship victory having won the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally last June. David Higgins currently leads the Championship Standings, but Block still has a mathematical chance at the title if he outright wins the final two rounds of the season.

 

Rifat Sungkar and Steve Lancaster were able to climb from fourth place to third overall to complete the NEFR podium with a little luck. Over the course of the weekend Sungkar saw a few competitors ahead of him fail to finish. The Rockstar Energy Drink Rally Team of Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard ultimately broke their wheel bolts on stage 11, and privateers Joseph Burke and Alex Kihurani went off on stage 6 and were unable to continue. That left Sungkar alone in third place.

 

The pace and the tough stages at the 2013 New England Forest Rally was just a little much for the Tiburon that Antoine L'Estage took out of retirement for this rally. Photo Joel Sanford / RallyWorldNews

 

Notably L'Estage and Richard have won the New England Forest Rally the last three years in a Mitsubishi EVO X and looked to add their fourth overall victory to keep their streak alive. This time they competed with a Tiburon rally car that has seen plenty of rally action in the past, but the team experienced problems that effectively ended their event on the second day.

David Sterckx and Karen Jankowski get their rally off to a flying start with a hard charge down the opening stage of the rally, the infamous "Concord Pond" Photo; Neil McDaid / RallyWorldNews

 

 

In the Super Production Class, David Sterckx and Karen Jankowski notched a third consecutive class win and also placed fourth overall in the event. This is their fourth podium finish since failing to finish the Rally America season opener Sno*Drift Rally in January. This NEFR win extends their SP Class standings total while keeping third place in the overall Championship standings.

"The New England Forest Rally was hard because of all the sharp rocks," added Sterckx, "We broke some things, but we fixed it all in service and it was good enough to win."

Super Production's Mason Moyle and John Hall took second in the class after an exciting battle with Rookie of the Year contenders Nick Roberts and Nick Judkins. Over the course of the weekend Moyle lost second place to Roberts, yet later snatched the position back when Roberts suffered a strut failure on stage 11. Moyle had suspension damage as well; only he was able to carry enough speed to overtake Roberts and win by 6.1 seconds. This is Moyle's third podium finish this year and Robert's first in his rally career.

 

Keeping the streak alive, Australians Rhianon Smyth and Brendan Reeves celebrate yet another overall podium finish in two wheel drive in their Team O'Neil /Ford Racing R2 Fiesta. Photo: Neil McDaid / RallyWorldNews

 

The Two-Wheel Drive category was an absolute knockdown fight won when Australia's Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Smyth finally overtook fellow Australian rivals Will Orders and Toni Feaver on stage 11. Orders jumped into the lead on stage 1 and fended off Reeves until Orders overheated his brakes on the more technical stages of the event. Reeves seized this opportunity to take the lead with his Ford Fiesta R2. The 2WD win is Reeves and Smyth's third top podium finish since joining the Championship at the Oregon Trail Rally.

Said Reeves, "We've been driving these (Ford Fiesta R2's) for a few years, so we have the experience to win. Car is driving great, we have three wins now, next... we'll try for four."

 

Will Orders made a return to the New England Rally in his newly developed Toyota GT86, despite leading for most of the rally, problems slowed Orders on day two, he would eventually finish 2nd in 2WD. Photo : Neil McDaid / RallyWorldNews 

 

 

Will Orders had won the 2WD Class at the 2012 New England Forest Rally. This time he takes another podium with a newly built Nameless Performance Toyota GT86, the first of its kind in America.

Current 2WD national standings leader Andrew Comrie-Picard and Jeremy Wimpey were able to preserve their points lead by taking third place in class. The team overcame early gearbox problems in their Scion xD and drove a fantastic race to come back as far down as 7^th in class to the podium. Comrie-Picard and Wimpey have made the podium every event this year and just needs to keep that trend going in order to finish the season with their first 2WD national title.

 

Team Honda Research's James Robinson and Ross Forde won Rally America's B-Spec category. Tracy Gardiner and Nigel McGinn took second place. Robinson was a one man show driving and crewing for his Honda Fit, and squeaked out the win running his Honda with a broken engine mount and limited power on the last two stages of the day.

Mark Piatkowski on his way to the regional rally victory. Photo: Joel Sanford /RallyWorldNews

 

The Maine Regional Rally and the New Hampshire Regional were both won by MAP Rally Team's Mark Piatkowski and Robert Maciejski in their Open Light Class 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS.

 

Report By: Neil McDaid 

When Ken Block Attacks, "There is no doubt! It will be flat out".

 

Newry Maine, July 23, It’s a simple stretch of road that a normal everyday person might drive on to get from “a” to “b” without taking much of a notice, it’s mostly a smooth gravel surface, with a few sections of “rough” broken asphalt, and just a few blind crests along the way. But for a few hours each year this simple quiet stretch of country road transforms into one of the most hotly contested Rally stages on the Rally American Championship calender.

In stage mode, its notorious for its flat-out, tree-lined twists and turns with numerous yumps and blind crests, it is “Concord Pond” the stage that Ken Block has claimed as his own. It is one of the shortest but most exciting stages on The New England Forest Rally.

Ken set about taking ownership of the stage in 2007, when the distance was slightly longer at 5.6 miles.

Since then, when he has contested the stage, Ken was untouchable, but while Block was off racing in the WRC in 2012, Canadian Antoine L’Estage would step up the plate in his Team RockStar/Mitsubishi reset the stage record.

Now, just so we have the facts straight, the stage has seen some modification in 2012,  Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino last attacked the stage in 2009 then setting the fastest time. The changes are not significant, but the distance is slightly shorter so there is 4-5 seconds of turns that have been shaved away.

The record for this short 5.38 stage that has a stark resemblance to some of the roads used on Neste Oil Rally Finland now stands at 4:08.0

Unlike in prior years when Concord Pond was the last stage on day one and drivers could hobble back to longer service  with a blown radiator or maybe say on three wheels due to hard landings or clipping bridges. This year this epic test with be the first stage of the rally, there is very little room for error.  

Drivers will have to consider if they will attack all out, or ease into the long two rally with a conservative run on Concord Pond.  They will have two of the longer stages in the rally coming up as SS4 and SS5 both at 16 miles plus following a short stage and service at Rally HQ.

If we were to ask any of the top drivers, with  the exception of a very few what was their plan for Concord Pond, most would bury their hands in the race suit pockets, look at the ground and kick some rocks, and most definitely dismiss its importance. But deep down they all want to dethrone Block on Concord Pond.

As for Ken, I have no doubt in my mind that he will be in his normal Concord Pond mode comes Friday morning the opening day of the 2013 New England Forest Rally. It also should be noted that Ken Block has to yet claim a victory at the New England Forest Rally. Ken needs a victory this weekend to keep any hopes of his first Championship title alive

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 The 2wd record belongs to Mainer Chris Duplessis, Chris will unfortunately not contest the rally this year, but you can be assures his stage time will be hunted down by a pair of hard Charging Aussies, Will Orders in a Toyota 86 and Brendan Kelly in an R2 Fiesta.
So again we say- "there is no doubt! It will be flat out".

Stay tuned!

For more information check out www.rally-america.com
Photos and Word: Neil McDaid /RallyWordNews