Ken Block returns to roots with Subaru

 

Park City, UT / April 22, 2021: With free rein to race in 2021 with any manufacturer of his choosing, Ken Block and Hoonigan Racing Division are announcing a wild year in some of the world’s finest gravel slingers: from an open class Subaru STi, to a safari-spec Porsche 911, to Block’s first ever race in a Trophy Truck… and that’s just the beginning. Block is also announcing that he will be creating and driving in a wild evolution of the viral Gymkhana film series this year, as well as announcing more manufacturer partnerships soon.

“This is going to be a wild year! I’m stoked to be back in a Subaru racing rally in America,” said Block. “And now that I’m not exclusively tied to just one manufacturer, I can go do things like race a Porsche, built by Tuthill Porsche, in Africa and take on the infamous Baja 1000 in a Trophy Truck - both of which I’ll be doing for the first time ever!”

In the latest episode on his YouTube channel, Block reveals that he will be campaigning a Vermont SportsCar prepped 2021 Subaru WRX STi for the remainder of the 2021 American Rally Association (ARA) championship calendar. Although he will be in the same spec car as factory Subaru drivers Travis Pastrana & Brandon Semenuk, Block is running his own race team and livery. The Subaru’s livery - revealed today - is the first automotive application of his recently announced project with street artist It’s A Living and The Hoonigans. 

The team’s upcoming race at the Olympus Rally marks the first time Block is racing a Subaru since 2009. When asked how he felt about the homecoming, Block replied “It’s great to be working with Vermont SportsCar again. I was really impressed with their latest WRX STi after testing it the day after I finished 2nd in The Rally in the 100 Acre Wood.” Block’s history with the brand runs deep: he began his career by racing a Subaru, winning his first national rally with them in 2006, earned multiple X Games medals in a STi, as well as setting a world record with a 171ft jump for the TV show Stunt Junkies. And of course, Block kicked off the first two videos of the award-winning Gymkhana series from behind the wheel of a Subaru. 

Block is eager to compete for the 2021 the ARA championship, after an 8 year absence from running a full season of stage rally. His last full season of the championship ended violently, in a battle that came down to the wire at the final round at LSPR in 2013. A rollover at 94mph took away what otherwise could have been the win to secure Block’s championship win. Reference link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaNrSm2ROu0 

Due to scheduling conflicts, Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino will undergo a tricky rally season this year, racing only 7 of the 9 events on the calendar.  “I’m definitely the underdog this season.” said Block. “This is a completely new car for me, and Travis Pastrana has already won the first two events of the year, in a race car he’s been racing for a few years now. So, Alex and I have our work cut out for us! I have to quickly get comfortable in an all-new car and battle against a very talented driver that already has two wins this season! But, that’s racing. We’re going to give it our all.”

Later in the year is when things get really interesting for Block. In early November, Block is set to pilot a Tuthill Porsche built air-cooled Porsche 911 for the East African Safari Classic Rally.  Spanning 10 days and nearly 5000 km on Kenya’s tough gravel roads, it’s often regarded as the world's greatest classic rally.  

The day after the East African rally is scheduled to end, Block will head straight to Baja, Mexico to start the pre-run of the Baja 1000, then buckle into a Trophy Truck for his first ever attempt at the legendary off-road race. He seeks to answer the question: “Can a rally driver translate his skills directly to the world of off-road truck racing?” For the event, he’s teaming up with 16-year-old Jax Redline, an up and coming off-road racer who just took 5th overall at last weekend’s San Felipe 250. “Jax is one of the young and very talented drivers in the sport and I am stoked to be partnered with him in this big effort to go take on one of the biggest off-road races in the world!” said Block

And because no year is complete without a family-sized serving of hoonage, Block is set to star in the next chapter of his award-winning Gymkhana franchise - launching this year! When asked about the details of the film, Block replied “It’s all a big secret at this point. But, there will be a lot more info on this - along with a new manufacturer partnership - which will be announced very soon. I am very excited about this one! We will be pushing the levels of film and automotive technology in ways we have never done before.” 

In retrospect, Block put together a string of amazing drives across the globe last year - despite a pandemic tearing 2020’s schedule apart. Taking wins at Rally Barbados, Rally Legend in San Marino, and at the inaugural Projekt - E race in Sweden, as well as 2nd overall for ARA’s Southern Ohio Forest Rally, and even hammering the Saudi desert in Extreme E - setting a time that would have been 3rd fastest in the last stage of that epic rally. It was a big year for Block and Hoonigan Racing, and 2021 looks to be even bigger.
 

KEN BLOCK’S 2021 SCHEDULE 

ARA Championship:
Olympus Rally April 24-25 
Southern Ohio Forest Rally June 11-12
New England Forest Rally July 30-31 
Ojibwe Forest Rally August 27-28
Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally September 17-18 
Lake Superior Performance Rally October 15-16

East Africa Safari Classic Rally: November 1-9
SCORE Baja 1000: November 15-20

eSports WRC review 2021 - Round 4 / Rally Argentina

Ken Block attacks Donegal's Knockalla Stage. Hold on!

A First for Seehorn in Idaho

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Idaho City, Idaho ~ Five rounds into the 2019 American Rally Association, presented by AMSOIL series; five different winners.

 

Nestled deep in the Sawtooth Mountain range less than an hour outside of Boise, the Idaho Rally International was a showcase for the technical aspect of rallying. Twists and turns, tight roads and quick hairpins littered the scheduled 123-stage miles for the two-day event. Winning would require drivers to be fast, but also clean and steady, which is exactly how it played out for Seehorn Racing’s Jeff Seehorn and Cody Crawford.

 

Seehorn, who won the Overall and the Limited 4WD class, was textbook in his approach to the weekend. He ran consistently fast times on Saturday and was the beneficiary of mistakes and mechanical issues that plagued the top Subaru Motorsports USA teams of David Higgins and co-driver Craig Drew, and Oliver Solberg and co-driver Denis Giraudet. At the end of day one, Seehorn and Crawford were atop the leaderboard, more than 53-seconds ahead of Higgins and Drew.

 

“We were just going out and playing it safe,” said Seehorn after day one was completed. “we would only be pushing when we need to but stay on the road.”

 

Six stages awaited the field on Sunday, and the consensus was that Higgins and Drew were going to push hard and would significantly cut into Seehorn’s lead on the Meadow Creek stage. After three stages were completed on Sunday, what was once a 53-second lead for Seehorn and Crawford, was now a 32-second lead for Higgins and Drew. Over the next two stages, runs up Spanish Fork and a shortened Grimes Pass, Higgins and Drew increased that lead up to 1:47, and needed one final run to lock up back-to-back wins.

 

The last stage of the day, however, would tell the story for the weekend. Higgins and Drew were pushing hard across the twisty Meadow Creek road, but with about two miles left to the finish, Higgins was uncharacteristically caught off-guard while trying to change a map, pushing him off the stage road. They were able to get back on-stage, but by the time they dug out, more than 20 minutes were lost, more than enough time for Seehorn to push on to a mistake-free win, the first national overall win of his career.

 

“We are just stoked, to keep it clean, to not have any mechanical issues,” said Seehorn after the podium celebration. “I spent hours prepping this car myself and it’s just amazing to come ​out with the overall. In my six years of doing this, this is an amazing weekend.”

 

 

With the weekend-long struggles for both Higgins and Solberg, the podium would be without at least one of the Subaru Motorsports USA teams for the first time this season at events they’ve competed. Instead, a great battle developed for second place between the Ken Stanick and co-driver Shayne Peterson and Cameron Steely and Preston Osborn. 

 

Competing in the Limited 4WD class, Steely and Osborn held a 13-second lead for third overall entering Sunday. Stanick and Peterson were able to flip the switch on Sunday’s first stage, and despite keeping it close, Steely and Osborn were never able to close the gap on their Open 4WD counterpart, finishing third overall.

 

Blake and Tricia Lind finished the Idaho Rally fourth overall and won the National NA4WD class. Flynn Baglin and Co-driver Alix Hakala rounded out the top five while finishing third in L4WD behind Seehorn and Steely.

 

Chris and Michelle Miller finished sixth overall, and took home the National Open 2WD class win, besting Brad Morris and Doug Nagy by 45-seconds. In Limited 2WD, Robert Sanders and Mickey Mettetal won with a total time of 3:17:11.

 

The stages in Idaho proved positive for the Side-by-Side contenders. Carl Marcum and Phouvanh Sichulailuck actually timed in third fastest for the rally. Their overall time of 2:32:59 was just 27-seconds ahead of Stephane Verdier and Co-driver Erica Sacks. 

In all, 29 cars started the ARA West Championship Idaho Regional Rally, and only 15 cars finished. At the top were Dave and Mike Brown who pushed their 2001 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS to the overall and NA4WD win. Matt Brassfield and Co-driver Kristi Berg finished second overall while winning the L4WD division. Ryan Booth and Co-driver Alison Laroza finished third in the regional rally and won the L2WD class. Jeff Gamroth and Jason Baird rallied to a fourth overall finish in their 1989 Porsche 964 and won the O2WD. Rounding out the top five, as well as winning the O4WD class was Ryan Bouffioux and co-driver Steven Winnat.

 

Full results of the Idaho Rally International can be found on the ARA website, or on the ARA Mobile App.

 

Round six of the American Rally Association, presented by AMSOIL national schedule will shift back East with the scenic New England Forest Rally July 19-20. More than 120 competition miles will be held around the Newry, Maine and Errol, N.H. areas.

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

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

From Concord Pond to the House of Drift, David Sterckx heads to the Summer XGAMES

David Sterckx on the attack last weekend on the infamous Concord Pond, the opening stage of the 2013 New England Forest Rally, Sterckx will now turn his hand to RallyCross this coming weekend at Summer XGames. Photo: Neil McDaid

 

Irwindale, CA, July 30th 2013:  After winning his class at the New England Forest rally race this past weekend, David Sterckx now prepares to compete at the Summer X Games in Los Angeles on August 2nd, 2013. The opportunity to race at the X Games came about as Sterckx was working on putting a deal together to race in the Global Rallycross series.

“The chance to race at X Games in Los Angeles has been my goal for a long time now; I am very excited to be able to compete there this year. One minute I am working on a deal to race, the Global Rallycross later this season and then this opportunity came up. I can’t wait to race against the best in rallycross from around the world” stated Sterckx.

 

David Sterckx will be driving one of the Rhys Millen Hyundai's ironically the Veloster Rally Cross car was debuted at Irwindale Speedway in 2012: Action Photo By Neil McDaid/ Rally World New

 

Teaming up with Rhys Millen Racing, Sterckx will be driving a Hyundai Veloster for this event and possibly more in the future.

 

Sterckx explained, “I am really looking forward to teaming up with such an accomplished racer as Rhys Millen. He has so much experience that I can learn from about rallycross and the Hyundai Veloster, this is a great opportunity.”

“I am very thankful for the wonderful support my sponsors are providing me so that I can make the X Games event happen. Ardeca Lubricants, Always Evolving, Exedy, and Oakley have all made this possible” stated Sterckx.

Currently leading the Rally America Super Production rally championship, Sterckx’s goal for the season is to win that championship and secure funding to do the full season of GRC next year and the Rally America championship. Being able to compete earlier than expected in the Global Rallycross Series at X Games will help Sterckx get valuable television and new fan exposure to help in his sponsorship efforts.

“X Games Los Angeles is really an incredible event and experience to be able to compete in. To be able to be a part of that, to meet the best from not only rallycross but also athletes from all different sports, and to be able to have my family, friends, and sponsors all there at the event will be incredible” explained Sterckx.

Sterckx is originally from Belgium and now lives in Los Angeles. He has raced in a wide range of series around the world including competing in the Belgium rally championship, Toyota Atlantic Series, FIA GT World championship, 24hr of Spa Francorchamps, Belgium Touring Car Championship, Formula Nissan, and Formula Renault series. In addition to car racing, Sterckx is also an accomplished European Equestrian Grand Prix rider and trainer.

The Global Rallycross series will be a challenging new series for him to compete in against some of the best in the world. Sterckx wouldn’t have it any other way because what motivates him most is to race against the best of the best, like those at this year’s X Games Los Angeles.

 

Action Photos: Neil McDaid /Rally World News

 

Rally America: Antoine L’Estage Returns with the Tiburon

The Shark gets a New Livery for The New England Forest Rally  Photo/ Libra Racing

 

Newry, ME. – July 20, 2013. With four rounds of the 2013 Rally America Championship in the bag, defending champion David Higgins of the Subaru Rally Team is holding a commanding grasp on the 2013 championship point’s race as we head to Maine for round five. Canadian Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard have reigned supreme in Maine taking the victory at the New England Forest Rally in the past three years.  It was also in Maine in 2010 where Rockstar Energy Team clinched the 2010 Rally America Championship.  L’Estage and Richard will return to Maine next weekend in their old Tiburon to chase down a fourth victory in a row.

The 2013 season has been a mixed bag to date for the RockStar Energy Team of L’Estage and Richard. After a dramatic come-from-behind victory at Sno*Drift in January, their luck has gone from bad to worse. At round number two, Rally in the 100 Acre Woods, the team would suffer a DNF due to overheating on day one.  At The Oregon Trail Rally in May, where the team would debut the WRC Mitsubishi, a very rare mistake by Antoine on stage 9 resulted in a spectacular crash.  Fortunately, both Antoine and Nathalie were able to walk away unharmed.  The WRC Mitsubishi did not come off as well suffering significant damage and therefore the car was returned to England for repairs.

Antoine had planned to run the WRC Mitsubishi throughout the 2013 Rally America Championship. To help fund this program L’Estage rented his trusty EvoX to Ritfat Sungkar for 2013. With the WRC car back in England and Ritfat in his regular car, Antoine was without a car for STPR and therefore was forced to miss round 4.  

With sponsor commitments on the line L’Estage looked to rent a car for Maine.  “We looked at several cars and were close to a deal on one, but for various reasons it did not happen,” said L’Estage. Without a confirmed car in place, it was looking somewhat bleak for L’Estage and Richard to make their return to the Rally American Championship in Maine.

 It was then that John Buffum of Libra Racing suggested that Antoine use his old Tiburon. The Tiburon was retired from competition in 2009 when Antoine moved to the Mitsubishi EvoX.  

Antoine has had a lot of success in the Tiburon in the past, although somewhat dated now, it may still factor in Maine. Photo Neil McDaid

 “The car has not been used in the Rally America Championship in several years.  There was a lot of work to get everything in place,” said Antoine. “I have to give a big thanks to John and his team at Libra Racing for working so hard to get the car ready.  We will get a test in the car early next week so we can get a felling for everything again and give the car a good shakedown.” 

Although the Tiburon was a very competitive car down through the years for Libra racing, it’s now somewhat dated against the WRC-based Ford Fiesta of Ken Block and the Subaru of David Higgins.  Antoine will also have to adjust back to the mechanical diffs, and will lose the advantage of the sequential box for a dog box. When asked what his goal for Maine was Antoine’s answer was simple, “I am going all out. I have won this rally for the past three years and I will try really hard to make it four. I always go out to win.”

Without question, Antoine will definitely have his work cut out for him to get the victory, as it’s also a must win for Ken Block to keep his championship hopes alive.  But as we have seen in the past, Antoine and Nathalie excel in Maine, and with Block and Higgins chasing the championship, anything can happen. Stay tuned for updates throughout the rally.

For spectator information and the most up to date news, check out www.rally-america.com

By Neil McDaid