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. Some of his top moments are listed below.
2013 season highlights included:
- 2nd overall in the Rally America Championship
- 3rd overall in his second full season of the Global RallyCross Championship
- The most GRC heat wins (11 out of a possible 13) out of any driver
- Winning the GRC finale in Las Vegas, NV
- Being the fastest average qualifier in GRC with an average 3.25 seeding position
- Qualifying fastest overally 4 out of 9 possible times
- Winning Silver at Global X Games RallyCross Spain
- Finishing 7th overall at WRC Mexico, Block’s only WRC event of 2013 and for which he had zero WRC testing and practice prior
- Debuting Gymkhana SIX, which has racked up more than 17 million views since it debuted in November
- Performing successful Gymkhana demos in Australia, South Korea, Japan and Spain
- Introducing Gymkhana GRID as an X Games medal competition at Summer X Games in Los Angeles
- Given the “Automotive Inspiration” award for 2013 by the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, CA
- Taking home two “Golden Pencil” marketing awards from The One Club for Gymkhana FIVE
- Appearing on Ford’s driver search TV show, “Octane Academy”
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.
