Coming out of a solid performance last week at GRC New Hampshire where he placed first in both qualifying and his heat, Hoonigan Racing Division’s Ken Block arrived to the next round of the Global RallyCross Championship in Bristol, TN, and continued that theme. From practice on Friday through qualifying on Saturday morning, Block put on a demonstration of domination, coming in ahead of the entire field by almost a full second going into the first set of heats Saturday afternoon.
From there, Block continued to drive with authority, winning both heats 1A an 2A by handy margins, and setting himself up for the best possible odds of coming through the infamous turn one melee cleanly in the final. While Block lead going into the first turn, he emerged from the fracas in fifth due to excessive contact from other competitors as everyone fought to get through the pinch point that transitioned the course from tarmac to gravel. Despite this however, Block managed to move up three spots to finish the final on the podium and second overall—not an easy feat on a course that featured sub-30 second lap times and a 10 lap final.
“While I’m stoked that I managed to make it through the first corner in a good enough position that I was able to work my way onto the podium, I’m still a bit disappointed.” said Block. “I had a really strong event here, I seeded first overall and won both of my heats. My team did an excellent job making sure my car was running the best it could and we were very fast this weekend. Unfortunately, you can consistently demonstrate that you’re the fastest driver out there and that you’re car is running strong, only to have it all negated and decided upon by that first corner luck. But that’s RallyCross and I’m sure it makes it very exciting for the fans. I’m going to take everything we did and learned here and apply it to our next round of GRC at X Games Los Angeles in two weeks and hopefully come away with the gold.”
Before Block makes it to Los Angeles, CA, to compete in both Global RallyCross and for the first time ever in X Games history, Gymkhana GRID, he’ll travel to Maine for the next stop of the Rally America Championship, New England Forest Rally. The event takes place July 26th and 27th.
