Ken Block and Hoonigan Racing claimed a maiden victory for M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta ST RX43 in style last night. Contesting the final round of the Global Rallycross Championship (GRC) on the Las Vegas Strip, Block had the better of his rivals – beating defending champion Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana to the sought-after victory.
Block’s season has been strewn by misfortune and first-corner mayhem, but his victory last night goes to prove that he and the Fiesta ST RX43 are arguably the fastest partnership in the series.
The Hoonigan Racing driver has accumulated four top qualifying positions out of a possible eight this year – that’s the best in the GRC – and won 11 of his 13 heats. Before the start of last night’s final, Block was also averaging the GRC’s best seeding position of 3.25.
The result sees the American superstar end his GRC campaign in third place overall, a statistic he adds to second place in this year’s Rally America series. With their first win under their belt, Block and M-Sport are now focussed on developing the car for further success in 2014.
Following his victory yesterday evening, Ken Block said:
“I am absolutely stoked! I’ve proven this year that I’ve got the speed and just had some bad luck in the first corner so it’s nice to have some good luck and great battles with Pastrana and Foust.
“I couldn’t be happier, especially for all my sponsors and my very, very hard working team. Tonight’s result means we finished third overall, which I am actually very happy about. For all the bad luck we’ve had, third is a good accomplishment. I wish we could have finished a little higher but I’ll take third here and second in the Rally America championship and look to do better in both of those next year.”
M-Sport Managing Director, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said:
“We all knew that Ken [Block] and the [Ford] Fiesta ST RX43 had the talent and the speed to do well this year, but he has had a very unlucky season. His victory last night is testament to all the hard work that has gone into this project and I have no doubt that we will see great things from the team in 2014.”
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